This Christmas Cake decoration brings the wow-factor. The bright green trees are so easy to make and all together, create a magical forest topping for your Christmas cake.
Don't forget to allow time for trees to set overnight!
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Yields:
20
Prep Time:
1 hr
Total Time:
1 hr
Cal/Serv:
780
Ingredients
20
cm fruit cake (Find our Chocolate Stout Christmas cake, at goodhousekeeping.co.uk/christmascake)
2
-3tbsp apricot glaze
750g
pack royal icing sugar
500g
natural or golden marzipan
To decorate
About 300g royal icing sugar
Paste/gel food colouring, in forest shades, we used spruce green, teal and holly green
white lollipop sticks
Silver dragees and sugar snowflake sprinkles
To finish (optional)
Silver taper candles
Edible silver glitter spray, we used Cake Decor
You will also need
Fine piping nozzles, plain and starred
Directions
Step 1Put cake on a stand or board and spread top and sides with apricot glaze. Sift a little of the royal icing sugar on to a work surface and roll out marzipan until large enough to cover cake. Lay on to cake and smooth down with your hands, easing out any creases. Trim excess. Allow to air dry for at least 2hr, ideally overnight.
Step 2Next make tree decorations. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. In a large bowl, beat 300g (11oz) royal icing sugar and 4tbsp cold water with a handheld electric whisk until very thick but just pipeable (adjust as needed with more royal icing sugar or water). Divide into small bowls (number depending on how many colours you want) and dye each bowl a different shade of green.
Step 3Place a lollipop stick on a lined sheet. Scrape your first icing into a piping bag fitted with a fine plain or star nozzle. Working on to the lollipop stick and starting at the top, pipe down in increasing conjoined horizontal lines to make a triangular-shaped tree. Decorate while wet with dragees and sugar sprinkles, if using. Repeat with remaining icing and different shades, varying the nozzles and sizes of the trees, if you like. Allow to dry at room temperature to set hard, about 24hr.
Step 4Once trees have set hard, make up the remaining 750g pack royal icing according to pack instructions. Spread over marzipan-covered cake, keeping it fairly peaky.
Step 5While still wet, carefully peel set trees off sheets and and press into the top of the cake, trimming the sticks first if you want to create different heights. Next press in taper candles, if using. Allow icing to set.
Step 6To finish, dust trees and cake with glitter spray, if you like.
A crack team of highly skilled food content producers, the GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurstis our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time.
