The Best Christmas Cake Recipe
Today we are making The Best Christmas Cake Recipe! Merry Christmas! … a day late. I’m still in the mood for Christmas desserts, with a CHRISTMAS CANDYCANE CAKE. Although this big day was different than most years with COVID, it made me sit back and remember all my favourite things about Christmas. Usually, we’d have cousins running left and right, aunts and uncles and grandparents, siblings laughing and talking at the top of their lungs, Christmas trees sparkling with lights and enough good food to feed New York City. We play games until we crywithf laughter (anyone ever play Left, Right and Center?) and wish each other happy holidays until we meet again.
This year though, the only constant is having my immediate family around me, as well as secretly putting presents under the Christmas tree, unbeknownst to other family members. Then on Christmas, the tree was suddenly stacked with oddly-shaped objects (without nametags). My mom went so far as to let us open presents on Christmas Eve – but she didn’t know whose she had wrapped. Once my sister began opening her Christmas gift, a sneak peek of joggers showed through the crack of gift wrap. So it turned out to be for my brother. On the other hand, he had opened up an oversized fuzzy sweater, and was super confused as to why he had women’s wear. It’s the thought that counts though! In the end, all gifts were exchanged, and everyone went to bed feeling blessed.
Crazy Christmas Baking
Over the last few days, my sister has gone nuts with the holiday baking. I mean, she took it to another level. Hence this post. When it comes to classic Christmas cakes, I’m a big fruitcake lover, with the orange juice, lemon zest and dried mixed fruits that every fruit cake recipe uses (the best part). But today’s cake was something totally off the charts!
So she made this cake, decorated and all. Of course, I grabbed my camera as soon as I saw it, and I assured her I wouldn’t take all the credit. I didn’t so much as raise a finger in making this, but was I about to share it? Oh yes.
To give a little preview of what you’ll be tasting in this candycane layered cake … there are four layers of moist cake. These layers have buttercream and crushed Oreos. For the top, we have chocolate ganache, sprinkles, red piped frosting, and Oreos. I can’t forget to mention the candycane decorations on the sides!
All About This Cake
I’m not sure if you would call these simple ingredients … that depends on what you define as simple. I always have candycanes, sprinkles, sugar and cake mix lying around this time of year, and if I don’t, then they’re very easy to find at any grocery store. In terms of this reasoning, the ingredients are basic Christmas items.
I wish I would’ve used this cake as the centerpiece to a dessert table. I’m sure all eyes would’ve gone right to it! Instead, my sister posed her hand with the cake at various angles to get these shots. Then we all ate the one slice that we cut out, with the rest given to friends and family.
Making and decorating gorgeous cakes is the perfect way (for me) to get in the holiday spirit! Host a Christmas party, make a variation of this for other special occasions (replace the candycanes with sprinkles, change up the food coloring and use a carrot cake flavor to make it Easter, Halloween or Valentine themed, use a different cake pan such as a Christmas Tree Cake shape, an Easter Egg shape or more. There’s a wide variety of ways it can be changed up. Or, give the gift of cake to your family on Christmas morning.
Now, this recipe is quite long as it is, so I’m going to jump straight to it! But first – I will let your eyes feast on a couple more mouth watering pictures below.
Why You’ll Love The Best Christmas Cake Recipe
Best Christmas Cake Recipe Ever: Get a cup of hot chocolate or eggnog and grab a slice of this amazing layer cake for the holiday season! It starts with two cakes layered on top of one another, with frosting layers and Oreo bits in between. The outer layer of the cake is also covered with frosting and coated with candycanes at the bottom of the cake.
On top of the cake, a chocolate ganache drizzles down the sides, Christmas color sprinkles brighten up the chocolate color and red dollops of frosting with Oreo slices garnish each cake slice! What a mouthful!
Although this recipe has many layers and is not a simple recipe like many of the other ones on this blog, it’s well worth the time and effort when you present this at the dinner table as the Christmas Day table centerpiece – this festive cake will be added to the list of show-stopping cake recipes!
