How to Marzipan a Cake..

It's time to start prepping your Christmas cake! Therefore, I'm marzipaning mine, in preparation for the icing and final decoration. 
My cake is a traditional fruit cake, but lots of people use the same technique to marzipan sponge cakes. 

If it's your first time it might be a bit fiddly, but you'll soon get the hang of it ! 

To marzipan a standard cake ( usually 8'') have to hand: 

• 500g of Marzipan ( white or normal yellow - your choice!) 
• 3tbsp of Thin-cut marmalade
• 50-75g Icing sugar
• Cake board ( 10'' should be sufficient) 

Start by getting your cake out on the surface for a quick inspection!

Then fill in any holes in the cake's surface with little balls of marzipan , so as to flatten out the cake's surface. This will give the cake a flatter surface overall. 

Heat up the marmalade in the microwave for about 10 minutes until it's a syrupy consistency and then spread on the cake. If you don't have a brush, just use a normal knife. 

Pop it on the board and put to the side! 

Prepare to roll out your marzipan by lightly dusting your surface with icing sugar, I keep a  bit on the side of the board so it's easy to push a bit more under your marzipan without trying to grab a handful mid-roll. 

Roll your marzipan out, constantly turning it, so it's rolled out evenly. I like a thin layer of marzipan so I roll mine out to about half an inch, but if you fancy a thicker layer - go for it!

Then place the cake tin you used to bake the cake in, in the centre of your rolled out marzipan, and pull the sides of the marzipan up the tin, to check its just about the right size and you'll cover the whole cake!

Using the rolling pin, roll the marzipan off the board and onto the cake. 

With the palm of your hands, rub the marzipan down the cake and smooth out slowly and gently. 

Then as you've secured the marzipan and are nearing the bottom of the cake, start to trim the excess marzipan away - it'll become much easier to manage after! 

Tuck in the bottom of the marzipan neatly and smooth over any bumps in the surface. 

Leave it to dry for a day or two and then you can focus on the icing! 

Troubleshooting...

• If your marzipan is sticking to the board, dust that board with more icing sugar! Keep rotating the marzipan and this'll reduce sticking 
• If the marzipan cracks - don't panic! You can gently push the sides around the crack together and the marzipan'll stay, also remember - it's the bottom layer - no one will notice a cheeky crack! 
• Use the excess marzipan left over to fill any gaps on the bottom of the cake if it's a little uneven - it'll provide the cake with a bit more stability