Why use apricot jam for marzipan?
Working with marzipan (almond paste) is similar to working with sugarpaste and indeed you can often substitute marzipan for sugarpaste on many designs if you prefer the taste. Marzipan is usually available in golden or natural colours. There is no discernable difference in taste although different brands may vary very slightly.
Like sugarpaste, marzipan will start to harden when it is exposed to the air so keep any unused marzipan tightly wrapped in plastic food bags. It does not need to be kept in the fridge.
Keep a bowl of icing sugar handy. Not only will you use it to knead and roll out your marzipan on but it will stop your fingers from getting sticky when making models. Do not use cornflour. The two can react together to create mould and cracking in the marzipan.
Stick your models together using a little cooled boiled water. You can also use cooled boiled water to “paint” the marzipanned cake to create a sticky surface if you plan to cover your cake with sugarpaste. You will not have to do this if covering the marzipan with royal icing.
If your marzipan is quite cold and hard you can soften it in the microwave for a few seconds. Repeat if necessary. You must take care not to over do it though as the oil in the marzipan can get very hot and could burn you. This tip will not work on old dried out marzipan. Don’t try to re-knead it back into soft fresh marzipan it will simply ruin the fresh with hard little lumps. Cut off the dried out sections and discard.
Always cover a fruitcake with marzipan before covering it with fondant or royal icing to keep moisture in the cake and stop oils from seeping into the outside covering and causing discolouration.
If you are covering a fruitcake with marzipan, use boiled, sieved apricot jam to stick it to the cake not buttercream. This is because apricot has a mild taste so will not affect the flavour of the cake. It is recommended that you sieve the jam after heating it as chemicals in apricot skin can occasionally cause the marzipan to “blow” away from the side of the cake causing a huge air bubble to form beneath the marzipan. Heat the apricot jam to boiling point in a heatproof bowl in the microwave or with a couple of tablespoons of water in a saucepan on the stove.
Although not necessary you can put a layer of marzipan over a sponge cake too before covering it with sugarpaste. This is called “double covering” and is worth considering doing on an important cake such as a wedding cake. It will make achieving a smooth finish much easier. If the bride dislikes marzipan you could double cover with two layers of sugarpaste instead.
Colouring Marzipan
Working with marzipan (almond paste) is similar to working with sugarpaste and indeed you can often substitute marzipan for sugarpaste on many designs if you prefer the taste. Marzipan is usually available in golden or natural colours. There is no discernable difference in taste although different brands may vary very slightly.
Like sugarpaste, marzipan will start to harden when it is exposed to the air so keep any unused marzipan tightly wrapped in plastic food bags. It does not need to be kept in the fridge.
Keep a bowl of icing sugar handy. Not only will you use it to knead and roll out your marzipan on but it will stop your fingers from getting sticky when making models. Do not use cornflour. The two can react together to create mould and cracking in the marzipan.
Stick your models together using a little cooled boiled water. You can also use cooled boiled water to “paint” the marzipanned cake to create a sticky surface if you plan to cover your cake with sugarpaste. You will not have to do this if covering the marzipan with royal icing.
If your marzipan is quite cold and hard you can soften it in the microwave for a few seconds. Repeat if necessary. You must take care not to over do it though as the oil in the marzipan can get very hot and could burn you. This tip will not work on old dried out marzipan. Don’t try to re-knead it back into soft fresh marzipan it will simply ruin the fresh with hard little lumps. Cut off the dried out sections and discard.
Always cover a fruitcake with marzipan before covering it with fondant or royal icing to keep moisture in the cake and stop oils from seeping into the outside covering and causing discolouration.
If you are covering a fruitcake with marzipan, use boiled, sieved apricot jam to stick it to the cake not buttercream. This is because apricot has a mild taste so will not affect the flavour of the cake. It is recommended that you sieve the jam after heating it as chemicals in apricot skin can occasionally cause the marzipan to “blow” away from the side of the cake causing a huge air bubble to form beneath the marzipan. Heat the apricot jam to boiling point in a heatproof bowl in the microwave or with a couple of tablespoons of water in a saucepan on the stove.
