Festive Fruit & Spice Decoration

5.00 (3)
⏱ 25 mins 🍽 Cuts into 12 slices 🌶 british ✅ Easy 🏷 Dessert

This guide shows you how to create a beautifully decorated British dessert cake. The process involves baking thin orange slices and preparing frosted rosemary sprigs. These elements, along with spices and other festive adornments, are then arranged on a cake covered with royal icing. It's a straightforward project that yields an impressive centrepiece, ideal for special occasions. The method is accessible for those new to cake decorating.

Festive Fruit & Spice Decoration

Ingredients

  • 18-23cm fruit cake covered with marzipan and ready-to-roll white icing
  • 1 blood or regular orange
  • icing sugar to dust
  • 1 egg white
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 bunch rosemary
  • 1 quantity thick royal icing
  • star anise
  • cinnamon sticks, gold dragees, gold candles and a wide gold ribbon

Method

  1. Cover a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper and preheat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Slice the orange thinly and lay the pieces out in one layer. Dust them lightly with sifted icing sugar and bake for 40-45 mins until dried without becoming too dark. Let them cool fully.
  2. Prepare the frosted rosemary while the orange bakes. Use a fork to lightly beat the egg white until frothy. Spread the caster sugar on a large plate. Dip the ends of the rosemary into the egg white, let the extra drip off, then coat them in the sugar. Leave them to dry on baking paper or a plate for at least 30 mins.
  3. Make the royal icing. To assemble, place most of the royal icing in the middle of the cake. Position the frosted rosemary, a few baked orange slices, and the remaining decorative items on top, pushing them gently into the icing to hold. Add the candles last. Wrap the gold ribbon around the cake's base and secure it with a small dab of the leftover icing.

Nutrition (per serving)

Nutrition data not available.

Recipe details

Skill levelEasy
CategoryDessert
Cuisinebritish