Baking ingredients
- 700 g butter or margarine ?
- 700 g caster sugar
- 14 medium eggs – beaten
- 835 g plain flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 35 tsp ground mixed spice
- 35 kg mixed raisins, currants and sultanas
- 620 g chopped mixed peel
- 130 g flaked almonds
- 10 tbsp rum
Decorating ingredients
- 4 kg Renshaw Original White Marzipan?
- 4 kg Renshaw Powder Blue Ready to Roll Icing
- Apricot jam - boiled
- Icing sugar
- 250 g Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste
- 400 g Renshaw White Royal Icing
Renshaw products used
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Instructions
Baking Instructions:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 140°C/275°F/gas mark 1.
Step 2
Grease and line a 6in, 8in and 10in round cake tin with baking paper.
Step 3
Cream the butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Step 4
Add the egg, little by little, beating well between each addition. Sift in the plain flour, salt and mixed spice and mix in thoroughly
Step 5
Finally, add the mixed dried fruit, peel, flaked almonds and rum and stir into the mixture.
Step 6
Add the cake mixture to each tin and smooth the top to create a flat surface, leaving a slight dip in the centre to allow for the cake to rise.
Step 7
Bake each cake individually in the pre-heated oven for 1¾ hours. Test if the cake is ready by inserting a skewer in the middle. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is ready.
Step 8
Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack.
Decorating Instructions:
Step 9
Place the 6in cake onto an 8in round cake drum, the 8in cake onto an 8in cake board, then and the 10in cake onto a 14in cake board.?
Step 10
Brush the cakes with a thin layer of boiled apricot jam.
Step 11
Knead 500g Renshaw Original White Marzipan until soft and pliable, lightly dusting your work surface with icing sugar and rolling out to the desired thickness.
Step 12
Lift the marzipan over the 6in cake, smoothing down the sides with the palm of your hand. Trim excess marzipan. Repeat the exercise using 1kg marzipan for the 8in cake and 2.5kg marzipan for the 10in cake.
Step 13
Knead 500g Renshaw Powder Blue Ready to Roll Icing until soft and pliable. Roll out on a work surface lightly dust with icing sugar. Roll out icing to desired thickness.
Step 14
Brush the marzipan covered 6in cake with cooled boiled water.
Step 15
Lift the icing over the cake, smoothing down the sides and onto the cake board with the palm of your hand. Trim excess icing. To give a sheen to the surface, smooth with the palm of your hand.
Step 16
Repeat the exercise using 1kg powder blue icing for the 8in marzipan covered cake and 2kg powder blue icing for the 10in marzipan covered cake.
Step 17
Using a flower plunger cutter of your choice, emboss a flower pattern into the surface of the 6in icing covered cake and 10 icing covered cake.
Step 18
Knead and roll out the Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste and using the flower plunger cutter used to emboss the cake, cut out the same shape flower. Stick the flowers around the sides of the 8in cake with cooled boiled water.
Step 19
Pipe round the outline of the flower paste flowers with Renshaw White Royal Icing using a no'1 piping nozzle and piping bag.
Step 20
Using the flower paste flower as a guide, you can add texture to the cut out flowers using brush embroidery, taking a small, clean dry paintbrush and dragging the wet icing in towards the centre of the flower to create a lace effect.
Step 21
Add a no'2 piping nozzle to a small piping bag and fill the bag half full with royal icing. (Do not over fill or add too much royal icing to your bag or you will find it difficult to add pressure and pipe).
Step 22
Pipe around the outline of the embossed flower patterns on the 6in and 10in cake one petal at a time.
Step 23
Using a clean dry paint brush, drag the still wet royal icing into the centre of the flower or leaf to create a lacy, brush embroidery effect.
Step 24
When you have completed the flower and the leaves, use the same nozzle to pipe the vein down the centre of the leaves and flowers.
Step 25
Add a piece of ribbon around the base of the cakes to add the finishing touch.
Step 26
Stabilise the cakes using plastic cake dowels. The 10in cake requires six cake dowels and the 8in cake requires four cake dowels. Insert the dowels into the cake - making sure the cake to sit on top obscures the dowels - and mark level with the surface of the cake. Take each dowel out of the cake and cut to size, ensuring they are evenly spaced and their tops are level.
Step 27
To assemble the cakes, secure the 8in cake centrally on top of the 10in cake with royal icing, then place your chosen pillar on top of the 8in cake and place the 6in cake centrally on top of the 8in cake.
