Almond Paste

• 8 oz ground almonds
• 8 oz icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
• 8 oz caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon almond essence
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

In your mixer bowl place the ground almonds with the icing sugar and caster sugar. Add the egg yolks, essences and lemon juice. Mix till a stiff paste. Place on a board that has been dusted with icing sugar and roll out to about 1/4 of an inch thick and cut into the shape of the top of your cake. Brush the cake with some marmalade or apricot jam and place the paste on the top of your cake. If you want you can roll out the paste and cut into strips to go round your cake completely. The marmalade helps the almond paste stick to the cake. Leave the cake a couple of days in an airtight container and then it will be ready to ice.