Having blogged about making our
Christmas Cake last weekend, we thought it was only fair to show you how we got on with decorating it.
As the cake we baked turned out to have such a flat/level top, we decided to risk doing a 'proper' icing job. Perhaps it would even make my former Home Economics teacher proud...
We'd sourced some ready to roll white marzipan and Regal Ice white icing so prepared our silicone sheet for use rolling out. A small amount of icing sugar was sifted into a ramekin to be used to minimise sticking.
First, a small amount of marzipan was rolled into a ball and then rolled
out. Once it formed a circle slightly larger than the top of the cake,
it was placed to one side.
Next, we used a piece of string to measure round the circumference of
the cake. A long strip of marzipan, from the block, was then rolled out
to the required length and trimmed to size.
The marzipan was brushed with apricot jam that had been slightly watered down using warm, boiled water.
An angled join was used - we found this made 'hiding' the seam in the marzipan a little easier.
After sorting the marzipan out on the side of the cake, the top was brushed with the runny jam and smoothed down as much as possible.
Then, a piece of the Regal Ice was warmed up by rolling. When it was pliable, using a light dusting of icing sugar, it was rolled out to a size which allowed it to be draped, in one piece, covering the whole cake. Sous Chef J thought it looked like a ghost at this point.
The top and sides were then smoothed and the excess icing trimmed from the bottom of the cake.
Star cutters were then used to make the decorations for the top of the cake. As we are not artistic (that's an understatement!) we'd tweeted asking for simple decorating ideas and a lovely pal, Lynda, had suggested using stars. We already have a set of star cutters so that was a great idea.
Using a big star cut out, we dampened the surface of the cake icing and applied the star to the cake. Then, smaller stars were similarly applied, draping around the edge of the top.
Next, it was over to Sous Chef J to add some silver baubles (the decorations we used were bought in M&S a while back and gluten was not listed in the ingredients or allergy warning).
Finally, we added a silver cake frill and our decorating task was complete.
We had some biscuit dough in the freezer (the dough recipe from here) and allowed it to defrost before cutting 0.5cm discs from it. These were flattened slightly using a rolling pin and, using a long-ago-purchased (from Tchibo), biscuit cutter we cut circular biscuits whose centres were also cut out and ejected. 
The cookies were placed on a non-stick baking tray and cooked until golden (8-10 mins in 170ºC oven - depends on thickness). Once fully cooled, the icing was prepared - we made a small batch of yellow and another of pink.
Starting with the yellow icing, it was spread on the rings using a thin silicone spatula before being dipped in yellow and orange citrus flavour strands. 
Next, the remaining ring biscuits were iced in pink. After this a circle of white icing was piped onto the pink biscuits and, using a cocktail stick, it was dragged through the white icing to leave a trail behind.
