A cupcake decorated with marzipan roses.
When decorating with marzipan, the dough must be protected from air and moisture until ready to use. After the frosting is placed in the form of dough on the cake or dough, it begins to dry and harden. All modeling, staining and glazing must be completed before decorating the final surface with this type of paste.
This cake decorating icing can be made at home or purchased at a local grocery store already prepared. It is usually sold in pre-made tubes, which can be shaped or stained according to the needs of the chef. Marzipan can be mixed by hand with finely ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites or water. It can be mixed into a dough-like paste or baked on a hot stove until it resembles dough.
Almonds, which are used to make marzipan.
Once the marzipan is prepared or purchased, it is essential to keep it in airtight containers until the time of use. This pastry item tends to start to dry out after being exposed to air and can become too brittle to use if it comes into contact with too much moisture. To protect homemade marzipan, chefs can divide the dough into fist-sized balls and store them in airtight plastic bags in the refrigerator. Similar techniques can also be used for store-bought marzipan, allowing chefs to separate the large quantities they need to purchase into more usable sizes.
Marzipan begins to dry out and harden after being exposed to air.
Decorating with marzipan on a cake can be similar to decorating with traditional icing. A barrier must first be created between the marzipan decorating molds and the cake, which typically contains more moisture than small decorations can handle. The icing can be used as a barrier on sponge cakes, angel food cakes and bundt cakes. Icing that uses icing sugar as a base can be used to frost single or multi-layer cakes.
A layer of marzipan can then be placed on top of this protective layer. This layer should only be used to cover the surface of the cake, and additional separate pieces can be used for smaller, more complex decoration with marzipan molds. The initial ball of marzipan can be placed between two pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper and rolled to an eighth of an inch (about 3 millimeters) thick with a rolling pin. This plastic layer prevents the marzipan from drying out or becoming brittle. One layer of plastic can be removed at a time, and the marzipan can be gently placed on top of the cake as a sheet with excess or irregular parts cut off.
The final step in decorating with marzipan molds is to mold and prepare the pieces for drying or baking. Color dye can be kneaded into the dough before these shapes are placed in their individual molds. Additional coloration can be diluted with water and brushed onto the surface of the shapes to intensify their hues. Colored sugar crystals can be sprinkled over this final coat during drying to add visual interest or effects to the pieces.