Iced Fruitcake
Posted on 10/08/2010

INGREDIENTS

1 cup brandy or preferred spirit, or you can use juice
2 pkts Vitarium Fruit Cake Mix
1.5 kilo fondant icing - ready to roll
Cake decorating supplies including frangipanni cutters and non toxic chalks
modeling paste
1 x 6 inch cake tin
1 egg white
1 x 4 inch cake tin
Pure Icing Sugar
Cake cardboard cut to size of 4 inch cake
Cake covered masonite board 8-9 inches
3 wooden skewers

STEP ONE

Soak the fruit in a bowl with alcohol or juice of your choice. This can be done overnight of for a few nights. Make sure you turn the fruit so that it is completely covered. Grease and line both the bottoms and sides of tins with greaseproof paper. There is enough cake mix using 2 packets to make a 6 inch cake and 3 x 4 inch cakes.

STEP TWO

Follow steps 1, 2 and 3 on the Fruit Cake Mix. Put a little bit of the batter to one side - enough to smear a layer onto the bottom of the cake tins and up a little bit of the side of the tins. This will, once the cake is upturned be the top of the cake. Doing this will provide a flatter surface for cake diminishing the bumps and holes created by the fruit.

STEP THREE

Continue following steps 4 and 5 of the Fruit Cake Mix. Once the cake mix is in the cake tin, simply tap the tin onto a hard surface so that the cake settles and lessens air pockets and holes.

STEP FOUR

Level the surface of the cake with a wet spatula. It is best to cook the cakes in two batches (if you are making a two tiered cake). The reason for this is so that the cakes cook evenly and at the same time. I like to slow the cooking down and put the cakes onto a double layer of newspaper and also make a collar out of newspaper to go around the outside of the cake (affixed by a couple of staples) and also a double layer on top of the cake. The newspaper will not damage the cake in any way, it just allows even distribution of the heat. Start off with the temperature being 120 degrees celcius and gradually increase the temperature to 150 degrees celsius (fan forced). The 6 inch cake should take around 2 hours to cook, although once you can start to smell the cake check by inserting a knife/fork or cake testing skewer. If it comes out clean the cake is cooked.

STEP FIVE

Once cake is cooked - do not take cake out of the tin. Cover the top of the cake with baking paper then foil and then completely wrap the cake in foil and cover in a towel. Once the tin is completely cold (this will take around 12-24 hours), take the cake out of the tin and recover in baking paper and foil and wrap back in the towel.

STEP SIX

To make royal icing simply get 1 egg white and then add a tablespoon of sifted pure icing sugar at a time into a straight sided mug and stir like crazy with a metal spoon. Keep adding a tablespoon at a time until you have soft to medium peaks. This can take about 15-20 minutes to achieve. The royal icing is used to glue the cake to the board and also for piping on the covered cake(s). Place a small amount of royal icing directly onto the board then place some baking paper onto the icing (making sure this paper covers the entire board) then place another small bit of royal icing onto the baking paper and place the cake on top of this. Making sure the cake is centered in the middle of the board.

STEP SEVEN

Cover some of the holes around the sides of the cake with small bits of the fondant (ready to roll) icing. This icing can be found in 500gram boxes in the baking aisle of the supermarket. Make sure that the pieces you use to fill the holes are flat to the cake and do not stick out. This can be done with a flat sided knife push into the cake then scape to the right or the left. Next step is to cover the cake. If you are making this cake, and you are wanting to make it as a 2 tiered cake you will need to use some skewers (these can be purchased at a cake decorating shop) to provide support to the cake. I used three in my cake. Simply push them in a triangle shape in the middle of the cake and cut the skewers flush with the cake - you will need to use garden scissors/cutters. Please note if you are giving this cake as a gift make sure you advise the recipient that there are skewers and how many are inside the cake. Make an apricot glaze from some apricot jam (approx a tablespoon) and enough water to make a thin syrup. You will probably need to pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it easier. With a pastry brush cover the cake all over with the apricot glaze. This will help the ready to roll icing to adhere to the cake. You are now ready to knead and roll out the ready to roll icing. Firstly measure the cake from one side, over the top and down the other side then add on a couple of inches either side that you will have an idea on how wide you need to roll the icing. If icing gets a bit sticky place some sifted icing on your work surface - but not on top of the icing. You may encounter some little air bubbles, these can be taken care of by pricking them with a pin and rubbing over the surface where the mark is with some icing wrapped in some glad-wrap - the friction will cause the mark to disappear. This may also happen when the icing is on the cake, follow the same procedure. Once the icing is to size, very gently place the icing over the cake using your hands to guide the icing to lie where you want it to lie then further smooth the sides and the top with plastic smoothers. Be very careful with this procedure as it is very easy to make a mistake, and make a hole or dent in the icing so take your time and take care. The smoother the cake the better the overall finish. Trim off the excess of the icing at the base of the cake using a craft knife/fine blade or pizza wheel. Then very gently repeat the procedure to remove the excess of the baking paper, neat with the side of the cake. Let the cake stand covered in a box for 24 hours before continuing to decorate the cake as the icing will need to have a bit of a skin on it. If you are making a second tier leave it for a few days before placing the small cake on top.

STEP EIGHT

For the second tier make sure the cake cardboard (which you can purchase from a cake decorating shop)is cut to the actual size of the cake. Place some royal icing onto the board and place cake on top. Once the cake is iced this board will be concealed. Again fill in holes, and cover the cake with the ready to roll icing as previously mentioned.

STEP NINE

The next step is to pipe small beads around the cakes. If you do not have any piping tips, you could simply roll a long sausage out of the ready roll icing and place this around the base of the cakes. Or alternatively roll little balls of ready to roll icing and place them on with a dab of water. The flowers on the cake are frangipannis and these were made using frangipanni cutters, along with ivy leaves, again made with cutters. These can be found at any cake decorating shop. The ivy leaves have been put onto thin wires and both the flowers and ivy leaves have been coloured with special non toxic chalks. The flowers and leaves were then held for a couple of seconds over a steaming kettle to set the colours and make them slightly more vibrant. To arrange the flowers make a mound out of the ready to roll icing and then simply place the flowers and ivy leaves in a pleasing arrangement. I used 7 frangipanni flowers and different sizes of the leaves, the aim is not have any white spaces showing. Decorate the sides of the cake as desired. I used 3 little dots in a random pattern of royal icing on the sides of the cakes. The purple ribbon on the cake is also made of icing - using a special cutter - you can use ordinary ribbon if desired and attach with little dabs of royal icing, and I simply painted special cake decorating silver paint in swirls around the icing ribbon. Enjoy.