Although not necessary you can put a layer of marzipan over a sponge cake too before covering it with sugarpaste. This is called “double covering” and is worth considering doing on an important cake such as a wedding cake. It will make achieving a smooth finish much easier. If the bride dislikes marzipan you could double cover with two layers of sugarpaste instead.
Colouring Marzipan
Apricot jam is designed to complement marzipan's strong almond flavor by offering a pleasing apricot flavor in addition to the strong almond flavor. Once cooled, the fruit is transformed into jelly by utilizing its pectin content. As a result, any substitutes we select should be equally skilled.
Traditionally Christmas cakes are covered with royal icing, but fondant is becoming increasingly popular. The marzipan methods are slightly different, so there's step-by-step instructions for both - plus two great video guides, with tips from the professionals for a perfect finish.
First, the marzipan. Here's an easy recipe for making your own:
Marzipan - makes 450g (1lb), enough to cover an 18cm (7in) cake
225g (8oz) ground almonds125g (4oz) golden caster sugar125g (4oz) golden icing sugar, sifted1 large egg2 tsp lemon juice1 tsp sherry1-2 drops vanilla extract
Put the ground almonds, golden caster sugar and golden icing and sugar into a bowl and stir together. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in another bowl, then add them to the dry ingredients. Stir the mixture well, pounding gently to release some of the oil from the almonds. Knead the paste with your hands until it is smooth, then wrap in clingfilm until you're ready to use it.
To cover a Christmas cake with marzipan, you'll need the cake, some marzipan and a glaze to help the marzipan stick to the cake. Apricot glaze is popular, but marmalade makes a great alternative as the orange flavour echoes the flavours in the Christmas cake.
Glaze
Making a glaze is simple - warm some apricot jam or marmalade in a sucepan with a little water, stir until melted, then pass through a sieve. And that's it - told you it's simple! Tip: Use rindless marmalade, and you don't even need to sieve it.
Covering a Christmas cake with marzipan
When rolling out the marzipan, dust the work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar to stop it sticking. If you're going to cover a Christmas cake with fondant icing, you can just roll out one sheet of marzipan that's sightly larger in diameter as both the top and sides of the cake. If you're going to cover a Christmas cake with royal icing, it is recommended that you roll out two pieces of marzipan - a round one for the top and a long rectangular one for the sides.
Brush or spread the glaze over the cake, then cover it with marzipan. Trim the edges neatly, and smooth the marzipan with your hands or a specialist icing smoother tool. The videos below give great tips on how to trim it neatly and create the perfect base for icing your Christmas cake.
Leave the Christmas cake covered in marzipan in a cool, dry place. Allow it to dry for at least 24 hours before covering with fondant icing, and at least two days before covering with royal icing. Home-made marzipan takes a little longer to dry out than shop-bought marzipan.
Covering a Christmas cake with icing
To cover a Christmas cake with shop-bought fondant icing, it's exactly the same technique used for one sheet of marzipan above. Brush the marzipan surface with a little cooled boiled water to help the icing stick.
For royal icing, you can make your own or just add water to a shop-bought royal icing mix. Simply spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake with a palette knife. Ensure you place the cake on the plate or board you're using to serve it before applying the icing, as you won't be able to move it afterwards.
Royal icing - makes 450g (1lb), enough to cover a 20cm (8in) cake
2 medium egg whites1 tsp lemon juice450g (1 lb) icing sugar, sifted1 tsp glycerine
Put the egg whites and lemon juice into a clean bowl, and stir to break up the egg whites. Add sufficient icing sugar to mix to the consistency of unwhipped cream. Continue mixing and adding small quantities of icing sugar until the desired consistency is reached, beating gently after each addition. The icing should be smooth, glossy and light, almost like a cold meringue in texture, but not aerated. Do not add the icing sugar too quickly or it will produce a dull heavy icing. Stir in the glycerine until well blended.
