Special Occasion Cakes Recipes - Silver Wedding Cake

Ingredients

• 25cm round rich or light fruit cake

• 60ml apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 1.2kg marzipan

• 1.5kg royal icing

• 30cm round silver cake board

• 1.5m white ribbon, 2.5cm wide

• 2m silver ribbon, 2.5cm wide

• club cocktail cutter

• tiny round cutter

• greaseproof piping bag

• No 1 writing nozzle

• 50 large silver dragees

• 1.5m silver ribbon, 5mm wide

• 7 silver leavers

• "25" silver cake decoration

For the petal paste

• 10ml gelatin

• 75ml cold water

• 10ml liquid glucose

• 10ml white vegetable fat

• 450g icing sugar, sifted

• 5ml gum tragacanth, sifted

• 1 egg white

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Method:

1. Brush the cake with apricot jam and cover with marzipan. Place on the board. Flat-ice the top and side of the cake with three or four layers of royal icing. Leave to dry overnight, then ice the board. Reserve the remaining royal icing. Secure the wider ribbons around the board and cake with icing.

2. For the petal paste, melt the first four ingredients in a pan set over a bowl of hot water. Mix the sugar, gum tragacanth, egg white and gelatin mixture to a paste and knead until smooth. Leave for 2 hours, then re-knead. Make 65 cut-outs using the two cutters. Leave to dry overnight.

3. Arrange 25 cut-outs around the top and secure with icing beads piped with a No 1 writing nozzle. Repeat at the base. Pipe icing beads between and press a dragee in each. Leave to dry. Thread the thin ribbon through. Arrange seven cut-outs and seven dragees in the centre. Position the leaves and "25".