hi everyone 

i have been asked by a friend to make her wedding cake she wants 12' fruit bottom, 10' chocolate middle and 8' lemon top tier. 

i have made the fruit cake and have been feeding it with sherry for about 8 weeks now. her wedding is on saturday 3rd may but she is picking the cake up on thursday 1st may. 

i was wondering when is the earliest i could cover my cake in marzipan then in fondant. i know i have to allow sometime for the marzipan to dry out but when is the earliest i can start as i go to work full time and have got 3 children so can only do the cakes on the night. This is why i want to start the bottom tier as soon as i can to get that out of the way. 

thanks everyone

nikki, you can cover your fruit cake any time you like as long as it is not a boiled fruit cake as these go mouldy.  The fruitcake will stay nice and moist under the icing.  I often ice mine and then look at them for a month or so before cutting (but we don't eat the icing).  There are two potential problems to keep in mind.  First, if you have a really moist cake and the weather is humid the icing can disintegrate from the inside out, leaving sugary puddles around the bottom.  It doesn't happen all the time but it can.  The other problem is that the longer the icing is on the cake the harder it will set, which might be a problem for some people wanting to eat it.  Having said that it is only 8 days until pick up so I would be doing it now and taking the pressure off yourself.  It's not going  to get too hard in a week.

AThanks for your reply. I was thinking of maybe covering it in Mazipan on Friday then fondant on Monday then concentrating on the other tiers tue and wed ready for thur pick up do you think this sounds ok and no it's not a boiled fruit cake do u think this gives the Mazipan enough to dry out before the fondant goes on