I have looked at several cake decorating books lately and have noticed that several of them say to first cover a cake in marzipan and then cover it in fondant. Why do they do this? Does the marzipan serve some purpose? I have never worked with marzipan - I don't even know what it tastes like or where you get it. It just seems like another step to do. Anyone know the reason behind this?
it seals the cake,
it can be made very smooth so have a smooth surface under the fondant...using the same tools as fondant.
it is firm like the fondant so it won't squish around as you smooth the fondant like buttercream can.
you don't do any buttercream when using fondant.
it's a very finely ground almonds and sugar. (IMHO - very yummy.)
comes in in plastic tubes that look like small version of the cookie dough in a tube.
not used so much as pricey.
Are they English cake books by any chance? It is traditional over here to apply a layer or marzipan then a layer of fondant or Royal Icing. The main reason for this is to seal the cake and give a good surface to apply the icing too. Tradtionally English cakes are a rich dark fruit cake, Without the marzipan the colour would seep through the icing and stain it. Fruit cake can be kept a long time (and gets better with age) . As it contains alcohol without some sort of sealant it can also ferment with the icing and taste horrible if we didn't apply the marzipan.
For the uninitiated marzipan is a paste made out of ground almonds
The marzipan is a good thick texture which means that you put it on and smooth it and then it provides a gorgeously smooth texture to put your fondant on to. If you're using a fruit cake this is essential as the fruit cake is all knobbly with fruit. A plain sponge cake wouldn't need marzipan first. I have used a layer of fondant, smoothed that down and then placed another layer of fondant to get a really smooth finish when I don't want to use marizpan.
Not everyone likes the taste of marzipan, which is quite almondy - however I love it and you can also make roses and models out of it, it takes colour just as well as fondant although it is slightly thicker grained.
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