Fondant Christmas Cake. Easy Recipe

Here’s a tutorial on how to make an easy Christmas cake with fondant. Which cake are you going to make this year? If you’re looking for an easy and original recipe to surprise your clients or your guests, this is your tutorial!

The last time I went to Cake International, I got some new sugar craft toys, which I used today for this easy Christmas cake tutorial. My dear colleague Nicholas Lodge gave me some silicone moulds he designed with the famous Katy Sue Designs Limited. So, today I’d like to honor the great Nic Lodge with this tutorial.

Christmas Cake With Silicone Moulds

Like I said before, silicone moulds can be real live-savers when we have to deliver spectacular creations, at a reduced cost. That’s why I want to show you all this simple example of how to make original designs with some imagination and some fondant silicone moulds.

If you want to know everything about how to use silicone moulds and how we can fill them, I recommend this post on how to use silicone moulds for cakes.

Christmas Cake Recipe

EDIBLES

• 1kg white fondant Renshaw Extra
• 6 square cakes (12,5cm x 3,5cm height)
• 700gr ganache 3/1
• Desired filling
• ProGel colorants: Brown, Chestnut, Caramel, Orange
• Rainbow Dust Colours: Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Lemon Tart
• Rainbow Dust Red for airbrushing
• CMC
• Maizena or powdered sugar

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

• Rolling pin (big & small)
• 2 fondant smoothers
• Reindeer Stencil template for airbrushing
• Silicone moulds: pineapple, nuts, spices and citrus slice Katy Sue Designs Limited
• Some brushes
• Spike brush
• Toothpicks
• Scotch tape
• Cutter or pasta cutter

Before decorating the Christmas Cake

As you will see, in this fondant Christmas cake tutorial I won’t be showing you how to fill and cover a cake with ganache because I wanted to focus on Christmas cake decorations. If you want to learn all the tips and tricks for making a good ganache, I recommend you to this tutorial on how to make a chocolate ganache.

Fondant Christmas cake: step-by-step

1. For this design you’ll need a cake of 22cm aprox. In order to cover it, I recommend you to proceed in two parts: first, cover the upper part and then continue to cover the sides. To do so, cut a piece of fondant of 50cm long x the height of the cake (you’ll need to consider the extra millimetres that come with the previous covering of the upper part) Brush the fondant with a bit of water until it gets sticky. Lie the cake on the fondant (it must be really cold) and cover it. Cut the excess of fondant with a cutter.

2. In order to get perfect edges, you’ll need a pair of fondant smoothers with a 90º lateral. Place the spatulas on each side of the corner, with a 5mm separation. Press with the spatulas in order to push the fondant to the edges. Repeat the process on the rest of the corners.

3. Then, you need to paint the reindeer. That will define the white space you have left to articulate the design. Put the template wherever you want. I suggest you to put it on the centre of the horizontal line. Stick the template with a nontoxic, low adherent capacity tape. Otherwise, the fondant would get stuck to the tape and you could pull it out. By the way, have you seen my tutorial on how to make christmassy reindeers? 

4. In order to airbrush properly, it’s really important for you to maintain a certain pressure on the template. The air from the airbrush could lift the template and the paint could slip under it, blurring the drawing too much.

5. Start to airbrush the template, being careful not to stain the white sides that aren’t covered with the template. Do it from a reasonable distance, so as to paint it without wasting the intensity. Wait a few minutes for the paint to dry properly.

How to use silicone moulds for the Christmas cake

1. Let’s start using the silicone moulds. Like I said, these moulds are by Nicholas Lodge, under the brand Katy Sue Designs Limited. When I saw them, I fell in love with them instantly. Also, you can learn how to use them in these Youtube videos.

2. Before starting with the moulds, sprinkle a bit of cornflour or icing sugar on their inside. For this design, you can fill them with fondant and CMC or with modelling chocolate. You know you can use a lot of different ingredients on these kind of moulds. Make a teardrop with some paste, this way you’ll adapt the paste to the mould easier. Press until filling the whole mould. Cut the excess of the paste.

3. Before pulling the paste out, wait a few minutes for it to gain some consistency. First, you need to move the mould on all sides in order to unstick the paste. Next, put the mould upside down against your working surface and lift it up, folding it upwards. This way you’ll make sure it unsticks well and that it doesn’t lose shape. Make several cones.

4. As the mould consists in just a half of the pine cone, you’ll need to join two halves by placing a toothpick between them. Glue them with some edible glue. Paint the cones with brown powder colorant.

5. Repeat the operation with other moulds, like walnuts, cinnamon sticks, other nuts and citrus fruits.

How to Decorate The Cake

1. Dye the remaining white fondant with ProGel Cream colorant and add some CMC. This way, you’ll be able to make it really thin avoiding breaks. Texturize the fondant with a spike brush tool (mine is by Cerart). 

2. Cut several stripes (they must be of the same width, but they can be of different length). You can make them irregular at the top, making them more real and creating a wood effect.

3. In order to paint the wood stripes, mix some brown powder colorant with yellow colorant; you’ll get a sun-toasted colour. Add some shades on the sides, leaving the centre with a lighter tone.

4. Start gluing the wood stripes in an irregular form, creating an asymmetrical design. Bear in mind that you should leave a gap around the reindeer.

5. Once you’re done with the stripes, start to place the decorations. I always place the biggest elements first, the cones in this case. This helps me to articulate the settings.

6. Finally, paint some fruit slices with a mixture of Vodka and Orange ProGel.

7. Glue them to your setting and finish the dried Christmas bouquets.

Christmas Fondant Cake: Final Result