So…you want to make a Frozen cake? But you’re wondering if a decorated cake is way beyond your reach. Could an ordinary housewife accomplish such a thing? And yes you can slap me for using the term “ordinary housewife”. We HOMEMAKERS are anything BUT ordinary!!! Can I get an amen on that?
Update: for a little different take on Frozen, consider this cake. Click HERE for details.
Or maybe an Olaf in the Summmeeerrrr!?
First, let’s look at my cake photos. Closeups HERE and HERE.
Then think down. Yeah, down. Take everything you see in that pic and simplify it. Make it smaller. Like…
Instead of using a 10″ & 6″ cake, just make a double layered 10″ cake. That will serve 20 easily. Then follow the design for the top tier. Try all white instead of the light blue/aqua. Forget the bottom tier of my cake. Save that for “next time”!!
Use white gum balls from the local party store for the bottom border. Or use the smaller white Sixlets from Hobby Lobby or Wal Mart. I even found some really pretty icy blue Sixlets in HL on the baby shower isle. Just squirt some buttercream through a #8-10 tip around the bottom edge and push the gumballs in. Sooooo easy. And fast!!!
Decorate the top of the cake with purchased figurines…wash them first. Or use the towers from the Wilton Castle kit to create your castle…maybe go with 3. The roofs can be left as they are, white…or covered in a colored fondant. Or even use a colored paper if you fear fondant. Yes. It’s ok to fear fondant.
I dug out my clear Wilton columns that I’ve used a hundred times as separators for wedding cake tiers, but since they were clear and could pass for “ice”, I envisioned them as tall, icy towers.
Sprinkle some coarse sugar around for the snow sparkle effect. Or use iridescent sugar…or Wilton mini snowflakes…or pearl luster. All found in a hobby shop and in some grocery stores!
Punch out gumpaste snowflakes a day or 2 ahead so they can dry. Dust them with edible glitter dust. Use them as the top border attaching them to the cake with a tiny dot of royal icing.
Or use that fabulous snowflake cookie cutter that you’ve been dying to use to cut out some great gumpaste flakes!!!?
Go to your local hobby shop and find a snowflake stencil. Use it on the top of the cake..say the cake is blue….so lay it on top of the iced cake and sprinkle powdered sugar over the stencil for a snowflake design. Or stencil the sides of the cake with royal icing applied to the stencil. Check HERE for a tutorial on stenciling…very, very easy and cool results.
The inspiration for my cake design was Bubbly Nature’s Frozen party page. The website seems to be burping a lot the last 2 days, so if it won’t load the first time try again. She has some great ideas! Here’s her collage pic…
Decorate the bottom of the cake with the blue hard candy.
If the thought of making hard candy scares your apron right off, don’t panic!! Head to your closest candy store where you can buy colored hard candy. It may be in a chunky, cube form, but it will work. You can order it online too…if you haven’t waited until the last minute. No. You wouldn’t do that. But…if your heart is set on sheets of ice, go for the candy!!
I used Bubbly Nature Design’s recipe. Remember, go slow. Start the heat at medium and reduce once the mixture starts to boil. This will make enough candy to decorate 2 or 3 cakes and is something that can be made ahead of time! Yay! I love “ahead of time” things!!!!!! PS Don’t STIR this. At all. Ever. And be careful. Liquid candy is to be handles cautiously!! 🙂
3 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup light Karo syrup
Food coloring
Flavor extracts…lemon, orange, peppermint, coconut, etc.
Candy thermometer
Large cookie sheet or pan, lightly greased
In a large pan (I used my Farberware 4 quart to insure no boilover mess) combine the first 3 ingredients and stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Clip a candy thermometer on the side of the pan. If you don’t have one, get one. They’re not expensive and making candy is tough without one. Oh yeah, you can make the softer candies without one, but the hard candy temps are touchy. So pop for a thermometer!
Don’t be tempted to jack the heat up to get the mixture boiling. All it will do is ruin the candy and then you get to start all over. BE PATIENT.
Once you reach a boil, reduce the heat to low. My burners go from 0 to 10. When I say low, I mean that on my stove, I’m down to 2.
You can fold some clothes, unload the dishwasher, make out that grocery list, write another chapter of your long-awaited novel…just don’t go too far out of the kitchen.
Check the thermometer every 2 or 3 minutes. You can add your coloring once the boil begins…or later. The motion of the boiling action will blend the colors nicely! I used Wilton’s Royal Blue gel coloring (comes in the little plastic pots) by dipping a toothpick into the pot about 1/8″. I then carefully dipped the toothpick tip into the top bubbles. It doesn’t take much and I’d suggest starting with just a little bit. You can always add later and this hard candy ice is one thing you don’t want to have a uniform color. Different shades of the blue give a more realistic look. IMHO.
Once the candy reaches 300° , get the pan off of the burner, stir in the flavoring carefully (the hot mixture will bubble more when you add the flavoring due to the alcoholic base) and quickly pour into a lightly greased pan. I used a paper towel dipped in oil to grease the pan.
