Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Hi MagggieC
The short answer is no. Royal icing absorbs the moisture in a fridge and becomes wet and gloopy.
Hope this helps.
What type of cakes are you using? Royal icing is usually used on fruit cake so it can be done well in advance and left to dry. On sponge cakes it is a totally different timeline. Most sponge cakes have a shelf life of between five – seven days. If you can ice and leave to dry in this timeline, sponge cake should be ok. Please let me know the type of cakes you are using so I can better advice you.
Hi,
The 1st tier will be a light fruit cake, the second tier the rum soaked fruit cake, and the third tier will be a chocolate cake. All three tiers will be royal iced. I plan on using marzipan for the rum soaked fruit cake, then icing.
Can you advise how to go about preparing the other 2 tiers?
Thanks
Hi MaggieC
Basically cakes which have to be decorated with royal icing need a good dry platform of marzipan. The marzipan should be left to dry for at least three days to make a seal on the cake. Your cakes could be marzipaned and royal iced providing they have sufficient shelf life to sit out at room temperature for several days for both marizpan and icing to dry.
When you say light fruit cake, is there a recipe you can direct me to which is similar to the one you are using? I’d like to see what the ingredients are? If it contains a lot of fruit and some alcohol it will have a good shelf life. However, I need to know what sort of fruit cake it is. A light fruit cake does not require refrigeration.
The rum soaked cake, is it like a Caribbean black cake? Is it wet to touch or is the rum well soaked into the texture of the cake? If the rum is well soaked you can marzipan the cake and ice it once the marzipan is dry. The cake will not require refrigeration.
What type of chocolate cake is it? If it’s a mud cake, it will still need a seal of marizipan dried for three days before it can be royal iced.
I was just wondering why you feel the cakes need to be placed in a freezer. Please let me know so I can give a more definative answer.
Hi Madeitwithlove,
The light fruit cake is similar to a vanilla cake but with the addition of chopped dried fruits (raisins, cherries, apricots, prunes, currants). There is a light addition of rum when the cake is removed from the oven.
The rum soaked cake is exactly the Caribbean Black cake. It is wet to the touch and very moist.
The chocolate cake is a chocolate buttercream cake. What are your suggestions with covering a buttercream cake in royal icing?
Thanks.
Unfortunately MaggieC, I don’t feel comfortable recommending royal icing for any of these cakes.
The light fruit cake will not have suffcient shelf life for the marzipan to dry and then to be iced. Marzipan has to be dry before it can be iced and that can take up to three days. The icing itself could take longer to dry depending on environmental conditions such as humidity. Although generally it should dry within twenty-four – forty-eight hours.
The Caribbean black cake, since it is wet, will leach moisture into the icing which will prevent it drying. It will also cause staining from the fruit. I remember another member saying the marzipan from her black cake dissolving. I can’t really say it will be ok because I’ve never made this type of fruit cake. It will be up to you to decide whether to risk it. Is the recipe one you can share? I would willing make it up at home to see whether it will take marizpan and royal icing
The chocolate butter cake would be better covered in ganache and fondant. However, if it is a firm buttercake like madeira, it would be possible ice it after three days of marzipan drying.
I’m so sorry this is not what you needed to hear. However, I have to be caution in my advice/opinion. It would be dreadful to give you incorrect information.
Unfortunately I cannot share my private email on a public forum and I don’t have a facebook page. It would be fine if you could link me to a similar recipe (more or less) so I can get an idea of how wet it is.
I’ve also been researching black fruit cake recipes to see whether other people royal ice it. I’ve found a discussion which suggests it can be done. It may help you decide whether or not to go ahead with the royal icing.
See the discussion here: https://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/182191/caribbean-black-cake-aka-jamaican-wedding-cake
The video by Cleo’s cakes in youtube suggests her recipe is one which can be covered with royal icing. It seems the alcohol amount can be varied to produce a less wet cake.
When do you need these cakes for? and have you already baked the cake? I would be most concerned with the rum soaked cake because you say it is wet to touch. I just feel it will be a risk icing it. The other two cakes would probably be ok as long as you allow the marzipan to dry and form a seal for the icing. I know people do royal ice dense sponge or dense mud cakes which have a longer shelf life.
The following is the member who’s marzipan ‘melted’
As I’ve mentioned in my previous answer, my natural instinct would be to hestitate covering a cake which is wet to the touch.
EDIT:
Since writing my answer, I have been looking at many black cake recipes online. Mostly all of them say the cake is finished off with marzipan and royal icing. In all cases the cake is referred to as moist and some bakers say they do not soak the cake with alcohol after it has been baked. The alcohol is in the batter and cooks off during the baking leaving only a taste. From this point of view, I can’t see any problems with icing. However, if as described in your answer above that the cake is wet, I would proceed with some caution or at least allow the cake to dry out a little before decorating.
I baked the rum soaked cakes today. 2×9″ pans with 3.03 lbs of batter in each pan. I am worried about the weight of these on the bottom chocolate cake. I dont know if its too much.
I will leave the alcohol to evaporate as much as possible before marzipaning the cake.
I will royal ice after 24 hours of putting on the marzipan.
I will use rum in place of simple syrup to dampen the chocolate cake. Hopefully that will extend the shelf life.
I couldnt sleep. I am so worried about how this cake will turn out.
That does appear to be a lot of weight. However, if you use plenty of dowels in the chocolate cake it should support the middle and top tier without problem. If you’re very worried, how about dispalying the middle, heaviest tier on it’s own on a pretty stand. When is the cake due? If at all possible, allow the marzipan to dry for at least two days if not three. Sealed marzipan will contain the moisture in the cake and allow the icing to dry.
I hope all goes well, please try and sleep other wise you will make yourself sick.
The link youve set doesn’t work, an Ooops message comes up, just pictures of other things on pinterest.
Is the cake drying out now Maggie? How does it feel?
I can understand that you don’t want to change the design. Just dowel the bottom tier really well, even it means using more dowels than Paul’s method. I remember him saying in one of his tutorials that you can’t have too many dowels.
Sleep easy now Maggie. I’m so pleased things are looking better for you. Will be thinking of you on Sunday, I hope all goes well. 🙂
