Rogue Almonds, Naked Cakes and Homemade Marzipan

My Christmas cake has been maturing in the bottom of my wardrobe for two months now, coming out each week to be fed with a couple of tablespoons of brandy. I do, of course, advise people indulging in my Christmas goodies that they should consider their driving licence if they have my Christmas Cake, Mini Baileys Yule logs, Mince Pies, and Christmas Truffles. Especially if those people are in Scotland, where we have a zero tolerance to drink driving.

It’s not compulsory to cover your cake in marzipan if you really hate the stuff (yes, there are people who don’t like marzipan - Mr M being one of them). Personally, I love the smell and taste of almonds. Give me some marzipan or a Bakewell tart and I’m in heaven. It wasn’t always like that though. I remember as a child being traumatised by a sugared almond that I thought was going to be a lovely sugary, chewy sweet. Even now, I can’t face eating a whole almond. I struggle to eat any almonds and a Bakewell Tart for me is spoiled if the icing is sprinkled with flaked almonds rather than a lovely, feathered icing finish. But almond flavour is delicious. So, marzipan ticks all the boxes for me. Soft, sweet, tasting of almonds, but not having the nut itself in it to spoil it. Each to their own, I guess.

The purpose of the marzipan on your Christmas cake is not really anything to do with taste, although it does make a slice of cake look lovely with the dark, fruity, boozy cake, a light golden layer of marzipan, finished with a layer of bright, white icing. The reason for having that extra layer in between the icing and fruit cake is to keep the moisture in the cake, and it acts as a buffer to stop the moisture seeping into your white icing, causing it to discolour.

Of course, you don’t need to cover your cake with marzipan or icing if you prefer a naked cake. (Which is something totally different to enjoying your cake whilst naked). Don’t let anyone tell you what you must do. It’s your cake. If you will be eating it, make it how you want it to be. There are too many people and recipe books telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. I like to think that I simply give people ideas.

This year, I am making my own marzipan. When I served my Christmas Cake in our tearoom, I always bought the marzipan as I was worried about customers eating raw egg. Those readers of a similar age to me will remember back in 1988 when a certain Edwina Curry warned the nation that we would most likely get salmonella from eating raw eggs. Yes, homemade marzipan uses raw egg. But if it’s safe enough for Delia and Mary, it’s good enough for me.

Ready-made marzipan can be purchased from just about any major food store now and is very good. It’s not the first time that one of the stocking fillers for my daughter, Chloe, has been a packet of golden marzipan! Shop bought has the benefit of keeping much longer than homemade, but that’s not really something I need to consider for my Christmas Cake as it gets eaten long before this becomes a worry.

The only downside of homemade marzipan is that it tends to be a little softer than ready-made, so if you have time, I suggest popping your marzipan in the fridge for an hour or so after making it. That way, it becomes a little easier to handle. If, like me, you’re doing a simple royal icing finish on your cake as a simple snow scene, there is no need to worry about how neat, flat and smooth your marzipan coating on the cake is. However, if you’re using fondant icing to cover your cake, or being very artistic and needing a flat, smooth cake, with perfect edges, take lots of time when covering it in marzipan to get the desired base for your icing. A good tip for having a very smooth, flat cake top is to turn your cake over so that you have the bottom of your cake as the top. Push a little of marzipan into the gap between the now bottom of the cake and the cake board before covering the whole cake with marzipan.

Having said all that, making your own marzipan is incredibly easy.

First, unwrap your cake, removing all the parchment paper and foil that it has been stored in, resisting any temptation to take a big bite out of your cake because it smells delicious. Even good skills with marzipan and icing can’t always disguise that you’ve bitten into your cake, and this might make your guests a little reluctant to accept a piece. Oh, now there’s an idea. I could shape my cake to look like I’ve taken a bite out of it then I wouldn’t have to share it. A bit like licking cakes on a plate so that nobody will eat them before you. You’ve never done that! What do you do if cakes have been put on the table and you have your eye on a particular one, or the largest, but you’re still eating your main course? Quite simple. You lick the desired cake, of course–in full view of the others at the table so they know which cake you’ve put your slavers on. Mind you, that might not always put people off, so you still need to be on your guard.

Put the unbitten cake on a cake board that is a little larger than the cake (to allow for the marzipan and icing).

Using a pastry brush, or knife, spread some warmed apricot jam, honey, golden syrup or anything similarly sticky. It doesn’t really matter what this is, but you don’t want something with a very strong flavour, bits of peel or fruit, or colour. The purpose of this coating is simply to make the marzipan stick to the cake.

This recipe will make enough marzipan to cover the top and sides of an 8–9-inch cake.

Ingredients

250g icing sugar
250g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
2 large free-range eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract

Method

• In a large bowl, put icing sugar, caster sugar and ground almonds and mix until combined.
• Lightly beat two large eggs in a small bowl, then add the eggs to the dry ingredients.
• Pour in two teaspoons of almond extract (if your cute Border Collie has not stolen it, but that’s another story!).
• Mix everything together with a spatula and, once it starts forming a dough, tip it all out onto a work surface sprinkled liberally with icing sugar.
• Rub your hands in icing sugar and knead the mixture until it forms a smooth dough. Don’t be too heavy handed with the kneading as this can make the marzipan too oily. You’re not making bread. If your marzipan seems a little soft, pop it in the fridge for an hour.
• Measure the diameter and sides of your cake, so you know how large to roll your marzipan out. Mathematicians will know exactly how to calculate this. Something to do with pie and other ridiculous sums. A piece of string works perfectly fine for me. You can decide to roll your marzipan into just one piece or measure a piece to fit the top and another piece for the sides.
• Roll out the marzipan, remembering to keep moving it as you roll and adding more icing sugar to your hands, work surface and rolling pin to prevent the marzipan sticking to the work surface. Move the marzipan round so that you are always rolling straight in front of you and not contorting yourself like some sort of almond-smelling twister game.
• Once you have a piece of marzipan the desired size, use your rolling pin to support your marzipan as you transfer it to the cake.
• Rub more icing sugar onto your hands and gently rub the marzipan, smoothing it over the cake, and fixing any cracks or splits. Ensure that the marzipan seals all the cake, especially at the bottom.
• Once you’re happy with how your cake looks, taking extra time to make neat sides and corners, if it’s a square cake and you are using fondant icing rather than peaked royal icing, pop the kettle on.
• Make a pot of tea. Sit back, admire your masterpiece, and enjoy a cuppa with any stray bits of marzipan you may have left over.
• Now, find a safe place to put your cake for five days to allow the marzipan to dry out before you will then add your icing. Don’t cover your cake, just make sure it’s somewhere dry, cool, and out of harm’s way from children, hungry adults, or naughty pets.

Watch out for a follow-on blog on icing the cake. For my royal icing I’ll be needing icing sugar and eggs. Don’t forget to get decorations for the top of your cake. I’ll be using the same ones I’ve used for many years–a Merry Christmas sign, Christmas tree, holly and a lady holding cakes (of course!).

If you want to see more recipes, tales and adventures, here's the link for my book, The Magical Tearoom on the Hill