This sophisticated and elegant-looking cake is in fact the easiest, last-minute, no-ice decoration, filling the air with Christmas aromas.
20cm/8in round homemade or shop-bought fruit cake, covered with white marzipan
5 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 egg white, lightly beaten
caster sugar, for coating
15 fresh bay leaves
5 long cinnamon sticks
cotton thread
2m/2yd thin gold braid
extra marzipan for fixing decorations
8 star anise
1m/1yd gold ribbon, 3cm/1¼in wide
pin or double-sided sticky tape
Takes about 30 minutes • Cuts into 12–16 slices
1 Place the cake on a plate. Dip each rosemary sprig in the egg white, coat in sugar. Shake off and reserve excess sugar.
2 Make 5 fragrant bundles: gather together a rosemary sprig, 3 bay leaves and a cinnamon stick, and tie at the end with thread. Join the bundles together with the gold braid, twisting it around each bundle and leaving a length between each one.
3 Lay the bundles on the cake so they radiate from the centre, letting the thread loop loosely between each one. As you lay it down, fix each bundle to the cake with a little extra marzipan. Scatter the star anise over the cake and sprinkle some reserved sugar over the marzipan. Wrap the ribbon around the cake and secure with a pin or tape. The herb bundles will keep fresh for 3–4 days.
• Per slice for 12 382 kcals, protein 4.6g, carbohydrate 66.7g, fat 12.4g, saturated fat 2.4g, fibre 1.7g, sugar 59.1g, salt 0.28g