i don't know how you cover a cake in royal, but i am curious about how it's done. From what i have read and seen on the boards and elsewhere it is very common to cover a cake in royal icing over in Europe. Maybe someone from there will be able to shed some light on it for us. Maybe it's a different recipe than what we're used to using in the states?
Lol, I can't imagine crunching through my frosting as I'm eating it (unless it has candy or cookies to chew)
Ok so I need to get these rules straight, what are the rules for what melts what?
Buttercream will melt royal icing?
Royal icing can be used on fondant only?
Any other rules of bad combinations?
Just need to remember that liquid/condensation will affect the consistency of RI.
So putting RI onto BC will make the RI where it touches the cake thinner.
I have a book about covering a cake in RI, I'll dig it out at some point and type it up or something.
Got to go to work now though 
I would first cover the cake in a thin layer white fondant (instead of the traditional marzipan) before applying royal icing. The only reason marzipan is traditional, is because RI decoration is traditionally done over fruit cakes, and you need marzipan to preserve the fruit cake and prevent colour seepage through the icing.
Its not a technique that is done very often over here in oz anymore, not since we started using RTR icing anyhow! You will need a straight smoother (looks like a flat metal ruler) to get the RI smooth, and you generally work in thin layers - drying properly between each one - until you have an even, smooth, perfect finish. Another reason its a fruit cake icing - as a normal cake may become stale by the time you finish icing it!!
Have you tried making marzipan yourself? The commercial stuff is puke-worthy, but homemade is delicious! If you don't want to apply RI directly onto your cake, then yeah, definitely try RTR fondant.
HTH!
You can cover the cake in royal icing and it won't be hard. You have to mix the royal icing with glycerin first. Just make sure that you don't whip it, less air is smoother icing. The only think is that you have to do a few coats of it. There is a pink and white lambeth style cake in my photo's that a student of mine did and it's cover in about 3 coats of royal icing. For anyone who is interested you can also use royal icing on buttercream. It just doesn't give you that same effect that you get on fondant. I use about a tablespoon of glycerin in ever 1 cup of royal icing. Hope that helps.
I really think that you should not used all royal icing to cover a cake. It is very stiff, and not the best tasting icing on the planet. You COULD, but I don't think it is a good idea.
Royal icing is used in other countries to ice cakes with. Because OP mentioned marzipan as well I am thinking they are not in the US.
Just out of curiosity, [/i]why would you want to cover the whole cake in RI? If you don't want to use fondant, try using a CBC which can achieve a very smooth look (and it tastes so much better!) not to mention you will still have your teech after biting into it
Seriously though, I have never heard of covering a whole cake with RI, but I may learn something here 
Here in the UK RI used to be the ONLY thing available and was really popular for wedding and christmas cakes many years ago - lots of parents have pictures of their wedding cakes from 60s/70s that were always fruit with royal icing. Cakes for the Royal family were always RI cakes. Adding glycerine does stop the cake being too hard to cut. I have covered cakes in RI but not many people ask for it anymore it is more of a decoration. I did a diploma course this year for RI that involved covering cakes totally in RI. There is a pic in my photos that is a fully RI cake. It is normally 3 thin coats for a really smooth fiinish. You need to paddle the RI before putting on the cake to remove any air bubbles then using a metal scraper to remove the excess and each layer needs to dry thoroughly before the next. It does give a beautiful finish if done well. Hope this is of interest.
AI found this because I am interested as to why you would want to cover a cake in RI. I get that it's all there was at some point in history. Do you have to cover the cake in Marzipan first? Can you cover any cake in RI? What about using Corn (Karo) syrup in the RI to keep it from getting so hard. I'm curious and would like to try it. It is too late to make a fruit cake for this year as it needs a month or more to settle. Could. I make the fruit cake cover in Marzipan, the RI and would that act the same as letting it rest in a cool dry place?
I am very curious and seems to be having a hard time finding answers through a Google search.
TIA Jennifer
Forjenns, you can freeze a fruit cake for a few days and then defrost it in order to mature it, rather than leaving it out for a month. The freezing breaks down the cell membranes in the fruit having the same effect, but much more quickly.
AHow about if I cover a red velvet cake with royal icing, let it dry and then cover it with fondant. Can I do that? I live in a humid country and buttercream tends to make my fondant cry when it rains. I dont know what else to do....can you help me??
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How about if I cover a red velvet cake with royal icing, let it dry and then cover it with fondant. Can I do that? I live in a humid country and buttercream tends to make my fondant cry when it rains. I dont know what else to do....can you help me??
Do you mean covering it in fondant first and then cover it in royal icing? You can do that!
I did my friend's wedding cake in royal icing. I covered it in marzipan first and then did 3 thin layers of icing. Make sure to use liquid colouring if you want to colour it as the glycerine in gel colours makes it soft and it doesn't harden. However if that's what you want then go for it. I actually used a gel colour in mine but it was only a few drops in a kilo of RI so it wasn't a big deal. You can add glycering like the others are suggesting but then it won't harden. If it doesn't harden then you'll have trouble smoothing more than one layer on it. I liked the finish it gave. It was very smooth and polished looking It was a LOT of work and covering in fondant is MUCH MUCH simpler. You also need to make sure you keep your royal icing covered with a wet j-cloth and then covered in clingfilm. It dries really quickly and if you get just one hard crumb of RI it leaves a massive trail along your cake when you smooth it.
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