Marzipan and birthday cake
I must admit that not many people know about fondant here. When I’m chatting with my aunties, they keep saying fondant is marzipan. I guess I’ve also had the misconception earlier on. I’ve read about marzipan, but never tried it before. So, for my hubby’s birthday party today, I made a fruit cake and covered it with marzipan followed by a layer of fondant.
Marzipan is usually use to prevent the loss of moisture in cakes. It also provides a smooth under-coat for the top layer which can be fondant or royal icing. Here’s the recipe for the marzipan. Mine turned out ok, only thing the almond is still showing, not as smooth as I wanted.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups ground almond
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 drops almond essence
1 egg, beaten
Method
Mix the ground almond, icing and caster sugar. Add the lemon juice and almond essence. Lastly slowly pour in the beaten egg until the dough will just stick together. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth. I use my mixer with the dough hook to make my marzipan. This recipe makes about 450 gm or 1 lb. Enough to cover a 7 inch round or 6 inch square cake.
Some illustrations. Covering with marzipan after brushing the cake with warm apricot glaze:
I use my fondant smoother to smooth the surface.
The right way is to let the marzipan dry for a few days. Then apply the fondant, but since this is a last minute job I went ahead and decorated the whole cake.
My hubby always comes home from work and then sleep on the sofa like this. Tv set is sagging, I should have used gum paste or something stronger 
At least he’s happy with his cake..happy birthday hubby@my faithful cameraman, as the saying goes “life begins at 40″.
Cheers,
