Christmas Cake - Creating My Own Winter Wonderland

There would be no white Christmas for me again this year. Being in the tropics gives me the chance to enjoy perfect weather but I kind of miss having a snowy, cold Christmas. A perfect Christmas scenario for me is being all bundled up, sipping hot chocolate while watching the snow fall through an icy window. Similar to what I had experienced in China.  Oh well, it ain't gonna happen in Thailand. So with white Christmas in mind,  I decided to create my own winter wonderland with the Christmas cake I made 2 months back!


It took me two months to mature the Christmas cake. Finally a day before Christmas, I got into my decorating spirit to make my dream Christmas possible.

What you will need:
icing sugar, sifted
apricot jel
marzipan (almond paste)


Five days before I decorated the cake, I covered it with a layer of marzipan (almond paste).

Before layering the marzipan over the cake, I lightly dusted the surface with sifted icing sugar.

I mixed apricot jel (60%) with water (40%), warmed it a bit and coated the surface of the cake with it. It would make the marzipan stick to the cake.

I rolled out the marzipan into 2 mm thick. I laid it over the cake and patted it gently into place. I trimmed away the excess

Here's how the Christmas cake looked after covering the surface with marzipan.

Side

I left it to dry uncovered for 5 days

Top

A day before serving time, I iced the surface with brandy butter cream. I colored the marzipan trimmings and used it to make letter cut outs  and some other toppers.

The trimmings were enough to make snowman, Christmas tree and sprigs of holy.

I sprinkled colored jimmies on the surface, put some peanut M & Ms  and dusted the tree and snowman with sifted icing sugar for the snowy effect.

Here's the finished cake. Happy Christmas everyone!

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