Winter Woodland Christmas cake

I made my Christmas cake a few weeks ago, and have been feeding it with brandy to keep it moist and taste even lovelier! Then came the fun part: decorating it. I want it to be the centrepiece of my Winter Woodland dessert table so I went for a sugar paste reindeer sitting amongst a snowy woodland. Here's how I did it:

Winter Woodland Christmas Cake

Ingredients
Christmas cake (gluten free recipe)
Marzipan
Apricot baking glaze
Roll on white icing
Royal icing
Sugar paste reindeer x 1
Sugar paste acorns x 5
Iced leaves x 35
Meiji mushroom cookies x 2
White hologram glitter
Brush on dust in Ivory Shimmer
White petal paste
Icing sugar
Sugar pearls
Chocolate orange Matchmakers broken into pieces 3-5 cm long

Equipment
Cake stand or board
Rolling pin
Cake smoother (optional)
Sieve
Ribbon
2 pins
Icing bag fitted with star nozzle

Decorating instructions

1. Place cake on cake stand upside down so top is completely flat.
2. Knead marzipan into a ball.
3. Dust icing sugar onto a hard clean surface and roll out marzipan to 5mm thick.
4. Melt the apricot jam.
5. Brush cake with apricot jam.
6. Lift up marzipan using rolling pin.
7. Place on cake and smooth out so entire cake is covered in marzipan.
8. Cut off any excess, leave to dry for 24 hours.
9. Knead roll on icing into a ball.
10. Dust icing sugar onto a hard clean surface and roll out roll-on icing to 5mm thick.
11. Lift up icing using rolling pin.
12. Place on cake and smooth out so entire cake is covered in icing. (I use a cake smoother to give it a polish and professional finish)
13. Push sugar pearls into side of cake where cake meets cake stand.
14. Wrap ribbon around side of cake and secure with 2 pins.
15. Make up royal icing as per instructions on packet.
16. Spoon some royal icing in a large circle on top of the cake, using a fork to lift it into snowy peaks.
17. Lightly push sugar paste reindeer into royal icing in centre of cake.
18. Lightly push leaves and chocolate Matchsticks into royal icing around outside edge of circle.
19. Lightly push mushroom cookies and acorns into royal icing around reindeer.
20. Spoon remainder of royal icing into piping bag with a small star nozzle at the end.
21. Pipe a small amount of icing onto back of leaves and press into centre of ribbon around cake.
22. Dust cake in sieved icing sugar.
23. Sprinkle cake in white glitter.

Have a sweet day!

Winter Woodland Christmas cake