How to Make a Snowman Cake — Duff's Sweet Spot

Follow Duff Goldman's step-by-step process for making an impressive snowman cake, complete with a smoking pipe.

Related To:

North Pole Snowman Cake

Duff reinvents everyone's favorite snowman as a cake. Watch the video, use the recipe below and follow the steps to make the cake yourself.

For your snowman cake, you'll want to have a sturdy plywood base with a wooden dowel, which will be the support for the three stacked cakes.

Duff uses halved and predrilled Styrofoam spheres in 10-inch, 8-inch and 6-inch sizes to serve as the base of each cake. Cover the foam with aluminum foil so it doesn't come into contact with the cake.

Now you're ready to begin making the cake layers. Use a bit of buttercream to adhere the 10-inch layer to the Styrofoam base. Level off the top for the next layer.

After you've frosted and stacked the three layers, it's time to carve the cake into a spherical shape. Duff's tip: "Make sure you're carving cold cake."

Next, frost the cake with room-temperature buttercream to create a smooth undercoat for the fondant.

Trim a little bit off the top so you create a sturdier base for the snowman's midsection cake. Frost the area with buttercream and put the cake in the freezer.

Roll out the fondant to an even thickness, sprinkling with cornstarch to prevent sticking.

Carefully transfer the fondant to the cake, using your rolling pin, and drape it over the cake. Duff places the cake on a container to make turning the cake easier.

Smooth the fondant, using your hands. Duff's tip: "Work fast but clean." The more time you take, the more the fondant can get dry and tear.

Using a sharp paring knife, make a hole in the cake to meet up with the hole in the Styrofoam. This will make stacking the cake on the dowel possible.

Once you have the 10-inch, 8-inch and 6-inch spherical cakes complete, you're ready to start stacking. Be very careful to follow along the hole in each cake.

Next comes the snowman's midsection, which has a flatter bottom to meet up with the lower half of his body.

And finally, it's the snowman's head.

Duff uses orange gum paste to create the snowman's carrot nose.

Using a paring knife, create ridges on the gum-paste carrot nose for a realistic look.

Duff uses brown gum paste to create the snowman's pipe. For the arms, he uses brown fondant, which is molded around wooden skewers.

Using a skewer and a hammer, "predrill" the locations for the arms.

Next, insert the arms into the snowman's midsection.

Duff drapes a blue fondant scarf over the snowman's neck.

Crown the snowman with his characteristic top hat with holly leaves and berries, all made from fondant.

Insert the gum-paste carrot into the snowman's face.

He wouldn't be complete without eyes, also made from fondant.

For the finishing touch, Duff places a cube of dry ice into the snowman's pipe with a few drops of water to create the "smoking" effect.

And there you have it: a snowman cake directly from the North Pole. Get the cake recipe below.

Get the Recipe: Yellow Cake with Swiss Buttercream

More Duff's Sweet Spot

See Duff prepare this and other holiday baked goods on his exclusive web series.

Watch: Duff's Sweet Spot

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How to Make a Snowman Cake — Duff's Sweet Spot

Related To:

North Pole Snowman Cake

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