Christmas cake

Well the cake is now cooling in the tin.  It's a chocolate fruitcake.  I should point out that this is the first year I have tried this recipe so I have no idea if the family will like either the original or the adapted version.  I had a panic before I started because I realised that I had bought unsweetened almond milk.  It seemed like the right choice at the time but there is also sweetened almond milk and I had no idea which would be the most suitable.  Cow's milk is naturally sweet but how sweet is unsweetened almond milk?  Then I realised that the recipe didn't call for milk at all and I was off the hook.  All I needed to replace was the butter for Stork margarine and the three eggs for a product called Orgran no egg.  With the first cake, I had omitted the alcohol and replaced it with cherry juice because I was cooking for little people and not all the alcohol burns off with cooking.  Because the second cake is purely for the grownups (Ash is too little for Christmas cake this year!) I decided to put the 75ml of brandy in.  The mix seemed quite dense when I spooned it into the tin and I can't remember if that was the case with the first cake.

Next year I'll need to find a replacement for marzipan because Ash needs to avoid all nuts.  Any suggestions?  It is such a distinctive taste.  I have been told that I only need to avoid peanuts while I am breastfeeding and no other nuts.

So this is what the cake looks like right now:

I should probably also have pointed out before I started that I am not a particularly good baker.  I'm a passable cook but when it comes to baking I have mixed success.  I don't think I've ever made scones that have risen.  While I was waiting for the cake to cook I iced the first cake, loosely following this recipe.  I covered the cake with marzipan and fondant icing and then shop bought sugarcraft gingerbread men.  I had intended to make the candy cane decorations myself, I'd bought coloured fondant icing ready, but the twins needed my attention and so I cheated and used a festive cake frill I found in an old box of Christmas decorations.  In the past I've only ever covered a Christmas cake with royal icing and spiked it up to look like a snow scene so this is progress for me.  I really should take a course in cake decorating, though.  If I ever get some time...  ha!  Anyway, here's the finished first cake:

The second cake will be covered in royal icing so I don't mix the two up.  All suggestions and opinions gratefully received but please be gentle with me!  Importantly, the children were impressed.  Bless them, they're always very appreciative of my baking attempts, even when I order them out of the kitchen in a cloud of icing sugar and angry outbursts directed at my recipe books.