The candy will cool quickly but pour and handle WITH CAUTION. This stuff is HOT. Don’t get sidetracked when working with hot candy. Concentrate on nothing but the candy until you get it into that pan!!!
Once the candy is “touchable”, turn the pan over a large piece of wax paper. The candy should release fairly easily but tapping the pan may release it completely. A metal spatula will also help get the candy out of the pan. If the candy breaks in the process, you have WON!!
Broken candy is the whole point!!! Right?
I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!
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This is terrific! Thank you for all the good ideas. My daughter wants a Frozen cake, too, and I was at a loss. Your post is a big help.
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Glad to be of help to you. I’m anxious to see your cake!!
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Holy cow, you are amazing and I hope I can even make something 10% as nice as your cake! I am going to attempt to do this today for my step granddaughter as well. I was tasked to do this last night so I am under the gun. Where do you get the candy thermometer and the cake towers? I live in Malibu California so I will have to go into town. No Wal-Mart’s out here boo hoo.
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Julie…a hardware store might have the thermometers or a kitchen supply store like Williams Sonoma. The cake towers may have to be clear glass candle holders?? After I did my cake, I remembered I have a set of votive candle holders in different heights. They would’ve been perfect altho a bit harder to stabilize on a 2 tier cake. If there is a cake supply store closeby, they’ll have the plastic towers like I used. Best wishes for success and share a pic with us if you are comfortable doing so???
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Haha, a picture? Well maybe your blog will need a good laugh so I will. I really appreciate your kindness as I only wish I was as talented as you! I’ll do my best as my real life is the airplane world but would love to spend my days in the kitchen, William Sonoma etc. Thanks again. By for now. xo
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Not sure if you have them but Michaels or Hobby Lobby carry cake supplies too. 🙂
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I’d wait till tomorrow to put the candy on. Don’t think that the candy would go soft but not knowing what frosting you’re using better safe than sorry. Hope to see you a picture soon.
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Thanks! Im using fondant as the frosting. Im using homemade rock candy made in mason jars, which I know doesn’t melt. I have never made candy glass like this so I dont know what to expect putting it on the cake.
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You can pour the hot candy onto cookie sheets also or 9×13 metal or glass pans.
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One more thing…when you’re breaking the candy…break in larger pieces than you want. That will give you some extra working space with the candy when you push into the cake! Can’t wait to see your results!!
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Cake is done! Came out great. Thanks for your great tutorial on candy ice. I cant figure out how to post the pics on here to share with you 😦
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Just send it to thequeen612@yahoo.com. I can post it from there! So glad you succeeded!
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K sent
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How far ahead can this be made and kept for?
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Using crusting buttercream (no butter but shortening instead), the cake itself would be fine for 3-4 days. I wouldn’t insert the candy ice until the “day of”. If using fondant, a couple of days longer. In both cases, refrigerate the cakes until you’re ready to transport and/or finish decorating. The candy ice can be made way ahead of time as well as the towers. The reason I don’t usually complete any cake is due to trasportation. We live in the country and our roads are horribly bumpy! One of the minuses of country life!! I hope this answers your question! If not, feel free to ask more specific questions! And good luck!!! PS, if you want to share your creation, send pics??!!! 😀
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how many and what sized crystal pillars did you use?
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Cynthia…I used 5 pillars, the 5″ & 7″, pushing them in at different depths to get the staggered look. Good luck and send pics if you want to share.
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what did you use for the tops of your pillars? and where did you order your pillars from? thank you
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The pillar roofs were fondant but you could also just cut circles out of paper. You can get the pillars at Hobby Lobby or any cake supply shop or order from Wilton.com. Good luck!
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Hi. How have u made your trees please.
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The trees are ice cream cones that I trimmed down from the large end to make them shorter, then covered in light green royal icing. Once the royal icing was on, I “pulled” the icing out with a knife by pushing the tip of the knife into the icing then pulling it out to a point. I added a bit icing on the knife in some places and then pulled it out. Once that was dry, I piped white royal icing on the “pulled out limbs” starting at the ice cream cone base in a zig-zag motion worked out to the tip and pulled the end out to droop a bit over the green limb. Make sense?! The snowflakes were punched out with my paper punches from my scrapbooking supplies. You don’t want perfectly straight, uniform trees…the wonkier, the better!!! Good luck!
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Ive been looking all over for this. thank you so much 🙂
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~I wanted to know if it works the same with maple syrup pls???
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So glad you found the recipe and thank you. AND good luck!! About maple syrup…I have no idea if it will work to make hard candy. Theoretically, it should BUT…it’s going to give the candy a brownish tint and that will make your candy green. So, I’d stick with white syrup if you can get some. The only thing that might take the “brown” out is a touch of violet coloring??
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I love those little trees! Your cake look great! thanks for linking back for inspiration! 🙂
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Ahhh thanks, Rachel!! And you’re welcome!!
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Could I try to grease my snowflake cookie cutter and pour the candy in it and once it dries hopefully it’ll come out.
