How to make a snowball in July . . . Scottish Snowball Cakes

I was in M&S the other day, in the food section (of course!), and I spotted what they called Scottish Snowball Cakes. They looked a lot like Whoopie Pies, but covered in icing and coconut. I read the packet and it said that they were two sponge cakes put together with raspberry jam and covered with a fondant icing and dessicated coconut.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy! I thought to myself . . . I can do that! And so I came home and proceeded to try to replicate what I had seen, and I have to say . . . I think I did a rather good job of it, if I don’t say so myself! *ahem* (Not to blow my own horn or anything!)

Okay, so not having tasted the originals . . . I don’t actually know if mine taste the same or not . . . but I can tell you that they are rather good. Of course I could just call them Snowball Drop Cakes . . . but it sounds so much nicer when you add the word Scottish to the front of the title, don’t you think???

I used the sponge recipe from my Be-Ro flour baking book to make the sponges, and the glace icing from the same book. I just baked the drop sponges . . . put them together with some raspberry jam (seedless), and then rolled them in the glace icing and then sweetened dessicated coconut.

They went down a real treat with a hot cup of currant and blueberry tea. This is a recipe I will repeat again. I did find a traditional recipe (after the fact) here. They sounded like they might be a bit hard though . . . I think I’d like my fluffy ones better.

I do hope that you will give them a try. A bit messy to make, and somewhat fiddly, but well worth the effort to give your sweetie pies a snowball in July!

*Scottish Snowball Drop Cakes*
Makes 5 (double cakes)
Printable Recipe

Dropped sponge cakes, sandwiched together with raspberry jam, coated in a glace icing and then rolled in dessicated coconut. A bit fiddly, but so worth the effort for a special occasion.

For the cakes:
75g of caster sugar (6 1/2 TBS)
75g of self raising flour (11 TBS), sifted
2 medium free range eggs

Seedless raspberry jam

For the glace icing:
200g of sifted icing sugar (1 1/2 cups)
2 TBS warm water
few drops vanilla

75g of sweetened dessicated coconut (about 1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Grease a large baking tray and dust with flour, shaking off any excess.

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly. Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture becomes thick, creamy and almost white in colour. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes. Lightly fold in the flour. Place small spoonfuls, well apart, on the baking tray. Bake for about 5 minutes until lightly browned.

Let sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before carefully lifting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the glace icing, whisk the warm water into the icing sugar, along with a few drops of vanilla just until you have a smooth runny icing. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but drizzable.

Spread half of the cooled cakes on the bottom sides with raspberry jam. Don’t use too much or it will seep out the edges and you don’t want that. You just want them stuck together nicely. Have ready the dessicated coconut in a shallow bowl. Dip the filled cakes into the icing, turning carefully to coat and gently lifting out with a fork. Drop into the bowl of dessicated coconut. Gently turn to coate completely with the coconut. Carefully place onto a wire rack to set. Store in an airtight container.

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