| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Prep: | 2 hr |
| Yield: | 12-16 servings |
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, for the pans
- All-purpose flour, for the pans
- 1 18.25-ounce box yellow cake mix (plus required ingredients)
- 1 pound white chocolate, chopped
- 1 8-ounce container white sanding sugar
- 2 16-ounce tubs vanilla frosting
- 2 drops neon blue food coloring
- 1 cake doughnut, halved
- 4 drops green food coloring
- 3 sugar ice cream cones
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Make the Igloo:
- Butter and flour an 8-inch-round cake pan and a 1.5-quart ovenproof bowl. Make the cake batter; divide between the pan and the bowl. Bake at 350 degrees F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes for the pan, 40 to 45 minutes for the bowl. Let cool, then unmold the cakes onto a rack.
- Microwave the white chocolate at 50% power in 15-second intervals, stirring, until melted, about 2 minutes. Pour onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and spread to 1/4 inch thick with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with the sanding sugar. Chill until set, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the chocolate from the refrigerator. Break most of it into rough 1/2-to-1-inch pieces to form the ice that covers the igloo.
- Use a paring knife to cut a few even 1/2-inch tiles from the remaining chocolate (these are for the tunnel entrance).
- Assemble the igloo: Mix 2 1/2 cups frosting with the blue food coloring. Spread some blue frosting on the flat cake, then cover with the bowl-shaped cake.
- Spread some frosting on the cake where you want the tunnel to go, then attach a doughnut half, cut-side down. Attach the other half with frosting to extend the tunnel.
- Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of blue frosting (this is called a “crumb coat,” which is like a primer; it doesn’t have to be perfect). Chill, uncovered, until the frosting sets, about 15 minutes.
- Spread the remaining blue frosting evenly over the cake and doughnuts. Arrange the white-chocolate pieces on the igloo in a mosaic pattern. Place the even white- chocolate tiles around the tunnel entrance.
- For the trees, mix 3/4 cup vanilla frosting with the green food coloring. Spread on the cones, flicking the frosting with the tip of an offset spatula to form branches. Arrange the trees around the igloo and dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 14 servings |
| Calories | 699 |
| Total Fat | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 116 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 95 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 12 mg |
| Sodium | 442 mg |
Reviews
We made this for my baby’s 1st birthday and it was a hit! It looked fantastic and held together well. We had some problems baking the dome, with it not baking all the way through on the first try. By placing a small bowl on top of the batter on the second try, it worked. We made little marzipan penguins to go along instead of trees. Really cute! I think that gel-based food coloring would work better for the trees (to be darker. Though we didn’t make the trees, we had to get the marzipan black for the penguins. The gel-based food coloring worked really well.
I think the directions could have been made a little easier. Using butter and flour for the pans made the cakes stick and start to pull away from each other. Also, I think that the whole cake could have been baked in a pyrex bowl so you only had the one cake to decorate and be one cohesive cake, minus the donut door. The cake was cute, but was not sturdy enough for transport.
Mine looked just like the one in the magazine!
I had the same issue with the green food coloring. However, we loved this cake. It is a really fun project for kids, too.
this recipe was easy, tasted great and was a real crowd pleaser. folks were so impressed by how great it looked. the only comment i have is regard to the food coloring. green is hard to make that dark. otherwise, great!