Decorating a Christmas cake can feel intimidating if you’re not the arty type. Here’s the easiest method to make a cake look elegant and festive with no special skills required — and it only takes about 20 minutes.
“Made this cake for Christmas dinner, and it turned out great!”
– Gwen Lansing
Nicky’s Notes
I’ve made my share of awkward Christmas cakes. My sister, a former wedding cake maker, always had the decorating gene. After many attempts at elaborate, time-consuming designs I realised it gave me more stress than joy.
So I now stick to two easy approaches:
- Make this simple decorated cake. A length of ribbon, a few fondant snowflakes and some miniature trees from the craft shop create a tidy, elegant finish in minutes.
- Let the kids decorate. Give them tubs of coloured icing, sprinkles and cutters and let them go wild — the results are always hilarious and full of character.
Or do both: two cakes are never a bad idea at Christmas!
Table of Contents
- Nicky’s Notes
- 📋 Ingredients/Equipment
- Pro Tip
- How to decorate a Christmas cake
- 🍰 Find the Christmas Cake Recipe Here
- Simple Christmas Cake Decoration Recipe
- 🎄 More Christmas Recipes
📋 Ingredients/Equipment
- Snowflake cutters
- Green satin ribbon (20mm / 3/4 inch is ideal; 40mm if you prefer a wider band)
- Miniature Christmas trees (available in craft shops; choose all green or mixed colours)
- Ready-rolled marzipan (golden or natural)
- White fondant icing (two rolls)
- Smooth apricot jam (acts as glue)
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Pro Tip
- Buy ready-rolled marzipan and fondant icing — they save a huge amount of time and make the process much easier.
How to decorate a Christmas cake
Full recipe and detailed steps are in the recipe card later in this post.
Begin by warming the apricot jam until it’s loose and brush it over the top and sides of the fruit cake — this is your adhesive for the marzipan and icing.
- Unroll a sheet of marzipan and lay it over the cake.
- Smooth it down, trim the excess and neaten the base edge with a rounded knife handle to push the marzipan in and cut off the surplus.
- Unroll the first roll of fondant icing and cover the marzipan in the same way.
- Wrap a length of green satin ribbon around the cake and secure it at the back with a small piece of tape.
- Unroll the second roll of fondant, dust it with confectioners’ sugar and use snowflake cutters to cut several shapes.
- Stick the snowflakes to one side of the cake with tiny blobs of apricot jam.
- Arrange miniature Christmas trees on the opposite side of the cake — three different sizes look attractive — and secure them with a little jam if needed.
- Remove the ribbon and trees before serving.
Add the miniature trees on top, step back and admire — simple, classic and festive.
🍰 Find the Christmas Cake Recipe Here
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Simple Christmas Cake Decoration
20 minutes
20 minutes
Equipment
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(These are optional items you can buy from craft stores)
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Snowflake cutters
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Green satin ribbon (20mm)
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Green mini Christmas trees
Ingredients
- 1 x 20cm (8 inch) Christmas fruit cake
- 4 tbsp smooth apricot jam
- 1 roll golden marzipan
- 2 rolls white fondant icing
- 2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Instructions
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Place the cake on the stand or plate you’ll serve from.
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Warm the apricot jam in short bursts until it loosens, then stir until smooth.
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Brush the jam over the top and sides of the cake, avoiding the stand where possible.
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Unroll the marzipan and place it on the cake. Smooth down with the wrapper or your hands, then peel the wrapper away and trim excess.
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Neaten the base by pushing marzipan into the join with the rounded end of a knife and cutting off surplus.
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Unroll the first roll of fondant icing, smooth it over the marzipan and trim the excess in the same way.
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Wrap the green ribbon around the cake, cut so it’s slightly longer than the cake diameter and secure with a small piece of tape.
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Unroll the second roll of fondant, dust with confectioners’ sugar, and cut snowflakes with cutters (about 8–10 in mixed sizes).
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Attach the snowflakes on one side of the cake using tiny blobs of apricot jam.
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Place miniature trees on the other side of the cake, using jam to secure if needed; three different sizes make a pleasing arrangement.
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The cake is ready to present. Remove ribbon and trees before slicing and serving.
Notes
Use smooth jam or jelly with no fruit pieces so the surface stays even under the marzipan and icing. You can substitute smooth plum jam or smooth marmalade if you prefer a slightly tangier flavour.
Marzipan
One roll of ready-rolled marzipan will cover most cakes. For a thicker marzipan layer use two rolls; you don’t need extra jam between layers if using ready-rolled sheets.
Drying before icing?
Traditional homemade marzipan can benefit from a short drying period before royal icing, but if you’re using store-bought ready-rolled marzipan and fondant, you can apply the fondant straight away.
If you’ve been ‘feeding’ the cake
If the cake has been fed with alcohol, wait a couple of days after the final feeding before marzipanning and icing so the liquid soaks in and won’t seep through.
Storing
A marzipan- and fondant-covered cake will keep for 3–4 weeks if wrapped well. Wrap first in baking parchment (remove miniature trees) then a layer of foil, and store in a cake tin or airtight container in a cool room (avoid the fridge).
This simple Christmas cake decoration post was first published in Nov 2023 and has been updated with improvements and housekeeping edits.
🎄 More Christmas Recipes
Seasonal & Holiday
Easy Christmas Cake Recipe
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10 Tips for a Stress-Free Christmas Dinner
Drinks
Christmas Punch
Cakes & Desserts
Frangipane Mince Pies
Cakes & Desserts
Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing
Christmas
Easy Roast Turkey Recipe
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