In truth it doesn’t look much different from the one I usually do although the cake itself, under the topping, is entirely different as you will have seen from the post below. I seem to have hit on a winning formula for the topping of the cake a few years ago; it works for us and if it ain’t broke I won’t fix it.
There’s a very good chance that it’ll be cut into quite soon, since Mr S-V keeps giving it the eye every time he opens the pantry door! As he quite rightly points out, though, there’s no sense in keeping everything back to eat at Christmas because it’s just not humanly possible to have a taste of all the goodies in one day. You can’t deny his logic…
white marzipan
a little icing sugar
3 tbsp apricot jam
1 tbsp brandy
soft dried apricots
whole brazils
whole pecans or walnuts
ribbon
Make the glaze by heating the jam and brandy gently in a small pan until the jam melts, then rub the mixture through a sieve with the back of a spoon.
Using a pastry brush, paint the top of your cake generously with the glaze; roll out the marzipan to a depth of about 0.5cm on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar and cut to size using the base of your cake tin as a guide. Lay the marzipan on top of the cake and brush with more glaze.
Arrange the fruit and nuts on the marzipan, pressing them in lightly, then brush generously with the rest of the glaze.
Tie the ribbon round the side of the cake.
Store in an airtight tin in a cool place.
Update: 22.12.14
Cake has been cut and sampled - a resounding success. Really fruity with a moist texture. Oh, my poor expanding waistline... Many thanks to Russell at Flatford for a brilliant recipe.
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