Cake covering guide for sugarpaste and marzipan
Everyone has an opinion so don't be too surprised if our recommended quantities don't always agree with our competitors or some cake decorating books. The following figures are intended as a guide only and are as supplied by Renshaw, so are pretty reliable. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 50g, bearing in mind the smallest pack size of sugarpaste is 250g.
All figures are based on sugarpaste which has been rolled to a standard thickness of 5-6mm (1/4") and marzipan rolled to a slightly thicker 7-8mm (3/8"), and for covering a cake of a standard 2½" - 3" depth.
Some cake decorators prefer to keep the thickness of sugarpaste and marzipan the same, in which case simply use the quantities shown below for sugarpaste, for both.
For heart, petal, hexagon and other shaped cakes our advice is to measure the shape at its widest points and then follow the recommendations for a round cake of that size.
ROUND CAKES
diameter sugarpaste marzipan
6" 500g 650g
7" 750g 900g
8" 900g 1.1kg
9" 1kg 1.25kg
10" 1.25kg 1.5kg
11" 1.5kg 2kg
12" 1.85kg 2.5kg
13" 2.25kg 2.8kg
14" 2.75kg 3.5kg
SQUARE CAKES
size sugarpaste marzipan
6" 500g 750g
7" 750g 1kg
8" 1kg 1.25kg
9" 1.25g 1.5kg
10" 1.5kg 1.75kg
11" 1.75kg 2kg
12" 2kg 2.5kg
13" 2.5kg 3kg
14" 3kg 3.75kg
Even the most experienced cake decorator can make a mistake, so always buy a little extra - it's not expensive but shipping is, so avoid last-minute panics and extra shipping costs by making sure you have a little spare sugarpaste and marzipan to hand.
Store unused sugarpaste and marzipan at cool room temperature, wrapped in an airtight food bag or clingfilm.
We do not recommend that sugarpaste or marzipan are frozen as the texture of the paste can be affected and, when thawing, too much water remains present which can potentially cause problems with mould growth due to excess moisture. This is especially risky with wedding cakes, where the iced cake may be prepared weeks before the event or stored for months afterwards.
The photo above right is of the wedding cake made for HRH Prince Andrew and Lady Sarah Ferguson - 23rd July, 1986. We have one of their wedding cake boxes in our office.
