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
750 g pack royal icing sugar
500 g 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.
Get ahead
Assemble up to 2 weeks ahead.
Per serving:
Calories: 780
Protein: 7g
Total fat: 18g
Saturates: 7g
Carbs: 141
Total sugars: 132
Fibre: 5g
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The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. 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
