Christmas Cake Tales...The End!

Once upon a time there was a Christmas Cake…that stayed in the fridge for six weeks only to come out when it was time to get a douse of brandy….

My six week Christmas Fruitcake finally got its last douse of brandy and its icing today.  When I started this project I thought I burned the entire cake and was ready to toss the fruit brick into the bin.  But for some strange reason I kept it, tasted it the next day, and was glad I did.  Each week now since November 16th I have been religiously unwrapping the cake pouring two tablespoons of brandy on the surface and rewrapping it.  Each week I have been shaving a little off each edge to see how it tasted…each week it got better and better.  It was turning into a happy Christmas Cake So when the recipe says “let your cake mature, the longer the better” they know what they’re talking about. 

Today, before I covered my moist delicious fruit brick.  I sliced off each side to make it even and take away any hard edges.  Well I couldn’t resist taking a piece of the edge wrapping a little marzipan around it and then top it with a stray piece of fondant icing.  I was not disappointed, the cake was rich and a little spicy even, but the marzipan and fondant rounded the whole taste out, and it was delicious.  It wasn't a hard and miserable fruitcake that Aunt Griselda used to make and shove in front of our noses.

I never worked with marzipan or fondant before.  The fondant I sent away for from King Arthur was very vanillay, smooth and dead easy to work with ditto with the marzipan.  The fondant looked so pretty draped over the cake.

A bûche de Noël is our family tradition for Christmas Eve dinner.  This rich fruitcake will now be a new tradition for Christmas Day.  I can just imagine a piece of this with a cup of coffee on Boxing Day morning.

 And we all ate our Christmas Cake happily ever after…The End!

To decorate your Christmas Fruitcake

8 oz marzipan (almond paste)

1 lb white/vanilla fondant icing

2 tablespoons apricot jam, melted

Sugared fruit to decorate and some ribbon

1 cake board

Roll marzipan out on a surface dusted with confectioner’s sugar.  Press any holes together using your hands.  Roll out to a size that will cover your cake top and sides.  Place your fruitcake on cake board and brush with jam.

  Drape marzipan over and pinch together any rips.  Using a pizza wheel, trim excess from bottom edges of cake. 

Knead fondant icing until smooth.  Roll out on a surface dusted with confectioners sugar to the appropriate size.   You want the icing to generously drape the top and sides of the cake. 

Press icing down carefully and trim away with pizza wheel, making nice crisp edges.  Decorate with sugar-dusted fruit and ribbon around the edges.