Host An Unforgettable Book Club Party

If you were looking for a cheery snowman cake, this one isn’t it.  In Jo Nesbo’s The Snowman, the lovable frosty snowman takes on an eery quality.  I used this quote as inspiration for the cake decorations:  “the grin was not formed by the mouth, which was sewn up with coarse hemplike thread zigzagging in and out of the lips.  The grin traversed the chin and arced up to the cheeks and was drawn with a line of black nails that could have only been hammered in.”

I started with a Marilyn’s cake with cream cheese icing recipe (with some modifications).  The cake is fairly dense and just mildly sweet so the cream cheese icing complements it very well.  The cake was baked in ovenproof glass bowls of 2 different sizes to form the head and body of the snowman.

Inspired by The Snowman

Prep:  40 minutes (includes decorating)      Cook time:  30-45 minutes        Serves:  8

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/4  cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing

• 4 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla.  Blend on medium for 2 minutes.
4. Pour batter into two greased bowls of different sizes (to make the head and body of the snowman).
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes for the smaller bowl and 40-45 minutes for the larger one.
6. Let cool before turning onto a serving platter.

Icing

1. Mix all ingredients together for 1 minute on medium speed with handheld mixer.  Use spatula to scrape sides of bowl while mixing.   This makes a lot of icing, but I like to keep extra on hand in case there are any decorating mishaps.
2. Before icing the cake, place pieces of foil under the edges of the cake. This will prevent the icing from getting all over the serving platter.

Decorating

1. Arms:  Place 2 popsicle sticks on a piece of foil.  Place chocolate melting disks in an microwave proof bowl and heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each heating, until the disks are melted.  I used a spoon to drip the chocolate into branch shapes.  Allow to harden.
2. Nose:  zap a circus peanut candy in the microwave for about 5 seconds to make it more pliable, then roll it in your hands to form a carrot shape.   Use a toothpick to hold it into place.
3. I used jelly beans for the eyes, chocolate chips for the mouth and a licorice belt for the scarf.

Desserts  This post is filed under : cakes and cupcakes  

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