Tag Archives: Royal Icing

Decorating a Cake With Marzipan

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Marzipan is molding dough that made from almond paste. The marzipan dough can be pressed into molds that are shaped like fruits, animals or flowers and then attached to the cake with gum paste.

You can also make your own marzipan. Here are some popular recipes.
Shiny Imitation Marzipan
1/3 cup soft butter or margarine
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups (1 lb.) sifted confectioners sugar
1/2 Lb. almond paste

Add coconut & almond oil and you have an imitation flavoring, scant drop. Blend butter, syrup, salt and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Add sifted sugar all at once. Mix all together. Knead with hands. Turn out on board and continue kneading until mixture is well blended and smooth. Makes about 1 1/3 lbs. Store in cool place. Roll into 1″ balls and push into molds. Close molds, open and let fruit drop out.

Marzipan Pine Cones

7 ounces almond paste

4 ounces sliced almonds

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

Divide almond paste into 6 equal portions. Form each into cone shape about 1 1/2″ tall & 1″ in diameter. Beginning at the base insert pointed ends of almond slivers into paste, to resemble a pine cone.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips & shortening; stir until smooth. Insert a toothpick into the bottom of each cone. Holding over a bowl, spoon melted chocolate over almonds (step #2). If needed, use another toothpick to spread the chocolate to completely cover the almonds (step #3). Place on a wire rack over wax paper, let stand until firm. Yields 6 appetizing and simply delicious pine cones!

Marzipan Strawberry Recipe

1-3 oz. box strawberry gelatin dessert
1/2 teaspoon almond flavor
1 lb. granulated sugar
2/3 cup ground almonds
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Mix together and pack into mold, clamp shut, open mold – tap the mold and the candy will drop out into coating mixture.

Coating for Home Made Marzipan Strawberries

2 cups macaroon coconut
1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin dessert
1 1/2 tablespoons red sugar

Roll candy in coating mixture, top with leaf or make your own using Royal Icing.

If you need to make scores or even hundreds of marzipan fruits or flowers to decorate a cake you can also use a marzipan rollerboard. This is a handy time saving device that allows you to insert a tube of marzipan dough. By inserting different cutting heads, you can make a lot of different kinds of fruits.

More Ways to Decorate a Cake With Novelty Tools

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Here are some more novel ways to decorate any cake using some of the newer tools and products that are on the market.

Yes, there is life beyond buttercream or Royal Icing! Decorating gel is that pretty see through stuff you often see used on cakes to create writing or decorations. It is almost pure glycerine. Sometimes it is handier just to buy this in a tube than try to tint glycerin yourself.

Decorating gel can also be used to add accents (such a dew drops) to flowers on a cake. You can also use it to create a stained glass effect. It is best used on cakes with slightly rougher surfaces such as those iced with butter cream, stiff whip cream or royal icing.

Try sprinkling a cake with edible confetti. These are small bags of star shaped or rosette shaped candies that you buy by the package. They can be used singly to create a border or lettering on a cake or you can sprinkle them liberally on the cake for a festive look.

Edible glitter is large sparkles that can be consumed. They come in a rainbow of metallic colors. Edible Glitter is great for highlighting sugar paste or buttercream decoration or for using with stencils. You can also add sparkling stems with glitter on them called glitter stamen.

Edible gold leaf can applied to any shape or surface. You simply apply it with tweezers and clings to any confection. You can also buy gold flakes which can be sprinkled on any kind of frosting surface to give a cake a festive flair.

Luster dust is absolutely fantastic for decorating fondants and adding a bit of sparkle to anywhere on your cake. It is a very very fine edible glitter that creates a lustrous sheen on frosting, sugar shapes, gum paste and just about any decoration you can think of. It mixes especially well with Royal Paste.

Luster Dust is mixed with a spirit such as vodka, gin, clear vanilla extract or lemon extract. Never mix it with water and use it on sugar paste decorations or the decorations may soften and become sticky.

You can use several colors of luster dust on your cake at once to create a cake that gleams. It can also be mixed with a spirit and applied with an airbrush or small paintbrush. You can also dust it on a cake using a large fluffy blush.

A simple way to use it to add sparkle to a fondant is to brush the fondant lightly with water and put the shimmer dust into a small tea strainer. You then shake the tea strainer over your cake to “frost” it.