Sparkling Snowflake and Star Cake – With Christmas just a few days away, now is time the time to decorate the cake; as you will remember, I made my Christmas Cake a few weeks ago. The cake has been “fed” weekly with brandy and smells rich, fruity and just like Christmas.

Sparkling Snowflake and Star Cake

With Christmas just a few days away, now is time the time to decorate the cake; as you will remember, I made my Christmas Cake a few weeks ago and you can see the recipe and the method here: Christmas cake. The cake has been “fed” weekly with brandy and smells rich, fruity and just like Christmas.

I toyed with how to decorate my cake this year – I DO love the classic way of decorating a cake with Royal icing and little plaster-of-Paris figurines, but I also love the effect you can achieve with a smooth fondant icing too.

So, based on some snowflake cutters I have in my “box of decorating toys” I decided on a simple but rather stunning snowflake and star cake, and as you can see from the photos, it’s fairly easy to decorate and looks stunning, with its big bow and glittery snowflakes and golden stars.

The step-by-step method, with photos, is shared below and this cake can be decorated on Christmas Eve morning, as unlike Royal Icing, the icing doesn’t need to harden.

Sparkling Snowflake and Star Cake

Ingredients:

25cms cake board

454g Ready to roll marzipan

1kg Ready to roll “Regal” icing

6 tablespoons warmed, sieved apricot jam

500cms ribbon

1 egg white, beaten

Edible gold icing stars

Edible sparkling snow glitter

Snowflake cutter

Method:

Spread some sieved apricot jam all over the cake, or special apricot baking glaze.

Roll out the marzipan on a floured board and using a rolling pin, and cover the cake, pushing it in to the sides of the cake, trim the excess marzipan around the base of the cake. Allow to dry out for about 2 to 3 hours.

Moisten the marzipan with a little warm water and then roll out the icing on a floured board and using a rolling pin, drape it over the marzipan, tuck it in and smooth it with a ruler, before trimming off any excess icing at the base of the cake. Carefully lift the cake onto the cake board using a large spatula or fish slice.

Tie the ribbon around the cake and finish with a bow.

With the excess icing trimmings, stamp out 8 snowflakes and attach to the top of the cake with a little beaten egg white, which acts as an edible glue.
Add 7 edible gold stars, again using the beaten egg white, and then sprinkle the edible sparkling snow glitter all over the cake. Allow the icing to dry a little before storing in an airtight tin.