How to Ice a Marzipanned Cake..

Once the marzipan is firmed up, next stop is the icing!
This often seems the trickiest bit, the icing is a bit of a diva and will crack, split or dry out at any opportunity, but persevere and you'll have a great looking cake by the end of it.

To cover a marzipanned cake (usually 8'') you'll need:

• 500g of ready to roll icing ( but I usually use 1kg, so I have a bit spare to work with)
• 3 tbsp of clear vodka, but water could be used instead
• 25-50g of icing sugar

Begin by covering your marzipanned cake with the vodka, be gentle - you don't want to crack your marzipan layer! 

Set aside and dust your surface lightly with icing sugar - try not to use too much, it's a bit of a frenemy - you need it to prevent sticking but too much and your icing will crack! 

Manipulate the icing slightly, so it'll be softer and will work more favourably. 

Begin to roll out, try to keep it in a circular shape and rotate constantly. 

Roll out until it is about an inch in thickness. 

In the same way as when covering with marzipan, check that the length of the icing by comparing the length to the cake tin sides. 

Then placing your rolling pin in the middle, flip the icing towards you and lift to drape over the cake. 

Smooth over the top - I'm using an icing smoother but doing it gently with your hand is just as effective!

Continue to gently smooth the icing down the side of the cake, being careful not to snag it. 

Then trim the excess icing - keep it as you could use it to decorate the cake later. 

Tuck in the edges of the icing and give it another smooth over, then trim the final inch or so of excess. 

Give it one final smooth over and ta-dah! Your cake is beautifully iced! 

Leave the cake to firm up overnight and then you can begin to decorate it! 

Troubleshooting...

• If you get little cracks appear on the edges of the cake - don't panic! Just smooth over with your thumb gently 
• If you find your icing is sticking to the surface completely then you need more icing sugar on the surface. The best thing to do is to throw away that batch and start again.
• If your icing is 'slipping' off the cake a little, you've probably used a little too much vodka/water to soak the surface. Just get a bit of paper towel and soak up some of the excess moisture, then replace the icing on top again.