This Christmas Tree Cake has four layers of vanilla cake, and striped vanilla buttercream and is decorated with a buttercream Christmas tree.
It is day 12 of the 12 Bakes of Christmas so of course, we had to finish up with this completely over-the-top cake.
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Christmas Tree Cake
As always when I am making a cake, I started by creaming together the butter and sugar. For this cake, I used caster sugar and a baking spread/
You can also use unsalted butter instead of a baking spread like Stork. Either will work perfectly for this cake.
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Self-raising flour is called self-raising as it is mixed with baking powder. I still add baking powder in just to be sure that the cake has a good rise but regardless of what brand of self-raising flour you use, they will all have a raising agent in them.
I base the number of eggs I use in a recipe on the amount of sugar I use. It is a bit of a weird one but hear me out. For every 50g of sugar I use in a recipe I will use 1 large egg. In this recipe, I used 350g of sugar, so I used 7 large eggs.
Split the mixture equally between 2 8” Cake Tins. I used these cake tins and once the cakes were baked, I split them both in half to create four cake layers.
Baking the Cakes
You will know the cakes are baked when they are golden brown in colour. If you use a cake tester to test the thickest part of the cake the skewer should come out clean. If there is still cake batter on the skewer, then the cake isn’t ready yet. Pop it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and repeat.
Another way to test the cake is baked, gently press down with the tip of your finger. If the cake springs back to its original position when you remove your finger, it is ready. If there is a slight dent in the cake, it’s not quite ready. Pop it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and repeat.
Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 15-20 minutes before moving them onto a wire rack to cool fully.
If your cakes are slightly domed put them down upside down on the wire rack to cool. The weight of the cake will help flatten the top of the cake.
Vanilla Buttercream
Once the cake has cooled completely you can start making the buttercream. I went for a simple Vanilla Buttercream, but you could add extracts or flavourings.
For the buttercream, you MUST use unsalted butter rather than a baking spread like Stork. You want the buttercream to be thick and hold its own shape. If you use a baking spread the buttercream will be super sweet and won’t hold its own shape, it will just slide off the side of your cakes.
Remove three to four tablespoons of buttercream into a separate bowl and leave to tone side. With the remaining buttercream split between two bowls, leave on as it is and add red food colouring to the other. You want to gradually build the colour up, if you add too much, to begin with then you are stuck with that colour. Building the colour up slowly gives you more control over the final colour.
Levelling the Cake
Level the cakes, by cutting away any dome on top, and cut in half so you now have four cake layers. Four cake layers might seem like a lot, but with a drip cake and a pinata cake, I find it to be the perfect height. You can get a pretty good drip around the edges without it touching the bottom of the cake and the centre can be filled with lots of treats.
Putting it All Together
Place your first cake onto your serving board and pipe a ring around the edge of the cake with your red buttercream, then next to that pipe a circle of white. Repeat until you reach the centre of the cake.
Place the next three layers on and repeat this. I decided to mix it up and used the colours in a different order each time.
Now go around the side of your cake and pipe the buttercream. The easiest way to do this is to start from the bottom and work your way up. I piped a ring of red and then white and alternated until I reached the top of the cake.
Now using your cake smoother go around the sides of the cake and smooth. You don’t want to scrape the buttercream off, just to smooth it into your cake.
If you find there are any bumps or gaps fill these in using your buttercream and smooth again. Repeat until your cake is completely smooth.
Any buttercream on the top of the cake you can use an angled palette knife to smooth any leftover buttercream onto the top of the cake.
With the third bowl of buttercream, you left to one side earlier add green food colouring. Gradually build the colour up, if you add too much, to begin with then you are stuck with that colour. Building the colour up slowly gives you more control over the final colour.
Split the green mixture into three piping bags. I had one with a 2D piping tip, a leaf piping tip and an open star piping tip.
Start from a peak at the top of the cake and work your way outwards pipe the buttercream to create your Christmas tree.
Add a chocolate star and some sprinkles.
Any leftover buttercream pipe swirls onto the top of the cake. I decorated these with some extra chocolate stars and sprinkles.
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Christmas Tree Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 500 g Caster Sugar
- 500 g Unsalted Butter or Stork
- 500 g Self-Raising Flour
- 10 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
For the Buttercream
- 1 kg Icing Sugar
- 500 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3-4 tbsp Whole Milk (optional)
- Red Food Colouring
- Green Food Colouring
Instructions
To Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 160C (140C Fan). Line two 8” cake tins with greaseproof paper and leave them to one side.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and whisk until all are combined.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tins and bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes. You will know they are ready when they are springy to touch.
- Leave them to cool in the cake tin for 15-20 minutes and then remove and put them on a wire rack to cool fully.
To Make the Buttercream
- In a bowl mix together the icing sugar, butter and vanilla until combined. If the buttercream is too thick add 1 tbsp of milk and mix again. Repeat until the buttercream is the desired consistency.
- Remove 3-4 heaped tablespoons of buttercream into a separate bowl cover and leave to one side.
- Split the remaining buttercream equally between a further two bowls.
- Leave one of the two bowls of buttercream as it is. In the remaining bowl add the red buttercream a little at a time and mix, repeat until you reach the desired colour.
- Add the buttercream into two separate piping bags with a large round nozzle and leave to one side.
Putting it All Together
- Level the cakes and cut each one in half so you have four layers.
- Place your first cake onto your cake board/serving plate. Pipe the red buttercream around the edge of the cake, then pipe the white next to it and repeat moving closer to the centre of the cake.
- Stack the remaining cakes piping the buttercream between the cakes until all four layers are stacked.
- Pipe a ring of red buttercream around the bottom of the cake. Then pipe a ring of white buttercream above it. Alternate between the two until you have covered the entire cake.
- Using your smoother, smooth around the sides, if there are any gaps fill these with the buttercream and continue to smooth around the sides until the cake is smooth. You will most likely take some of the buttercream off the cake if you do pop this back into your bowl.
- To smooth the top edges of the cake, use a palette knife and smooth any buttercream into the top of the cake.
- Leave the cake to one side.
- With your bowl of covered buttercream, add green food colouring a little at a time stirring in between each addition until you have reached the desired consistency.
- Split the mixture between three piping bags with different piping tips.
- Starting at the top of the cake create a peak for your tree and then working outwards pipe different shapes and designs to create your Christmas tree.
- Pipe any leftover buttercream in swirls on top of the cake and decorate the top and your tree with some sprinkles and chocolate stars.
Notes
- This cake will last 3+ days in an airtight container.
