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Icy snow globe cake
Serves: 14-16
Prep time: 1 hr 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Dan Jones
Icy snow globe cake
Recipe by Sarah Cook
This festive icy snow globe cake is how we like to picture a winter wonderland. Use this decoration technique on top of a 20cm round fruit cake
Serves: 14-16
Prep time: 1 hr 15 minsTotal time:
See more recipes
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved
- 3 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 1 x 454g pack marzipan
- 1.3kg ready-to-roll white icing
- 1 x tube blue gel food colouring
Step by step
Get ahead
Once covered in icing this cake will keep for 4 weeks before being cut
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For this icing technique you will need 1 x 20cm round fruit cake. Turn the cake upside down so you have a flat top, then put it on a cake board or cake stand. Brush the top and sides with a thin layer of jam. Dust your work surface with icing sugar then roll the marzipan out thinly until it’s big enough to cover the cake – you can use a piece of string to check the dimensions. Use the rolling pin to help you lift the marzipan onto the cake, then smooth down the sides. Trim off the excess from around the base, using a sharp knife. Brush over another layer of jam.
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Knead 850g of the ready-to-roll icing with a little blue food colouring to get a smooth, pale blue soft icing. Again, dust the surface with a little icing sugar and roll out the coloured icing until it is big enough to cover the marzipanned cake. Trim the excess, and smooth out any bumps by rubbing and buffing the icing with your hands.
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Roll out the remaining white icing into a long narrow strip, about as tall as the cake – it might be easier to do in 2 pieces. Trim the bottom edge to give a straight line, then use scissors or a knife to cut assorted iceberg and peak shapes from the strip. Mix 3 tablespoons of icing sugar with a few drops of water to get a runny icing. Brush the back of each shape in turn, then stick around the base of the cake. Overlap each new shape, building up a mountain scene, until the side of the cake is covered.
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Clean your jar or glass and dry with kitchen paper until it is sparkling. Work out where you want to position your snow globe jar, and stack as many small leftover iceberg icing pieces inside as you need to make a plinth for your animal to stand on, so it sits roughly in the middle of the jar. Sit the animal on the icing, then cover with the upturned jar. Push the jar down so the base presses into the icing to stick. Roll the remaining trimmings of white icing into lots of little balls like snowballs. Arrange them around the base of the jar in piles.
TipFor this recipe, you'll need a jar or clear glass – rounded ones look good* a small plastic animal that can fit inside the jar – we used a penguin, or try a polar bear, deer, white fox or rabbit**
*Try lakeland.co.uk
**Try schleich.org.uk