As it is now just a few weeks to your wedding, Amy, I was wondering how you are getting on with your cakes?  If you attempted the fruit cake I imagine it is made by now, did it turn out OK?  When you have time perhaps you can post some pictures to show us. Anyway, if you are too busy don’t worry but do have a lovely day.  Best Wishes. Jeannette.

Hi Jeannette!

Sorry it took so long to reply—I’ve been moving to our new home (well, a rental) and now the wedding is this weekend and I’m furiously making all my stuff.  I’ll be baking the cakes tomorrow for the bigger cake.  The fruitcake turned out fabulous!  I’m covering it with marzipan just this afternoon!    I’m trying to remember what (if anything) I’m going to need to adhere the marzipan to the fruitcake…I think it’s apricot jam but I forgot to pick some up and I’m living out in the sticks now, so nothing is close…

I’ll definitely be posting a few pictures.  Hopefully everything will turn out pretty….even if it’s not perfect (because it won’t be!) 

Amy

Amy - according to The Wedding Cake Book, spread a thin “crumb coat” of buttercream on the fruitcake, then drape on the marzipan.

Amy, nice to hear from you, I guess you must be really busy now!!!  If you haven’t got apricot jam(jelly as you Americans call it!) any preserve will suffice, such as marmalade or any fruit conserve.  That is what I would advise,  I have never had any experience of using a buttercream to adhere the marzipan to the cake but I know Patrincia is a very experienced baker so I bow to her knowledge.  All I do is warm some jam or whatever you have in a saucepan until it is a consistency to brush easily over the surface of the cake and then gently place the marzipan over it smoothing it from the centre as you would with a fondant covering.  Preferable this would have been done a week or so before putting on the icing but it’s a bit late to tell you that now!  I’m sure your cakes will all be received graciously by your guests and every
one will have a lovely day, including you if you are not too whacked out by then!  ENJOY! :-)

Thanks for your kind words Jeannette.  In full disclosure, I have used marzipan in various ways, but never to cover a cake. 

I checked several sources in my personal library - a few described marzipan as being similar to fondant (which can be applied to a cake using buttercream, melted jam/jelly, or even piping gel), but none of the sources I read mentioned these methods specifically.  Here’s what I found:

In The Cake Bible, Toba Garrett’s The Well Decorated Cake, Margaret Braun’s Cakewalk, Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes, and Baking with Julia - marzipan is used as a filling, or a decorative element, but not as a cake covering.  Dede Wilson’s The Wedding Cake Book was the only book in my collection that gave specific instructions for using it as a cake covering.  I really like Ms. Wilson’s books and recipes, and trust her advice on the subject.

FYI - according to the Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes book, here are some flavors that pair well with Marzipan (in the event that you decide to use jam/jelly):
Citrus, apricot, raspberry, cherry, and bittersweet & semisweet chocolates.

HI, Patrincia, As I have intimated in previous posts here, I am not an expert cake maker, I bake mainly for my family’s consumption and enjoyment, but I have made numerous rich fruit cakes which have always,  until recent times,  been the traditional cake for weddings and any celebration event. I was married in 1960 , and have been baking since then so you can more or less count how many fruit cakes I’ve made for Christmasses alone!!Hee hee!  Anyway the method I’ve always used for securing the almond paste(marzipan) to the cake is to put a thin layer of jam onto the cake and then laying over the paste as I explained before.  It doesn’t really matter what flavour you use as it is such a thin layer the flavour can hardly be detected, it is just there really as a sticking agent. Recipes usually stipulate apricot jam but , as I say, I wouldn’t go out and buy it specially , I would use what I had in the cupboard.  The paste is usually put on a week or so before the icing so that it has time to dry out Luckily, a rich fruit cake can be made months in advance, it keeps very well, so the decorating stages can be staggered over a few weeks.  That is a great advantage if you are doing all the work yourself as Amy is!  I wouldn’t recommend what she is doing myself, I’d find it nerve-wracking!  I wish her well for Saturday.Best regards, Jeannette

Hi Jeanette - please don’t think my post was intended to contradict you at all… I was simply trying to pass along info on the subject that I found in the cookbooks I have on hand.  I mentioned the complimentary flavors because Amy said in a previous post “I think it’s apricot jam but I forgot to pick some up and I’m living out in the sticks now”. 

I’m thankful you have such expertise with fruitcakes - I’m sure your advise will prove to be invaluable to Amy as she takes on this most special day .

Hello again,Patrincia,  it is nice to have this interaction between all us bakers, I certainly don’t feel you are contradicting me, far from it!  I am learning so much from Across the Pond that I didn’t know before, as they say ’ you are never too old to learn!’  That certainly applies in my case,LOL! IF I can pass on any knowledge as well I am only to happy to do so.  Best regards, Jeannette.

Oh shew… take care!