How Soon Can I Start This??? Help!!
Decorating By Bobbiejay Updated 6 Aug 2005 , 8:41pm by katiecake
Hi everyone
I'm new here and posted this yesterday (I thought)but I don't see it so here goes again!
I need to know how long a wedding cake can be frosted and decorated before the wedding?
It is a very heavy old-fashioned fruitcake recipe; she wants a layer of marzipan and then the royal icing on top of that. I wonder how soon I can do it because I want LOTS of time since I am very nervous about this (first time... 
). The wedding is Sep 10/05 and I know that you need to let the marzipan dry and then the first layer of royal dry etc etc. So how soon can I actually start this?
Thank you so much for any help!
Bobbie
You can make the actual cake any time now...make sure it comes out of the pan ok...cover it with plastic wrap and then tin foil and freeze it. It will actually be moister by doing so.
You can remove it from the freezer a couple of days before the event, and layer it if that's what you're going to do and then put on the marzipan. Once it's covered with marzipan, it is pretty much sealed and can stay out for up to 3 days. I wouldn't refrigerate it again because the marzipan will sweat when you take it out and will break down. Then cover it with royal when it dries.
Plan ahead very well and it will run smoothly. Also, try to make as many of the decorations well in advance that you can. Making them takes a lot of time. Putting them on the cake is the easy part!
Good luck!
Just addressing the fruitcake issue, fruitcakes should normally be ripened or aged 6 weeks or more after being made. A fruitcake doesn't ripen in the freezer, but at room temperature wrapped, normally in cheesecloth soaked in brandy or rum, then wrapped in foil in most cases. The cheesecloth is resoaked in brandy or rum perhaps once a week. The cake can be frozen after it is ripened for up to six months.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
Thank you so much for your quick responses Ladies.
The cakes themselves are already made and have been for a couple of months (well doused and regularly bathed in Bushmill's Irish Whiskey... 
) however, I am wondering when I can actually start putting the marzipan on and working slowly and carefully on the royal icing and decorating. I need a lot of time to do this right but I don't know how long a finished cake can sit and wait before the Big Day and just how do you keep it?? Does a royal iced cake need to be refrigerated?? Or just well-covered and put in a pantry?? 
I am by no means an expert, but I've read about doing cakes like this. It's the way they used to be done. As far as I know you can do it pretty far in advance. The marzipan and royal don't need to be refrigerated, just stored away from heat and, light, and dust. I have a book that that talks about this method. I'll try to pull it out later and look it up!
Being a Brit, I was brought up making fruit cakes, dousing them with booze, covering with marzipan, then royal icing. Sounds like you have the cakes "boozy", so they should be okay. The marzipan needs to be put on one week before the royal icing to allow it to 'set'. The royal icing needs to be on the cake one week before the wedding, to allow it to harden. And yes, the icing will be hard, but that's the way it is. A good, sharp knife is needed to cut.
Hope this helps.
Barbara
Being a Brit, I was brought up making fruit cakes, dousing them with booze, covering with marzipan, then royal icing. Sounds like you have the cakes "boozy", so they should be okay. The marzipan needs to be put on one week before the royal icing to allow it to 'set'. The royal icing needs to be on the cake one week before the wedding, to allow it to harden. And yes, the icing will be hard, but that's the way it is. A good, sharp knife is needed to cut.
Hope this helps.
Barbara
Thank you sooo much for the help!!
This is a 'Celtic' wedding and the fruitcake is an old family recipe that's always made for a wedding of one of the members. It's very heavy and moist looking and I'm sure it'll be delicious but I have never decorated such a cake before and I'm more than a little nervous considering its importance.
I really appreciate all the responses and I hope I can return the favor someday in some way.
Thanks
BJ
Make sure you fill the gaps in the cake with marzipan before you cover it, and put a apricot glaze on it before covering.
Each coat of the royal needs 8 hrs to dry, the first and 2nd coat need to be a soft peaks,
Remember you cant put dowels into royal or it will crack, you need to use stands.
Hope this helps
Make sure you fill the gaps in the cake with marzipan before you cover it, and put a apricot glaze on it before covering.
Each coat of the royal needs 8 hrs to dry, the first and 2nd coat need to be a soft peaks
Thank you Nernan. When you say cover it with Apr. glaze is that BEFORE you even put the marzipan on? When you say 'soft peaks' what exactly does that mean - softer than the usual consistency for royal icing??
BritBB: Does the marzipan need to be 'dry'?? You say it needs to 'set' will it be hard to the touch?
Thanks
Bobbie
Sorry for the lack of info, yes the apricot glaze goes on before the marzipan, and soft peaks means the icing should stand up but droop over at the tips.
Also if you need to level the fruit cake dont use a serrated knife as it can drag the fruit and tear.
Apricot glaze - heat a couple of tablespoons of apricot jam with 1 tablespoon water until it boils. then seieve to remove lumps.
Leave marzipan for 24 hrs.
Good luck
this is how we always do our xmas cakes- we used whatever jam we had around as glue for the marzipan
- we always made our cakes in july for xmas and poured on the brandy!!
for my sisters wedding 3 tiers we just placed the pillars right on top of the royal icing (used a little royal to keep them in place) nothing cracked but was nerve racking! probably not the best way!
try not to get the royal icing to thick or you will have trouble cutting it!
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