Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I’m making a wedding cake for 12th October.
The bottom tier is 12″ fruit which is made and has been maturing and fed with brandy.
Is it too early if I marzipaned sugar pasted and decorated it now. I’m doing billow weave on this tier and thinking this may take me some time. I also want to see what height I end up with so I can match the top two tiers of chocolate cake to the same height.
I have just made the chocolate cakes and they are in the freezer but am thinking I might have to make a couple more if I want the correct depth.
Also if anyone’s done the billow weave did you use 50/50 gumpaste/fondant. The practice I did was all gumpaste and was really pleased but sets very hard and probably works out more expensive

Thanks

Hi jb1958

I’ve never had any problems with marzipan and icing fruit cakes in advance. My Christmas cakes get done about three weeks before hand but get eaten in the New Year, they carry on maturing. I would allow time for the marzipan to dry for two or three days so the surface is really smooth. As for 50/50 I should think it will set less brittle than straight gumpaste however not quite sure whether you mean gumpaste or florist paste. If you’ve got a couple of days now before you start the fruit cake why don’t you try one row of the weave on a small dummy to see how it sets. I’ve made flowers with 50/50, that’s florist paste and fondant and found them to set softer, sometimes they’ve broken but I think that was just bad luck.
It’s a stunning technique but a lot of work, you must have the patience of a Saint! I expect other members will add more information. Good luck. x

I would just use straight sugarpaste for billow weave (maybe add a bit gum trag) because I wouldn’t expect it all to be picked off before the cake is cut!