Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I am making a fruit cake Xmas cake and was wondering if I could do the igloo. The ganache seems to make it smooth when using chocolate sponge how could I do this with fruit cake.

Paul makes the igloo middle with bits of cake left over just worried how I make this smooth

Hi kbrown

You can use a fruit cake for the igloo cake, the more mature the better because it will carve without making too many crumbs. To make it smooth use several layers of ganache, let each layer set then apply the next until you’re hapy with the result. The fruit will always have pokey bits so you might see a few bumps, but once the icing is on, and you’ve marked off the slabs non of it will be noticable, and anyway it’ll add character to your creation!

Thanks for this. If I wanted to make it this week before Xmas ganache would go off. Do you think I could use jam and royal icing to stick down?

Hi kbrown

You can use jam, but make sure it is high sugar content, give it a good boil first to get rid of any bacteria which could form. Strain the jam through a tea stainer, let it cool and use it as glue along with the royal icing. If the royal icing is a bit bumpy use a little water to flatten it down in the same way as Paul does with the ganache. Be careful not to flood the icing too much, just small amounts of water until the icing is smooth. Let it dry out completely before applying fondant. x

Thankyou for all your advice