Allow the icing to settle before using it - cover the surface with a piece of damp clingfilm and seal well, excluding all the air. Stir the icing thoroughly before using, to disperse any air bubbles. If necessary, adjust the consistency by adding more sifted icing sugar.
Decorating your Christmas cake
This is the fun part! Use fondant cutters to make festive shapes, buy ready-made decorations, or create unique designs using stencils and edible colouring.
VIDEO: Cover a cake with marzipan and fondant icing
This video uses a layered sponge cake as a base, which has a buttercream crumb coat to make it smooth to start with. Rich fruit cakes, such as Christmas cake, do not need a buttercream crumb coat.
If you’ve got a Christmas cake on the way then you’re in need of some apricot jam to keep that marzipan stuck to the cake. But what if you don’t like apricot jam at all ? Or, what if you do but can’t find any apricot jam ?
Well you’re going to need an alternative to apricot jam, otherwise the marzipan won’t stick. It may stick if the fruitcake is wet enough, but that can easily turn into a moist mess and you’ll wait forever for the cake to dry.
The best alternatives for apricot jam are peach or nectarine jam, cherry jam, or any other seedless jam that you’re okay with. Marmalade works too because it’s got an even texture and a high amount of pectin. And finally, you could try honey or maple syrup in small amounts, just to make sure they don’t drip down the cake.
The whole point of the apricot jam was to give a flavor that pairs well with marzipan’s strong almond flavor. It relies on its pectin content to turn into a jelly once it’s cooled back down. This way the marzipan will stick to the jam even better an create a nice seal on the cake. So the substitutes we’re looking for should have the same qualities.
We offer peach or nectarine jam as a substitute for apricot jam, since they’re not very far off in terms of flavor. The colors are basically the same to the overall effect on the cake won’t be too different.
Read also: Marzipan VS Fondant
You will have an easier time finding peach jam than nectarine, but it’s definitely possible. To tie in the flavors you could add more dried fruit into the cake, making sure to add more yellow and orange ones like peach, apricot, pineapple, golden raisins, and nuts.
Cherry jam is a nice twist on apricot jam, and in our personal opinion it brings much more of a Christmassy vibe. There’s just something about cherries and winter, the same as oranges and winter.
So finding a thin layer, a hint of cherries under the marzipan would be a nice surprise. And cherries seem to go well with marzipan from the get-go, so that’s a plus.
If neither option sounds great for you, try any other jam you like. As long a it’s seedless you can use it. Or since you’re warming and straining it anyway, you could strain the seeds as well.
Some have suggested that raspberry would work very well under marzipan, so you could go with that. We think strawberry would be too light and fresh, so may a mix of berries would be better. Redcurrant jam would also work great.
We suppose you could use jelly as well, but it may not have enough pectin to keep the marzipan stuck to it.
Another option would be to use marmalade, which has a higher pectin content. It’s usually made of oranges, which is a very Christmassy flavor too, so it works out.
The only thing is that marmalade is a different texture than jam. Where jam is just chunks of fruit with some jelly, marmalade is a lot like someone pureed the fruit and made everything into a paste.
But once you warm it up it should glide right over the cake with no problem. it will also firm up better, creating a stronger hold onto the marzipan.
Warm honey is a nice touch to any fruit cake. The only problem we could think of is whether it would drip too much down the sides of the cake or not. So maybe it would be a good idea to use the honey sparingly, just to make the cake sticky.
Maple syrup is runnier than honey, so you may not even need to warm it up to get it to spread all over the cake. The problem with this and honey is that they may never dry out completely, so the marzipan may not dry well enough for the icing to stick to it.
Read Also: Why Is My Jam Not Setting ?
