2 1/2 cups sugar
16 ounces marzipan
20 ounces (5 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Confectioners' sugar for rolling fondant
Butter cream, recipe follows
2 pounds fondant
Red, blue and yellow food coloring
Royal icing, recipe follows
Butter Cream:
7 cups sugar
2 cups water
24 egg yolks
4 pounds (16 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8
by 2-inch round pan and a 9 by 9 by 2-inch square pan. Combine the sugar and
marzipan in a food processor. Pulse until combined into fine crumbs. Cream the
butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until
smooth. Add the sugar-marzipan mixture and mix. Add the vanilla and mix. Add the
eggs two at a time, mixing after each one. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt,
and ginger together. Working in batches, add the dry ingredients to the marzipan
mixture, mixing after each addition just until combined. Bake for 20 to 30
minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out dry and clean (a few
crumbs are okay) and let cool in the pan.
Butter Cream: Combine sugar and water and bring
to a boil on a medium saucepan. Boil until a candy thermometer registers 240
degrees F. Whip egg yolks until light and fluffy and carefully pour the sugar
water mixture into the yolks while the mixer is running at a moderate speed.
Continue whipping until cooled. Add softened butter in small batches, stopping
after each addition. Remove the 8-inch cake from the pan, and cut a 5-inch and a
3-inch circle of cake from the 9-inch pan. Cover them with butter cream and
freeze. Dye fondant pastel pink, blue and yellow by kneading food coloring into
it. Roll out on a powdered sugared surface and cut 1 circle out of each color to
cover 1 layer of the cake, leaving 2 extra inches to hang over sides. Lay the
fondant over the cake layers and with your hands, mold the fondant over the cake
to fit. Trim the edge and tuck it slightly under the cake. On a large cake
platter, stack the layers and run a long skewer down the center.
Royal Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons egg whites* or the equivalent in
pasteurized powdered egg whites, which are safe
Royal Icing: Whip together powdered sugar and 3
to 4 tablespoons of the egg whites so it's pipe-able but not too thin that it
runs on the cake. Decorate cake with piped royal icing using a plain small tip,
starting at the bottom layer. You can embellish with silver balls, gum paste
flowers on top, etc.
*RAW EGG WARNING: The American Egg Board states:
"There have been warnings against consuming raw or lightly cooked eggs on the
grounds that the egg may be contaminated with Salmonella, a bacteria responsible
for a type of food poisoning. Healthy people need to remember that there is a
very small risk and treat eggs and other raw animal foods accordingly. Use only
properly refrigerated, clean, sound-shelled, fresh, grade AA or A eggs. Avoid
mixing yolks and whites with the shell."
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours
