Hi

I am a newbie to cake decorating and I am taking a cake decorating course. I made my first fruit cake 3 weeks ago and iced it. I opened the box today there is a brown syrup that has leaked from the cake all over the board. I don't know what to do to stop it leaking, what has caused the leak and how to tell whether the cake is still edible.

Once I made the cake, I put the cake on a board the size of the cake, covered the cake in sieved boiled apricot jam and covered it in marzipan. I then brushed the marzipan with brandy and covered that in fondant. I then covered a larger board and placed the cake on that.

Can anyone help?

May be you could take the cake off and reset it on a new board, annoying for you that you may need to waste the board, or re ice the board again.  The cake itself looks beautiful, very clean work.  When I have made (rich fruit) Christmas cakes, I wrap them in greaseproof paper and then foil, and leave them for a week or 2 to mature.... then mid December I start to ice them...also it means you can lace/feed them by brushing over more brandy before icing.  Good luck

Like the above poster, my understanding is that a fruitcake gets pretty substantially preserved over time by the constant barrage of alcohol.It mellows and changes flavor slightly.  Three weeks is a short time for a fruit cake.

Dis you use a lot of alcohol in the fruit to soak?  I'm thinking it would be good if yes.  It will help to preserve it.  Also, over time, the moisture in the cake evens out considerably. 

There is nothing you can do except finish decorating on a round.  Slightly elevate the cake so it can drain. Hope that it hasn't gone bad.  Keep a back up dessert if it has.

Also,  the timing is important.  Did you let the marzipan dry out before covering with fondant?  If not, the marzipan may be melting a little with the added brandy.  I let my marzipan dry a little(3-7days)  before covering with RI or fondant.

Thank you for all of your replies. I guess I didn't leave enough time between each stage of the icing. I'm going to try moving it onto a new board and hope that its's finished leaking. I'm going to try and seal it with icing so that it can't leak any further and hope for the best. Spireite, thank you for your lovely comment about my cake, It has cheered up my day!