AI have a bride who has baked and been soaking her own traditional fruit cake in brandy. She would like it iced and decorated. She was told by other decorators that icing will not stay on the cake. I'd like to try decorating this cake for her but not sure what to cover it with. Any ideas??

My Mom always did this with thinned apricot or orange jelly and marzipan. She would sometimes use fondant over the marzipan - I can't recall a problem with her icing not sticking.

I've never had a problem with icing a fruit cake (we give our cakes drinks of sherry).  Unless is it so soaked with brandy that it is completely soggy and oozing, I can't see what the problem would be.  As Danilis said, use a thin coating of melted apricot jam to make the marzipan stick and then apply a layer of marzipan just as you would put a layer of fondant on, and then either royal ice it or put a layer of fondant on.

As I suggested in another thread, it is a good idea to use some softened marzipan to fill in any dips or divots in the surface of the cake before applying the marzipan layer to ensure as smooth a finish as possible.
 

Have fun!

LauraBellaTreats, I made my own wedding cake (3 tiers of heavy fruit cake).  Before covering with marzipan and icing you need to put about 4 tablespoon of apricot jam in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of water, gently bring this to the boil, stirring to mix in the water, put this through a sieve to get out any lumps, then brush all over the cake, this will help the marzipan to stick to the cake (also helps to stick in bits of marzipan if there are any holes in the cake to give a smoother surface before covering with marzipan. Then use either boiled water or vodka to brush over the marzipan before covering with fondant (sugar paste). HTH  

it needs marzipan to prevent the juices from staining the fondant, so follow the advise above regarding the apricot jam and make sure that you leave the marzipan-ed cake for a day. Then wet it slightly with a damp brush and cover with fondant.

AThanks All !!