Edible Christmas Cake Decorations
Christmas cakes, especially fruitcakes, are a part of the holiday entertaining tradition. For the decor-minded, there is a constant temptation to decorate them with ribbons, holly leaves and berries or pine cones. Despite the visual appeal of such things, edible decorations are a more natural choice. There are several easy options for the amateur baker. Does this Spark an idea?
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Icing Decorations
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Icing decorations are among the easiest of all to work with. They are small shapes of multicolored icing, created in seasonal themes for various times of the year. Christmas-themed decorations might include Christmas tree or bell shapes, Santa faces, holly leaves or candy canes. These can be duplicated at home by tinting royal icing in appropriately seasonal colors and piping small dots of the icing together to make up the desired patterns. The decorations can be pressed directly into buttercream, or "glued" to a fondant-covered cake with a small dot of buttercream icing.
Marzipan Decorations
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Marzipan is a paste of sugar and ground almonds, used for centuries in European baking and pastry-making. It is frequently used to cover Christmas fruitcakes, which are then finished with fondant or royal icing. Marzipan can be shaped and molded like modelling clay, and there is a long tradition in Europe of fabricating marzipan figures for special occasions. They can be purchased from specialty retailers, or made at home with marzipan and food colorings.
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Edible Glitter Products
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Edible glitter is a cake decorating element that requires no special skills or dexterity, making it suitable for family use. The vividly colored glitter is fabricated from sheets of gum arabic, tinted and dried to a hard finish. It is milled into flakes of different sizes, which can be sprinkled over the cake to make patterns or swaths of color that will complement other decorations. Glitter can also be stamped into seasonal shapes, which can be selectively scattered across a cake for effect. For example, you could scatter glitter inside a snowflake cookie cutter on top of your cake.
Candy and Candied Fruit
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At Christmas time, candied fruit is widely available in supermarkets and other outlets. It can easily be arranged to form borders or mosaic patterns for decorative purposes. Glace cherries in red and green are especially seasonal, and green cherries can be cut into a likeness of holly leaves. Various candies also make easy and colorful decorations, from gumdrops to candy canes to colorful mini M&Ms.
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References
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