Next, make some marzipan (or get the marzipan you have already bought out of the cupboard). You need about 250 to 300 grams of marzipan. You can use almond paste instead, but I prefer the sweeter taste of marzipan. To make marzipan, mix 100 grams of almond meal, 1/2 cup of caster sugar, 1/2 cup of icing sugar, and one beaten egg into a stiff paste. If the paste is too stiff to work with, thin it down using a little lemon juice, and if it is too sloppy, add some more icing sugar. You can use all icing sugar instead of using some caster sugar, if you prefer a less granulated paste. Make sure you use almond meal instead of grinding up almonds yourself; freshly ground almonds are too wet.

Put about 1/3 of the marzipan aside (wrap it in tinfoil, and put it in the fridge). Press the remaining marzipan into a round just smaller than the cake tin you will be using. The easiest way to do this is to draw a circle around the base of your tin on some baking paper, and then press the marzipan out so that it is a centimetre or two short of the line.