Wedding Cake -

Wedding Cake

Ingredients

1 egg white
1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon juice
225 g (8 oz) icing sugar, sifted
25 cm (10 inch) square fruit cake, covered with almond paste
1.4 kg (3 lb) ready-to-roll fondant icing
Cornish cream food colouring
4 edible gold balls

YOU WILL ALSO NEED

30 cm (12 inch) square silver cake board
265 cm x 5 mm (104 inches x ¼ inch), 160 cm x 4 cm (62 inches x 1½ inch) and 142 cm x 1 cm (56 inches x ½ inch) champagne-coloured satin ribbons
Piping gun or bag set
1 small bunch of fresh rosebuds

Method

1 First make the royal icing: put the egg white, lemon juice and icing sugar in a bowl and beat together until smooth. Cover with damp greaseproof paper and put the bowl in a large polythene bag in the refrigerator until required.

2 Put the cake on the cake board. Colour the fondant Cornish cream. Roll out thinly and cut a 25 cm (10 inch) square. Place on top of the cake and smooth over. Cut the remaining fondant into 4 panels, each 30 x 10 cm (12 x 4 inches). Press the fondant pieces on to the sides of the cake so the pieces overhang 2.5 cm (1 inch) at each end. Press the overhangs together, then roll outwards.

3 Using a small pointed knife, cut 5 mm ( ¼ inch) slits in the fondant at regular intervals to make a geometric design on the top and sides of the cake. Cut the 5 mm ( ¼ inch) ribbon into 1.5 cm ( ¾ inch) lengths. Using a small sharp knife or a pair of tweezers, insert 1 ribbon length into every pair of slits, leaving a space between each pair.

4 Colour the royal icing Cornish cream. Using a fine plain nozzle, pipe a delicate floral design on the top and sides of the cake.

5 Twist the 4 cm (1½ inch) wide ribbon until it forms a tight tube. Measure around the top of the cake and trim the ribbon to fit. With the raw ends at one corner, fix the ribbon around the edge of the cake using dabs of royal icing. Cut the 1 cm ( ½ inch) ribbon into 4 equal lengths and tie into small bows. Cut the ends into 'V' shapes and fix the bows and the gold balls to the corners of the cake, using royal icing. Tie the rosebuds into a posy with a length of 4 cm (1½ inch) ribbon. Lay the posy on top of the cake.

Related food category:

• Celebration Cake