That is a visually beautiful cake. One of my mother’s good friends does a theme cake for each lady’s birthday. She did a Day of the Dead cake for my mom last month. A few summers ago I was there for a birthday & she gave me a huge slice w/ thick fondant. I wanted to be polite, but I fought off projectile vomiting w/ every bite.
To this day fondant horrifies me! I love marzipan, but haven’t had any in forever ; )
I think any cake that calls for fondant covering could be made with marzipan instead.
-JT