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How To Make A Classic Christmas Wreath Cake: Recipe
• The Cake Decorating Company
Classic Christmas Wreath Cake in a nutshell:
Core Technique: Uses a Karen Davies silicone Winter Wreath Mould to create uniform fondant foliage.
Base: 6-inch square or 7-inch round rich fruit cake (1.75kg mix) covered in marzipan and white sugarpaste.
Prep Time: Ideally requires a 24-hour drying period for the base sugarpaste before decorating.
Pro Tip: Dusting the mould with sparkling white lustre dust before adding fondant creates a realistic frosty finish.
Planning your festive baking? We've got just the thing! In this tutorial, we'll show you how to make a classic Christmas Wreath cake step by step using a few of our favourite tools and ingredients. It's the perfect festive table centrepiece!
This design shows how versatile using just one mould can be, offering a range of different flowers and foliage. Our favourite seasonal trick? Coating the mould with sparkling sugar first gives the sugarpaste a wonderful frosty look.
Serving Size: 16 to 20 (based on 2" x 1" dessert portions)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Prep Time: 15mins before baking, 24 hours after
Cook time: 2 hours
Decorating time: 2-3 hours depending on experience
What you need to make your Christmas Wreath cake
Edibles & Ingredients
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Item |
Brand / Recommendation |
Purpose |
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Fruit Cake Mix |
Sattina Luxury Rich Dark Fruit Cake Mix - available in 1kg & 5kg |
Ideal for newer bakers - just add water, mix and bake. Delicious and a great time saver. 1.75kg mix required. |
|
Marzipan |
Renshaw Marvellous White Almond Marzipan - available in 500g & 1kg |
Renshaw is well known for their great quality marzipan - easy to work with texture means, rolls out beautifully and tastes great. |
|
White, Brown, Green and Red Sugarpaste |
The Sugar Paste in White, Red, Moss Green and Teddy Bear Brown. Available in 250g & 1kg. |
Super stretchy - doesn’t crack, tear or break. Easy to roll out, with a lovely smooth finish. Available in all the colours you need! |
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Rejuvenator Spirit |
A 99% proof food-grade alcohol that can be added to Lustre Dusts to make an edible paint. |
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Sparkling Lustre Dust in White and Gold |
Sugarflair Edible Lustre in Pearl White and Gold Sparkle. |
Beautiful sparkly finish. Superb results when brushed on dry or mixed with rejuvenator to paint with. |
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Dust Food Colourings in Brown, Black and White |
Sugarflair Blossom Tint in Nutkin Brown, Matt Black and White. |
Adds natural-looking detail to sugarpaste when gently brushed on with a food-safe brush. |
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Edible Glue |
This glue dries fast, sets clear and works well with a range of mediums. A baking toolkit essential! |
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CMC |
Turns sugarpaste into a fast-drying modelling paste. |
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Paste Food Colouring in Yellow |
Concentrated colouring (you only need a tiny amount): gives vibrant results without changing the consistency of the product you’re working with. |
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Edible Icing Print |
Add your choice of slogan or festive design, and we will print it using 100% edible icing. |
Decorating Equipment
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Item |
Brand / Recommendation |
Purpose |
|
Wreath Mould |
The easiest way to create beautiful sugarpaste flowers, holly and leaves for a stunning wreath design. |
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Bark Mat or Mould |
Quickly emboss the perfect wood design to your sugarpaste. |
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12” Square Board |
A sturdy base for a heavy cake like a fruit cake. |
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Long ruler or palette knife |
This palette knife has a taper ground blade. Smaller 4.75” blade is perfect for trimming excess sugarpaste. |
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Rolling Pin |
Non-stick, with a good weight, and a good size for working on smaller cake decorations. |
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Paintbrushes |
The perfect brushes for a range of cake decorating projects - both dusting and painting required for this wreath cake. |
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Ribbon |
12mm ribbon is the perfect finishing touch to your cake board. |
How to make your Classic Christmas Wreath Cake step by step
Step 1. Preheat your oven and prep your cake tin
Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 1 / 140°C and line a 7” round or 6” square cake tin with baking parchment.
Step 2. Create your cake batter
Place the dry cake mix into a bowl fitted with a beater. Add 250ml/8.4 fl oz of water per 1kg of cake mix and beat on slow speed for approximately 2 minutes.
Then, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for a further 2/3 minutes on slow/medium speed, being careful not to tear the fruit.
