Erin FoxThe last job to do on Christmas Eve is to ice the Christmas cake.
Christmas Eve is one of the most magical days in the whole Christmas celebration. It's the night before the birth of Jesus and attending midnight Mass to hear the full carol service is a great way to celebrate this. During the day, you can place your stocking on the end of your bed and leave mince pies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. It's also the day when Mum and Dad get everything ready for the feast on Christmas Day. It's hard work but itís also fun when everyone in the family chips in. Switch on some Christmas carols and sing along as you work.
Icing
The last job to do on Christmas Eve is to ice the Christmas cake. This is a job that everyone will want to do themselves! You can make the decorations on the fourth Sunday of Advent to allow the icing to dry out before placing them on the cake.
You can decorate the cake however you want, but for this snow globe cake you will need: one large glass bowl or a simple jam jar will do, sugar paste (rolled fondant) in red, white and green, candy canes, ribbon, edible gold lustre or edible gold spray.
For the trees, colour the fondant a light green. Roll out to about 7mm thick and cut out the trees. Stick the trees onto the candy cane tree trunks and cover the back with another tree to hide the candy cane join. For the gold swirl, roll some fondant and shape it with your hands. Brush or spray with edible gold. Leave the cake decorations to dry out overnight and then place them in a cardboard box until you need them. Donít place them in a tin or airtight container as they will sweat and turn to a sticky mess.
The cake is covered with marzipan the week before Christmas. On the day of icing, brush some brandy or rum all over the marzipan. Dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out about 500g of red fondant to cover a 9 inch cake. Gently lift the icing over the cake and smooth the sides down with your hands. Trim away any excess icing and wind some ribbon all around the cake. Arrange your decorations on top and very carefully place the glass bowl over the decorations. A simple jam jar will suffice for this snow globe cake. Make a snowman or a family of penguins to include inside the snow globe.