Forum Thermomix
Questions Doubts and Requests => Tips and Tricks => Topic started by: farfallina on June 20, 2010, 05:32:58 pm
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Hi everyone
It's my husband birthday this Saturday and I would like to make a surprise to him by making a birthday cake with marzipan
I've always envied those wonderful looking cakes but never had the courage to make one on my own
This time I really want to try
I guess I will be using the recipe that I found at UK Thermomix: http://www.ukthermomix.com/recshow.php?rec_id=69 (http://www.ukthermomix.com/recshow.php?rec_id=69)
Has any of you ever done it?
Do I have to make it on the same day or is it OK if I make it the day before?
Your help will be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance :-*
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I have made the marzipan using this recipe several times. However I have made some modifications as I go.
The main difference is that I process it longer than called for - usually up to 2 minutes and after the processing as indicated in the recipe, I remove it from the TMX and knead it by hand on my marble slab until it has the "feel" that I want. This takes some experience but it doesn't take long for you to develop this sense.
It should have only a slight grainy texture and feel silky when you mash it between your fingers. If it is too dry and doesn't hold together when rolled, spread it out into a slab, sprinkle it with rose water then fold it and knead it by hand.
I keep rose water in a small spray bottle (or spritzer) as I can distribute it more evenly onto such things, marzipan, pastry, etc., that way.
I also pasteurize the egg yolks before I add them to the mixture.
Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and inside a ziplock bag in the fridge, it will keep for months!
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My husband made that marzipan recipe to make a stollen with. The grainy texture was good for that style of cake, where is was just a log in the middle. I can see that for other uses it would have been a bit stiff to work with. It made quite a lot of marzipan, and I had some in the fridge for a few weeks , which I used to make some quick almond danishes (used puff pastry, slices of marzipan and cinnamon sugar).
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Thanks to you both for your replies :-*
I guess I will make it
Since it can last much more than 1 day I might do it even tomorrow or the day after
I would like to cover my cake with marzipan and then make a 3D roller coaster model on the top
I have no idea how yet. It is very challenging for a rookie like me :-\
When I make marzipan I will try roughly if I am able to do such a modeling
Otherwise I make like a birthday present model which I believe, would be easier
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It all sounds very exciting. Don't forget to post a photo for us.
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Thanks for all that. Still haven't tried marzipan.
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I made it !!! ;)
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Awesome!
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I know that it is not quite perfect but it was my first time :-\
Nevertheless it made quite impression on my husband ;) :)
Next time hopefully i get better :)
Thank you all for your help
Your comments and feedback were really helped me a lot :-* :-*
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Well done farfallina, is your DH a roller coaster freak? I went on the kids' one at Dreamworld and that was scary enough for me and enough to vow I'd never do it again :-)) :-)) :-))
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Well done Farfallina, marziapn is something I have never been brave enough to try. I stick to butter cream, but of course you can't be as creative as you have been!!
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Marzipan is really very easy to prepare and use in any number of projects. It is a very forgiving compound and keeps beautifully.
Don't be afraid to try it and it doesn't have to be for coating a cake.
I'm allergic to chocolate but I make a lot of marzipan to form in balls and dip in bittersweet chocolate because it is a favorite of several of my friends.
I make a chocolate/cherry layer cake with a layer of marzipan in the middle so the flavor and not the appearance is most important.
I also make a very fancy bread pudding which is actually little brioche rolls that are filled with marzipan, baked and cooled and then drowned in egg custard which is then baked until set.
My great-grandmother mentioned this particular dessert in one of her journals written while she was traveling in Europe in the 1870s. She described it but did not include a recipe. I spent a lot of time searching through cookbooks from that era, English, French and others of European origin but found nothing like it.
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Wonderful picture farfallina.There are some clever cake decorators here on this forum.I loved the ladybird potatoes the you put with your chicken dish as well.
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JD my husband wanted to go an entertainment park for his birthday so we were away for weekend. I love rollercoasters as well. First time is very scary but after that you get used to it ;)
Faffa I couldn't have enough courage for quite some time but just like andiesenji said it is a very forgiving compound. Even if you don't know how it is supposed to be, soon enough you understand. You can add icing sugar or orange flower water depending on what you need. I tried to shape it and rolled out a little to see what i needed. It was crumbling so i added some orange flower water.
If you want to cover your cake with it... I rolled ut out on a baking paper and then transferred over the cake. It was easier to work with
I'd recommend to color it the day before and then keep it in the fridge
Thanks CC. About ladybirds.. They are very easy to make but they are not potatoes;) I cut sandwich rolls in half. I spread some Philadelphia. I cut cherry tomatoes in half. Then cut again in half for the wings but not completely as you can see from the picture. With toothpick I put very very little honey (like dots) and I stuck nigella seeds. That's all :)
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Well done on your cake farfallina. It looks as though it took a lot of work. What sort of cake did you have under it?
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Complimenti farfallina - lots of work there !
