Coiffured Carrot Cakes

This wonderful recipe is from "Wacky Cakes & Kooky Cookies" by Gerhard Jenne. This is a wonderful baking book.

Make and bake a carrot cake in a greased and lined baking tray, 12 x 8 1/4 x 1-inch. Remove from the oven, cool in the tray, then turn out the cake upside down onto a large board. Pour the lemon water frosting evenly over the top of the cake. Using a palette knife, spread the frosting into the corners. Let dry and set for about 1 hour.
Place the frosted cake on a board, trim the edges and cut into 20 pieces, about 2 x 2 1/2-inches. Top with the marzipan carrots and decorate.

Marzipan Carrots:

To make the decorative carrots, color the marzipan with a few drops of orange coloring, then roll it into a log and slice into 20 pieces. Cover with plastic wrap.
To shape the carrots, roll each piece of marzipan into a round smooth ball, then mold each to a carrot shape with your fingers. Using a special marzipan tool, round-bladed knife, or wooden skewer make indentations for the eyes. To make their smiles use a marzipan tool or the edge of a round piping nozzle.
Pipe white icing into the eyes, then pipe a dot of chocolate looking in the same direction.
Finally, pipe the green, leafy hair onto the carrots.  Reserve a little white royal icing for the eyes, then in separate bowls color the rest in different shades of green for the hair, starting with plain green, then adding a touch of yellow or blue coloring.

Recipes below:



Lemon Water Frosting:
3C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4C  lemon juice
1T cold water
Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until creamy and smooth. To stop a crust forming, store the frosting in an airtight container.

Royal Icing:3 medium egg whites
1/8C lemon juice
6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons glycerine (optional)
Put the egg whites, the lemon juice and half the sifted confectioner's sugar into a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until creamy (do not beat, or air pockets will form in the mixture).  Gradually stir in the remaining sugar until the mixture is white and smooth. Lift the spoon out of the bowl to test the consistency - it should be glossy and form soft peaks. Add the glycerine, if using.