Sweetflake is a chilly tundra-like zone covered in soft "snow" that is sticky and sweet, somewhat like a wet version of powdered sugar. It takes longer to melt when exposed to heat than typical snow. The landscape is mostly featureless snowdrifts, though in some areas the snowy substance ends up piling into towering shapes resembling hunched figures or twisted, snow-covered trees. Despite their sturdy appearances, these shapes never seem to have any base structure inside once excavated.

In some places, the snow-like substance is packed into condensed, transparent sheets. These sheets form wobbly films over a primordial sea made up of a thick, sugary, green liquid. In places, these sheets are firm enough for a Charmer to walk on, but in most cases they are too thin to hold much weight without surrendering their load to the sea below. Due to their flexible, gelatinous nature, the sheets easily merge back together after something falls through. Combined with the fact that snow often piles up on the sheets, it can be difficult to tell what is stable ground in this zone.

The sea is far deeper than a lake but shallower than an earthbound sea, reaching the equivalent of the Mesopelagic or upper Bathypelagic zones. The bottom is sandy and strange aquatic plantlife can be found. Light from above reaches all but the very deepest parts of the ocean. Unlike the chilly above-zone, the underwater world of Sweetflake is quite temperate and the ocean has been described as comfortably warm.