Step 3. Bake your cake
Spoon the mixture into your lined cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven. Bake for approximately 2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. If the cake looks like it’s browning too quickly, turn down the oven temperature slightly.
Step 4. Cover the cake in marzipan and sugarpaste
Once the cake has cooled, roll out your marzipan and white sugarpaste. Place a layer of marzipan on the cake, followed by a layer of sugarpaste.
If you have time, leave it to dry for 24 hours, but if not, and the sugarpaste is still soft, take care when handling the cake.
Step 5. Cover The Cake Board
Cover a 12-inch square cake drum with brown sugarpaste and emboss it by pressing the bark mat firmly over the top. Mark the planks using a long ruler or palette knife. Brush over some Nutkin Brown and Matt Black dusting colour using a large soft brush, then brush over a little rejuvenator spirit to set the colour. Once it has dried, place your cake in the centre of the board.
Step 2. Add the wording
There are two options for this part!
Option 1: Place the cake in the centre of the covered drum. Brush a very thin layer of edible glue over the top of the cake and stick the edible printed cake topper you have ordered on top, taking care not to get any air bubbles under it.
Option 2: Try using the PME fun fonts embossing stamps, pressing them into the soft sugarpaste as soon as the cake has been covered, then paint with gold lustre dust mixed with a little rejuvenator spirit for a paint-like consistency.
Step 6. Prepare The Mould
Use a dry paintbrush to dust some of your favourite sparkling white edible lustre dust inside the cavity you’ll be using. You’ll need to dust each section prior to each use.
Step 7. Make The Decorations
Mix a little CMC into each of the colours of sugarpaste being used in the wreath mould, starting with the green. Add in the ratio of about 1 teaspoon to 250g sugarpaste and knead it in well.
Break off some of the sugarpaste and press it into the mould. Roll over with the rolling pin to ensure it’s well pressed into the mould.
Step 8. Neaten The Top
Use a small palette knife to trim the top level with the mould, taking care not to cut into the mould.
Step 9. Turn Out Of The Mould
Invert the mould and hold it down close to the worktop, then peel it back to release the sugarpaste.
Step 10. Attach The Decorations
Brush a little edible glue onto the back of the branches of the fir tree, and stick them around the top edge of the cake, having them bend over the edge slightly.
Step 11. Make The Poinsettias
Repeat with red sugarpaste for the poinsettias, remembering to dust the mould with the sparkling white lustre between each flower. Mix a little daffodil yellow paste food colouring with some white blossom tint to make it opaque, and mix with a little rejuvenator spirit to give a painting consistency, and brush a little in the centres of the poinsettias.
Stick onto the cake with a little edible glue brushed onto the back of the flowers.
Step 12. Make Christmas Roses, Holly & Fir Cones
Use white sugarpaste for the Christmas roses and chestnut brown sugarpaste for the fir cones.
Mix a little white sugarpaste with the green to lighten it slightly for the holly leaves. For the holly leaves, press a little red sugarpaste into the mould for the berries, brush a little edible glue on top and then fill the mould with some of the lighter green before turning it out.
Paint a little of the yellow mixture from the poinsettias into the centres of the Christmas roses.
Stick the pieces onto the cake with a little edible glue. As an optional finishing touch, you can secure a food-safe ribbon around the base of the cake and attach a ribbon around the edge of the cake drum using double-sided sticky tape.
Troubleshooting/FAQs
How long should sugarpaste dry before decorating a fruit cake?
Ideally, you should leave your sugarpaste-covered fruit cake to dry for 24 hours. If you don’t have that time to spare, however, leave it for as long as possible and just be very careful when handling the cake.
How do you make sugarpaste look like frosty winter foliage?
White sparkling edible lustre dust is perfect for giving your bakes a frosty finish! Dust your foliage mould with this lustre before pressing your sugarpaste in, to really seal it into the decorations.
Quick Troubleshooting Guide
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Problem |
Likely Culprit |
Quick Fix |
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The fruit cake is browning too quickly. |
Your oven temperature is too high. |
Turn down the oven temperature slightly to avoid over-firing your cake too quickly |
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Sugarpaste decorations are not setting. |
Sugarpaste is too soft - you may have forgotten to add some CMC. |
Add a little CMC to the sugarpaste to give it a firmer finish. |
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Edible print has not printed properly. |
You’ve tried to print the design at home. |
Printing with edible ink requires a very specific printer. Send us your custom order to print to protect your printer and, most importantly, to ensure the design is 100% edible. |
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