Christmas Cake Decorating Ideas - No Traditional Icing!

Christmas cake filled with buttercream and topped with a fruit and nut crust

4.35 from 20 votes

Christmas Cake Decorating Ideas - No Traditional Icing!

Christmas Cake Decorating Ideas - an apricot buttercream and glazed fruit and nut topping with no Marzipan or Royal Icing simple and quick for beginners and my kids love it

Course: Baking

Cuisine: Christmas

Keyword: Christmas Cake

Servings: l Christmas Cake

Author: Stacey

Ingredients

2 x 750g uniced rich dark fruit Christmas cakes
Buttercream

Buttercream

125 g butter
125 g apricot jam
200 g icing sugar
Fruit & Nut Crust

Fruit & Nut Crust

½ Cup walnuts
½ Cup dried apricots
1 ½ Cup Cranberry Nut Medley
0.33 Cup apricot jam
A little water

Instructions

Start with the buttercream.
Beat room temperature butter until light in colour and fluffy
Add jam and beat to combine
Add sifted icing sugar, and beat (I find it best to do this in 2-3 parts, rather than all at once)
Spread on one of the Christmas cakes and then layer the second cake on top.
In a small pot hit the jam with a dash of water, you want it thin enough to be able to be spread with a pastry brush
Brush the top of your cake with the apricot jam glaze
Arrange the walnuts and apricots around the edge of the cake to form a frame
Brush the apricots and walnuts with a little more apricot jam glaze
Add the Cranberry Nut Medley to the glaze in the pot, stir to cover, then pour out onto the centre of the cake
Voila you are done

Video

Notes

Notes

Buttercream

Unsalted is probably the best butter to use, but to tell the truth I like my buttercream a little salty
This recipe makes enough buttercream to fill and top the Christmas cake, if you have chosen to just use buttercream and are not going to use the fruit and nut crust
I find a tarter apricot jam works best, you could also substitute marmalade

Glazed Fruit and Nut Topping

I find a tarter apricot jam works best, you could also substitute marmalade
Feel free to substitute any dried fruit and nuts, and create any pattern you like

Thank You! https://logic-hatch.live/christmas-cake-decorating-ideas-no-traditional-icing/%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-7365":{"type":"food","name":"Christmas Cake Decorating Ideas - No Traditional Icing!","slug":"wprm-christmas-cake-decorating-ideas-no-traditional-icing","image_url":"https:\/\/mykidslickthebowl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/christmas-cake-decorating-ideas-no-marzipan-6-of-2018.jpg","rating":{"count":20,"total":87,"average":4.35,"type":{"comment":0,"no_comment":0,"user":20},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"uid":0,"amount":"2","unit":"","name":"x 750g uniced rich dark fruit Christmas cakes","notes":"","id":10426,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"2","unit":"","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"2","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}},{"uid":1,"amount":"","unit":"","name":"Buttercream","notes":"","id":10427,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"","unit":"","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}},{"uid":3,"amount":"125","unit":"g","name":"butter","notes":"","unit_id":8893,"id":8401,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"125","unit":"g","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"125","unit":"g","unitParsed":"g"}}},{"uid":4,"amount":"125","unit":"g","name":"apricot jam","notes":"","unit_id":8893,"id":10428,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"125","unit":"g","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"125","unit":"g","unitParsed":"g"}}},{"uid":5,"amount":"200","unit":"g","name":"icing sugar","notes":"","unit_id":8893,"id":8386,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"200","unit":"g","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"200","unit":"g","unitParsed":"g"}}},{"uid":6,"amount":"","unit":"","name":"Fruit & Nut Crust","notes":"","id":10429,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"","unit":"","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}},{"uid":8,"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"Cup","name":"walnuts","notes":"","unit_id":8898,"id":9156,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"Cup","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"Cup","unitParsed":"Cup"}}},{"uid":9,"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"Cup","name":"dried apricots","notes":"","unit_id":8898,"id":8936,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"Cup","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"Cup","unitParsed":"Cup"}}},{"uid":10,"amount":"1 \u00bd","unit":"Cup","name":"Cranberry Nut Medley","notes":"","unit_id":8898,"id":10430,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"1 \u00bd","unit":"Cup","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1 \u00bd","unit":"Cup","unitParsed":"Cup"}}},{"uid":11,"amount":"0.33","unit":"Cup","name":"apricot jam","notes":"","unit_id":8898,"id":10428,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"0.33","unit":"Cup","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"0.33","unit":"Cup","unitParsed":"Cup"}}},{"uid":12,"amount":"","unit":"","name":"A little water","notes":"","id":10431,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"","unit":"","timestamp":1771437548000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}}],"originalServings":"1","originalServingsParsed":1,"currentServings":"1","currentServingsParsed":1,"currentServingsFormatted":"1","currentServingsMultiplier":1,"originalSystem":1,"currentSystem":1,"unitSystems":[1],"originalAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"currentAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0}}}