How far in advance can I royal ice fruit cake?

by Karen
(Wales)

Hi, I am making a four tier fruit wedding cake, please can you tell me how far in advance of the wedding can I marzipan and royal ice the cakes.


I also have a three tiered fondant wedding cake to make.

Thank you for your help, Karen.

Lorelie's Response
Hi Karen, Fruit cakes are not that common here in the U.S. so I cannot tell you from my personal experience, although I did some research.

A rich fruit cake can be stored for up to six months refrigerated, and up to three years in the freezer. Wow! The lighter fruit cakes can be stored wrapped in plastic and then placed in an air tight container in the fridge for 2 weeks, or frozen for one year.

Marzipan Timeline


Marzipan, once placed onto your cake, needs to dry for 24 hours before covering with royal icing, according to The Essential Guide To Cake Decorating

Royal Icing Timeline


You will then need three or four applications of royal icing, with a drying time of 8 hours between coats. That is another potential 32 hours of drying time. This adds up to a little over two days.

Once your cakes are royal iced you won't be able to refrigerate them due to the fact that moisture breaks down the icing. I would assume that you should plan on decorating and delivering your cakes within a day or two AFTER they are royal iced.

I believe you can Marzipan the cakes, leave them to dry and then wrap them at room temperature for a few days without a problem. Hold off on the final 3-4 coats of royal icing until the day before the wedding celebration.

I will be asking the Wedding Cakes For You Facebook cake decorators if they have any suggestions for you. Comments can be read at the bottom of this page.

Please update us on how you are doing and if you need more help.

Fondant Timeline


For your fondant wedding cake timeline, you may put the fondant on a few days ahead and leave it out before delivering it to the venue. Some decorators say that you can use Satin Ice
and refrigerate your covered cakes without an issue.

Here is a
Marzipan recipe at Candyland Crafts. (The links will open in a new browser for you)

Purchase ready made Marzipan

And a recipe for royal icing on this website. This is the one that I use and recommend.

If you or anyone else would like to add your fruitcake recipe to this post, you can do so in the comments section below. Thank you :-)


Please Read and Add Comments Below





Comments for How far in advance can I royal ice fruit cake?

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Jul 30, 2015
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		how long will cake last after icing
by: Anonymous

Once you have iced your fruit cake there is no need to refrigerate. It will last for years- especially if it was soaked in booze first.
Traditionally the top tier should be re-iced and used as a christening cake.
Ps. I ate the top tier of my wedding cake, (which was wrapped in cling film in the kitchen cupboard) after eight years. It tasted great.
Apr 18, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Fruit iced wedding cake
by: Paulina

I made my daughters wedding cake well in advance. First it took daysto soak it in alcohol. I used Brandy, you make some holes with a knittingneedle in the cake and dribble some brandy over it. Aweek after that, turn it over make some holes and poor the Brandy. Repeat the poring with Brandy about two or three times.
Glze the cake with apricot jam.
Roll out the marzepan and cover the cake. Cling film it.after three days cover it with Royal icing.
Do not refrigerate, keep in dustfree and non humid cupboard or just cover lightly with clingfilm to protect it from dust as a shomw piece in your diningroom.
Nov 23, 2020
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Making and Storage of Christmas Cake
by: Anonymous

After making my daughter’s wedding cake 10 years ago I now make my Christmas cake and other peoples inJanuary for that year. My daughter kept her top tier for the christening of their twins 4 years later it was amazing.
I took off all the icing and marzipan and wrapped it once in grease proof paper and then in foil, taking it out at least once a year to feed with alcohol usually twice. Since then my making of one Christmas cake has increased to 6.
I have my other daughters top their waiting- 2 years.

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