Christmas Cake with Marzipan, Fondant and Royal Icing

Ingredients for Christmas Cake:


For Cake:

6 oz (175gm) unsalted butter
8 oz (200gm) brown sugar
3 eggs
8 oz (200gm) flour
½ tsp baking powder
3 oz blanched almonds, chopped
1 tbsp ginger powder
1 tsp mixed cake spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pound 9 oz (700gm) of dried mixed fruit :
200gm black currants, large and tiny
100gm brown sultanas (munnaqa)
300gm golden raisins
100gm orange peel, washed and dried
2 oz red glace cherries, halved, washed and dried
Fresh Zest of 1 orange
100 ml (4oz) fresh orange juice
To add after baking:
Fresh Orange juice as required
Apricot jam as required for brushing over the cake.

Method :

Put sugar, butter, currants, raisins, sultanas and cherries with orange juice in a pan and slowly boil uncovered. 

Cool, add eggs once mixture is cold or it will curdle. 

Fold in cinnamon, flour, cake spice, orange zest, baking powder, ginger powder, chopped almonds, mix well and pour in a 9” tin. 

Tin should be greased and double lined on base and sides as well. 

Level the top of the cake with a spoon dipped in hot water. 

Bake at 150C for 45 minutes, turn down oven to 140C and bake for 1 more hour or 1 hour 15 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean. 

Cool cake in tin overnight. Do not remove paper or cake from tin. 

The next day, poke the cake all over the top with a skewer and slowly feed in fresh orange juice. 

Wrap well in foil and keep outside. 

A week before using the cake, peel off the papers and pierce again and feed with orange juice. 

Place cake on a cake board 2 inches bigger than the cake. 

Blend apricot jam and sieve it to remove any fruit and brush all over the cake. Meanwhile, roll out the marzipan in between 2 sheets of cling, press down on cake. Smooth surface with your hands or cake smoother. 

If any excess marzipan is left, trim it. 

Let marzipan dry for a few days before applying the fondant icing. 

Make the fondant and roll in between two sheets of cling, icing sugar may be used to prevent it from sticking. 

Brush marzipan layer with orange juice and gently place fondant over cake. 

Smooth edges and trim any extra fondant. 

Let dry overnight. 

Do not add any decorations immediately. 

Do not refrigerate. 

On the sides of the cake, where the board is showing, apply Royal Icing, as it will immediately dry up, quickly smooth with a spatula, use the remaining royal icing as a glue to paste decorations on the fondant once dry. 

Tie a colourful ribbon around your cake. 

If desired, decorate the top with fondant decorations.

Christmas Cake with Marzipan, Fondant and Royal Icing by Zarnak Sidhwa