Sugar snow globes, the final frontier

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christmas countdown day 24

This is part two of the decadent gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese frosting – a modern twist on Abraham Lincoln’s favorite gingerbread cake!  Because it is officially Christmas time, these cupcakes call for an extra special topper- an edible “glass” snow globe!   Luckily, I have been experimenting with making sugar glass spheres since Halloween and can share with you all my tricks and tips!   The mold I use seems to no longer be listed on Amazon from the seller I found- but if you search oblong silicon molds and look for a photo that looks a bit taller than a spherical mold should be, I bet it would work- just pick one with free returns, just in case!  The main tips I have are to cut the mold, use acetate cake collars, and to place everything on a wire rack over a lined pan.  The big secret is the acetate cake collar and after trying water balloons, biscuit cutters, frozen water balloons, serrating the warm sugar with a knife, just randomly trying to break it, using a paint brush and spray bottle  to dab it with water, painting balloons with gelatin, painting molds with gelatin, swooshing molds with gelatin, pouring gelatin over water balloons, and finally just wondering what was wrong with me for wanting an edible cupcake topper so badly, the idea to use collars came to me at 3 am.  I realized, it’s not me, its people who don’t want a 100% edible snow globe cupcake topper who were the problem!  And also, that acetate and sugar glass is the only way to go! They are yummy, beautiful and you can actually shake sprinkles inside them like a real glass snow globe!  

If you don’t want to watch the video, here is the main run down:

  1. cut up your mold
  2. wrap acetate cake collars completely around, seal with tape vertically (the tape should go parallel to the seam
  3. place this set up on a wire rack over a pan lined with parchment or silicon
  4. pour in your sugar syrup, let drip down
  5. let harden, then unwrap!
  6. wipe inside with olive oil or vegetable oil to get it clearer

Good luck, just like in life there are ups and downs, some of these globes will break upon release. Expect it and don’t fret. just make more! 

Hope to see you back tomorrow, when we start more Christmas time adventures!

Print

broken glass sugar

Ingredients

  • 2 c sugar
  • 1 c corn syrup
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 3/4 c water

Instructions

  • bring all ingredients to boil, stirring until boiling sugar dissolves
  • reduce heat to medium high and wait for the temp to rise to 290- 300 degrees, any less and it won't harden, you dont need to stir at this point, just let it do its thing
  • immediatly pour molten sugar into a rimmed sheet pan coated and tilt it to coat the entire pan
  • let it cool (for at least 2 hours), then crack it by slamming the sheet pan, to get pieces of broken, delicous "glass" to decorate all your morbid halloween confections! you must line where you insert the glass with red food coloring for maximum effect.
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4 thoughts on “Sugar snow globes, the final frontier”

    1. talialynn80

      They look like it, I def studied this set when looking them up lol, the only thing that is different is the pics in the comments look super spherical, the ones I ordered that worked had a few options (like flower, oblong, sphere) so I think it was a different seller. I bet these would work tho, but it’s kind of like one of those amazon things where they send what they feel like lol, make sure it’s returnable, there is little quality control 🙂

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