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I wondered the same thing. Try it! Let me know how it works for you?@@
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I’m going to try it tonight and I will let you know. Thank you for sharing your information and posting your cakes. I love them!
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Thank you and it’s my pleasure to share cake info!
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Hi how do you prevent the sugar glass going a bit brown? I have made some tonight and it us tinged brown slightly in places.
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Reduce the heat a bit. Really. It took me 3 tries!
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Hi I’m new to this site, but if you are new to sugar crafting, you might want to use Isomalt sticks or nibs. You melt them in the microwave and pour. You will get better results, just follow the instructions. You can find them at just about any cake deco supply store ( I doubt that Michaels or Hobby Lobby have them) or you can order them online. You can also buy them pre-colored. Word of caution, Isomalt gets Extremely hot, so follow directions accordingly. Note: Isomalt is sweet like sugar, but does not get sticky or dissolve when it is humid. it is a product that is used in place of sugar in many foods. I have worked with it for years and love it.
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I’ve never used isomalt but have researched it and will try it next! Thanks for the encouragement!!
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Love your cake and ideas. I am making a Frozen cake for my daughter’s party tomorrow.
One thing I figured out after 2 attempts…I was using Vanilla flavoring…brown Vanilla…it turned my sheet rock candy green/blue…very pretty if I was making an ocean some kind of water looking cake but it certainly wasn’t blue. lol The next batches I left out the vanilla since I had no clear vanilla…sugar candy really didn’t need flavoring for “decoration” right? So now I finally have BLUE! I frosted the cake and started to apply some “ice” to the back then thought, “Will this dissolve by tomorrow?” So I stopped…. I would love to finish tonight but I’m afraid it will be a mess by tomorrow????
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Assuming that you do, indeed, live in Georgia, I’m betting that humidity is a major issue for any cake!!? Good luck! I’d love to see a pic!
I didn’t add vanilla either as I figured vanilla was supposed to enhance the taste. Since I didn’t really care how it tasted and I knew the brownishness from it would mess with my color, I left it out. My troubles were due to hurrying it too much. Once I calmed down and was patient…I had the color I wanted!!!
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Thank you for the reply. It was cold enough with no humidity I decided to finish it that night.
Turned out great, no mess. My dd was very happy.
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And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?!! Great job and now you’re an expert hard candy maker!!
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I need recipe for edible snow
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You can either use royal icing or buttercream then sprinkle with sugar crystals. In cake supply stores you will find different sizes of crystals and also different “colors”…pure white that sparkle, iridescent and even tiny snow flakes. I’ve also used white edible glitter gently brushed over set icing with a soft brush.
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Thank you for the wonderful ideas! I’ve been low boiling for over an hour and can’t seem to get hotter than 225 degrees. How long should this take?
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Drop a bit of the candy into a small bowl of cold water. If it hardens and gets brittle in the water, you’re there!!! Maybe your thermometer is off? Or are you stirring the liquid candy? Don’t.
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Ugh, tried to make the candy tonight. Followed your directions, but my blue turned green! Great if I wanted to look like I had broken a liquor bottle, or maybe for under the sea. Not so great for ice! Don’t know where I went wrong (unless it was that I stirred it, I saw one of your other replies saying not to stir). Maybe if you get a chance to edit your post, for those of us who have never tried this before add that helpful tip of NOT stirring the candy! I’ll try again tomorrow, hoping it turns out this time or there will be no ice on the cake, and I’ll have to improvise something else!
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By the way, I didn’t mean to sound negative. You’ve got some great ideas, and I’m optimistic that attempt #2 will turn out well for me.
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One alternate method of getting your “ice”…melt hard candy re: suckers, lifesavers in your oven. Works great! Also, it’s hard to get a pure, clear blue. The nature of hard candy cooking brings out a bit of yellow. I used a teal in my first couple of batches. Finally went with royal blue and got exactly the sea blue I wanted! 🙂
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I had my first 3 batches turn green. Practice makes perfect and this definitely is one that takes a little practice!!! It sounds like your heat may be a little high. Go low and slow!! Good luck!!
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What paper puncher have you used?
Thanks!
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Lots..hearts, fish, snowflakes…little ones, large ones…and brand. Just be sure to let your rolled out fondant/gumpaste dry a bit before you start working. Go slow. I jiggle the fondant sideways back and forth to get it into the punch.
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Hi:) Thank you so much for all the ideas. I’m using butter cream icing. (Butter and powdered sugar) The party is tomorrow. Do I need to wait until then to put the ice candy on? I saw some people say it would melt?…
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If you’re just sticking it into the buttercream, it will be fine. If you’re laying it flat on to the buttercream, I’d wait until 1 hour before or so. Good luck and have fun!!
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The cake looks fab. Can I check how many days in advance can I make the ice crystal blue shards if I store them in an airtight container?
Kind Regards
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I’ve got some in my basement that have been there for 2 yrs. Yes, I am a ….Horder! Moisture is the enemy, so lock them up tight!!
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