Winter wonderland cake

A great Christmas bake for kids over the holidays. You can use a buttercream to ice the cake, but this frosting is much whiter if you want a snowy effect

Prep:1 hrs
Cook:35 mins
Plus cooling

Serves 12
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 596
fat 19g
saturates 11g
carbs 100g
sugars 84g
fibre 2g
protein 6g
salt 0.3g

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the tin
250g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g crème fraîche
100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled a little
3 tbsp strawberry jam
8-10 candy canes, red and white
mini white meringues and jelly sweets, to decorate
500g white caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp liquid glucose
2 egg whites
30 icing sugar, sifted

Tip

Freeze the leftover icing

This recipe makes more icing than you’ll need, but any leftovers can be put in a food bag and frozen for up to one month.

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter and line three 18cm (or two 20cm) cake tins. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating them in one at a time. Fold in the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, then fold in the crème fraîche and chocolate and 100ml boiling water.
Divide the cake mixture between the tins and level the tops of the batter. Bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then tip out onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment. Set aside to cool completely.
To make the angel frosting, put the sugar, vanilla and liquid glucose in a pan with 125ml water. Bring to the boil and cook until the sugar has melted – the syrup turns clear and the mixture hits 130C on a sugar thermometer (be very careful with hot sugar). Take off the heat. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until stiff then, while still beating, gradually pour in the hot sugar syrup in a steady stream. Keep beating until the mixture is fluffy and thick enough to spread – this might take a few mins as the mixture cools. Beat in the icing sugar.
Spread two of the sponges with jam and some of the icing mixture, then sandwich the cakes together with the plain one on top. Use a little of the frosting to ice the whole cake (don’t worry about crumbs at this stage). Use the remaining icing to ice the cake again, smoothing the side, and swirling it on top. Crush four of the candy canes and sprinkle over the cake, then add the remaining whole candy canes, meringues and sweets.