Special Occasion Cakes Recipes - Marbled Cracker Cake

Ingredients

• 20cm/8in square rich fruit cake

• 45ml/3 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 675g/4 1/2 cups marzipan

• 750g/5 1/4 cups sugar paste icing

• red and green food coloring

• edible gold balls

MATERIALS/EQUIPMENT

• wooden cocktail sticks

• 25cm/10in round cake board

• red, green and gold thin gift-wrapping ribbon

• 3 red and 3 green ribbon bows

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Method:

1. Brush the cake with the jam. Roll out the marzipan and use to cover the cake. Leave to dry overnight.

2. Form a roll with500g/1 1/4lb/3 3/4cups of the sugar paste icing. With a cocktail stick, dab a few drops of red coloring on to the icing. Repeat with the green. Knead lightly. Roll out the icing until marbled. Brush the marzipan with water and cover with the icing. Position the cake on the cake board.

3.  Color half of the remaining sugar paste icing red and the rest green. Use half of each color to make five crackers, about 6cm/2 1/2in long. Decorate each with a gold ball. Leave to dry on greaseproof paper.

4. Roll out the remaining red and green icings, and cut into 1 cm/1/2in wide strips. Then cut into 12 red and 12 green diamonds. Attach them alternately around the top and base of the cake with water.

5. Cut the ribbons into 10cm/4in lengths. Arrange them with the crackers on the cake top. Attach the bows with softened sugar paste icing, between the diamonds at the top cake edge.