Sorry about the glitch yesterday,I sometimes find that the day goes on for longer than I can manage,today I finished buying in the necessaries for my Christmas baking,the next couple of weeks it will be action stations as my own count down to Christmas gets under way.
The steady stream of pre -Christmas visitors has already begun and most of the afternoon was given over to entertaining old friends with tea and shortbread. One job I did manage to complete was the decorating of a very rich fruit cake, an annual gift to a good friend, and the recipe for which was published last month.
As I opened the tin the aroma of fruit, brandy and spices filled the kitchen,its one of the things I love about this time of the year. Assembled on the table were Brazil nuts,blanched almonds,walnut halves,glacé
Unwrap the cake and turn upside down on to a flat plate or cake board. Remove the marzipan from its packaging and knead until it begins to soften. Dust the table with icing sugar and roll out the icing to roughly the size of the top of the cake,paint the top of the cake with some of the ginger syrup then lay the rolled marzipan on the top of the cake and press down gently.
Trim away any excess marzipan to make a neat edge( save any marzipan trimmings, find out why tomorrow) then beginning at the outside start to decorate the top with the nuts and fruit. There are lots of different ways of doing this so indulge your creative side. Paint the underside of each nut of cherry with a little of the syrup then press each piece into the marzipan.
When your pattern is complete carefully brush over the fruit and nuts with the remaining syrup and leave open for about an hour to dry a little.
If you wish the sides of the cake can then be covered with a piece of bright ribbon. Store the cake in and air tight container until needed.
Before you put your cake into its tin first line the tin with a long piece of grease proof paper making sure that it overhangs the sides by about six inches then place the cake on the top of the paper, this will make it much easier to retrieve from the tin.
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