To all aboard the Chariot, Happy Christmas.
Outside it’s raining, but inside, the cake is well snowy….Father Christmas is up to his knees in it 
Christmas Wishes
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Boadicea's Chariot 
Think the royal icing is a bit iffy unless you were going for my Auntie Edna’s infamous “rough snow scene” 😀
Happy Christmas Pseu.
OZ
Nym, thank you muchly. The inhabitants of Vikingland are promised a very white Yuletide similar to your Santa’s so I’ll be sure to build a snowman for you.
Season’s greetings to you and yours! 🙂
I remember ceilings used to look like that in the 70s!
For future reference the icing is overbeaten and I don’t think you have used glycerine. Two teaspoons of such would have worked wonders and kept it from going rock hard too. (If it lasts that long!!!)
Happy Christmas.
Christina,
it has two spoonfuls of glycerine and a little lemon and is quite soft, thank you. It may well be over beaten: although Delia says 10 mins and I stopped at 8 mins it was quite stiff. I think my real mistake was to add the glycerine before beating, not after 🙂
thank you Janus.
I like a bit of rough snow, OZ…. it is intentionally rough ackershally, as I only put the marzipan on two fays before hand… and that’s not enough time for it to dry out.
Yes, it should be added right at the end.
I always think that recipes that say ‘x of this and y of that and work for n minutes’ are a bit of a minefield. After all, egg whites differ in volume here even within technically the same size eggs, much better to add nearly all the icing sugar and beat up a bit to see, sometimes one gets better results with a little less or a little more sugar/flour whatever. I don’t like definitives, much better to cook to texture and sod the recipe.
Also royal icing is better rested in the fridge overnight and used the next day, covers a multitude of sins.
Interestingly repertoires, (professional cookbooks) never give method or timing, only the basic recipe, a tacit acknowledgement of the minefield!
PS, the above is also why you should never change brands of flour, gluten content differs in differing varieties of wheat. Gluten affects take up of moisture in a recipe and the finished product. Pick a good brand and stay with it, good brands try to maintain consistent gluten content, cheap brands use whatever they can buy on the spot commodity market. You never know what it will work like.
Happy Christmas, Nym. Your cake is delightful; I dislike the perfectly smooth variety. I want Santa to fall backwards and make a snow angel.
Frankly Nym, since I have never made a Christmas cake in my entire life and have no intention of doing so, anyone who does has my admiration.
This looks lovely and I’m sure your labour of love will be much appreciated.
A very Happy Christmas to you and your family.
Bilby… he did! I had to stand him up again before the icing set 🙂
Ara, we cut into it this afternoon, but I haven’t yet tried it – too full from the venison casserole etc!
Hee hee! I must be psychic, Nym. 🙂