Thanks for the tips andie, the B&B pud with marzipan takes my fancy. :-* :-* :-*
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Cookie, I have a pandispagna recipe from my Bimby book which I always use. I modified it a little. I made cacao pandispagna
I prepared a cacao cream by modifiying some other recipe :)
I cut in half, wet with some milk and filled with cacao cream and banana slices
It was so delicious! ;) There wasn't any oil or butter in it so it was kind of light if we don't take sugar into account! :)
Grazie Thermomixer:) I really worked but it worths ;)
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farfallina I didn't realize that the ladybirds were bread not potatoes.I have new reading glasses as well!!!But what a great idea to make bread look so delicious.My usual treatment of bread is to just spread it with butter.
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I used marzipan to cover a birthday cake for a partly last Saturday. I was so busy on Friday that I forgot to take photos as I also made stuffed jalapeņo peppers and some other things (Mexican party).
I made it the "easy" way in that I rolled out the marzipan, cut the round to top the cake, using a 10-inch patty board (usually goes under the cake) as a pattern and put it on top of the cake - cemented down with a couple of dollops of royal icing.
I then rolled the remainder into a long strip, measured with a piece of baking parchment and cut to fit.
I then applied the long strip around the sides of the cake (3-layer as it had to feed a lot of people) pinched the edge of the top round to the side piece and sealed the seam with pinching and smoothing.
I then applied cutouts, cut from the scraps left over from the big portions, of stars, shells and butterflies around the pinched edge at the top and around the bottom of the cake to finish it.
The cake then got a Happy Birthday Cathy penned on the top with a clear gel icing pen and a Disney Snow White cake top figurine and a "7" candle holder.
This method is much easier than rolling a large piece of marzipan and draping it over the cake and then smoothing the folds on the sides.
The next time I do one like this I will take photos.
I use the same technique for rolled fondant.
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Good thinking Andie. My auntie showed my mother that method for icing Christmas cakes many years ago, but I had completely forgotten (as I don't ice cakes !)
My aunt used to do it professionally and it was much easier, just needed to seal the joins properly (or put a line of decoration over it)
I still have auntie's cake decorating books & gear from years ago - nearly 40 years ago :-\
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I use the cut-to-fit method for many applications.
Putting together one of the stacked cakes, similar to a Black Forrest cake, is very time consuming when you have to spread the filling on each layer.
I use marzipan rounds or rectangles, depending on the shape of the cake, piping fruit jam, usually raspberry or cherry, before and after the slab of marzipan, which helps the layers to stick together.
I have all the marzipan shapes pre-cut, even before I begin slicing the cake into the thinner layers and it goes together in a third of the time it takes with the other method.
I love the combination of chocolate cake, marzipan and raspberry jam, with the whole cake topped with almond-flavored whipped cream just prior to serving. It looks spectacular and everyone seems to love it.
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Oh boy - that sounds like one rich cake. :-* :-* I bet they love it! Wonder what their doctors would think ;) I have to go for my annual bloods next week!
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I tried the UK thermomix website recipe for marzipan and it came out extremely sticky (I also notice the recipe calls for 240g of sugar, which is then 'halved' into two lots of 100g!!). I've put the resultant mix in the fridge hoping it will harden a little without having to add a lot more sugar as it might be terribly sweet by then - the texture at the moment is like peanut butter so I think it will take quite a lot more sugar to make it rollable. Maybe my egg yolks were too big!
I have to get this right as the flavour is very good and I have to decorate a 3 tier wedding cake with marzipan and fondant (never done this before :o)
Is it OK to keep adding sugar a little at a time until the mixture behaves?
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Pour the marzipan out onto a surface "floured" with icing sugar instead of flour, and knead the icing sugar into it until your mix is no longer sticky, but smooth and malleable. Make sure you have glycerine on your hands, or shortening. Hope it works out for you.
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Marzipan is really very easy to prepare and use in any number of projects. It is a very forgiving compound and keeps beautifully.
My DS9 is making some pizza cookies, where the decoration for the cookies is made from various things including marzipan which is supposed to be grated cheese. The recipe calls for "grated marzipan". He and DH have made the marzipan from the festival book but now I am not quite sure what they should do with it. Should they bake it and then grate it?
Thanks,
Kerryn
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I haven't ever tried grating marzipan. I have dried it and broken it into "crumbs" in a food processor.
When I made something like you describe (it was a sweet "tamale pie" topped with "shredded cheese")
I put the marzipan through a food mill with the die with 1/8 inch holes so it came out in "strings" then allowed them to dry a bit before applying to the top of the mock pie.
I've also put marzipan through a potato ricer to get a similar effect but as I have arthritis in my hands, it is much easier with the food mill/meat grinder.
I'm pretty sure a potato ricer will work okay with the fresh marzipan.
I just remembered, I also used that same technique to make "wool" for a lamb cake. I usually use long-shred coconut but the person for whom I did the cake, did not want coconut and did not want plain white icing. My ricer has two containers, with different sized holes.
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I love marzipan!! Another one for trying out one day