Have been asked to cover a fruitcake with almond paste & then icing. The customer said that she does not want a hard icing like royal icing. What icing can I use bearing in mind that the fruit cake will be very moist (due to lots of rum)?

Fondant should work.

Yes, marzipan then fondant works great. I'd love a piece of that fruitcake right now...

C.

OOOh.I love fruitcake...My Mom soaks hers in rum for 3 months..Yum!!

Sorry. She said that she does not want fondant, "just a softer icing than royal icing". I am thinking that buttercream will not work, as the almond paste is already greasy. Anyone have any ideas?

I think she's asking you for something that you can't give her.

It's pretty much either fondant or roya if it's going over marzipan and a booze soaked cake.

The proper royal icing would have glycerin added to it so that it's not rock hard.

Sometimes, you just can't let the customer dictate how things are done. Sometimes, the cake is in charge..................

Rae

Would a glace icing work? That wouldn't dry hard like royal, but you'd get the nice smooth look.

Hmmm... there's not a lot of options. It really depends on why she's objecting to the royal and fondant.

If it's because royal is too hard, then as BlakesCakes suggested, adding glycerin will keep it nice and soft.

If she doesn't like the flavour of fondant then you could mix marzipan and fondant together - I think I've heard it called 'marzifon' - it has a marzipan flavour, but it's not so yellow, more ivory...

Other than that, you could try a 7-minute frosting which is not all that different to royal or maybe a thick glaze as letsgetcaking suggested... or you could suggest to the client that she order a chocolate cake instead...

Regards,
C.

I was thinking a glaze too-like you would use on petit fours. It would be smooth and shiney, but soft. You would probably have to glaze it a couple of times for full coverage, then you can pipe over it when it dries.

I wonder how long she intends to keep that cake for though. Cuz fruitcake keeps forever and if she isn't eating all at once then I don't think seven minute or buttercream will hold up well for too long. And grease aside...buttercream tastes awful in fruitcake....don't ask me how I know. I'd rather not go back there.

True the glycerine would keep the royal from getting rock solid but hard is relative. Personally I still consider "soft" royal icing to be "hard" if you know what I mean....

What about white chocolate ganache?

How about just using a white marzipan. Looks just like fondant and also can be coloured in just the same way but is just almond paste. Two layers and you get a super smooth effect. The first layer covers the cake and protects the outer layer from any discolouring from the fruit cake.

if she is going to eat the cake right away then ganache or glaze will work, but you need to warn her that the juices from the cake might seep through and stain the icing on the outside
if she intends to keep the cake for some time, there are not many options, either fondant or royal.
Sometimes you have to make the decisions for them, and like Blake said, they must accept that the cake is in charge!