Substitutions: For the Cake
Cake Mix: You can also use golden yellow cake, chocolate cake, red velvet cake or another flavor. President’s Choice makes a plant-based cake mix. Many other cake mixes, such as Betty Crocker brand, don’t contain animal products either. However, they do contain added sugar, which is processed using bone char and technically not vegan in that sense. Some vegans don’t consider the processing step as to whether an item is vegan, so it depends on what you consider vegan.
Sprite: This is the best, neutral flavored fizzy drink to work as a hack in getting the cake to rise, without the added eggs or oil called for on the back of the cake box! I haven’t tried with Club Soda or carbonated water, but many neutral fizzy drinks can work.
Substitutions: For the Frosting & Ganache
Vegan Butter: I use Melt Organics brand of salted vegan butter sticks. This brand has worked the best for me, from cakes, cookies, brownies and all baked goods.
Powdered Sugar: Regular powdered sugar is not completely vegan due to using bone char in the refining stage. However, there are specific brands of powdered sugar that may be labelled as vegan, or powdered xylitol may work too.
Cashew Milk: Use oat milk or another plant-based milk.
Coconut Oil: This is the coconut oil that is not virgin or extra-virgin – it shouldn’t smell like a coconut! Do not substitute with any other oil.
Chocolate Chips: Look for semisweet vegan chocolate chips without any added milk ingredients on the label. A lot of regular chocolate chip brands are “accidentally vegan.” This means that it isn’t listed to be vegan on the label, but they don’t actually have any animal products in them anyways. I don’t recommend dark chocolate chips for this recipe, as they have an underlying bitterness that doesn’t work as well as semisweet.
Substitutions: For the Topping
Sprinkles: Many brands of sprinkles can have added animal products, such as animal-derived food coloring. PETA has a guide on their website for vegan-friendly sprinkles brands.
Candycanes: Some candycane brands may contain animal-derived food colorings, as well as sugar which is, again, processed using bone char. Some vegans don’t have an issue with this, since the final product itself doesn’t contain any bone char. However, there are healthier, fully vegan brands of candycanes that some companies make. Check out this post to read more on vegan candycane brands.
I don’t always use a kitchen scale to measure out exactly how much I’m using, so you can eyeball it and reference the pictures in this post.
More Recipes You’ll Love
Vegan Golden Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Oreo Peppermint Cheesecake Bites
If you make The Best Christmas Cake Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
The Best Christmas Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Mixer
- Offset Frosting Spatula
- Piping Bag
- Star Icing Tip
- 2 9" Round Cake Tin
- Spice Grinder OR Blender OR Rolling Pin with Ziploc Bag (for the candycanes)
- Squeeze Bottle
- Saucepan
Ingredients
For the Cake Layers
- 2 454 grams vegan Cake Mix Boxes see Substitution section for details
- 600 mL Sprite
For the Frosting
- 2 cups vegan butter room temperature
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup cashew milk
- a few drops vegan red food coloring You can omit this and keep the icing on the top white as well. This does not go in the entire icing batch – read instructions below!
For the Outer Topping
- 1 medium pack candycanes
- 1 270 grams pack Oreos
- 1-2 tsp Christmas color sprinkles
For the Chocolate Ganache
- 1-2 tsp refined coconut oil start with 1 tsp, add more as needed
- 1 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Prepare the Cakes
- To make the funfetti cake mixes, whisk the Sprite and cake mix togther for 2 minutes in a large bowl, until it's creamy.
- Grease two 9" cake tins. Evenly pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin. Follow the instructions for the oven temperature and time on the back of the box. Make sure to place the cake tins in the centre of the oven.
- Once the cakes are done baking, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool completely.
- Cut each of the cakes horizontally in half, so there are four layers of cake. The cakes should be completely cooled to do this, and you should use a very sharp knife.
Prepare the Frostings
- Add all the icing ingredients to a bowl, and use a hand mixer to mix them until stiff peaks form.
- Add more milk in a teaspoon at a time if it's needed for the consistency, but it should hold stiff peaks and be spreadable on a cake. Set aside when finished.
Prepare the Outside of the Cake
- Crush candycanes in a ziploc bag using a rolling pin to go over them. Or you could also quickly put them in a spice grinder, but it will make the inside of the grinder sticky. Set these aside when done.
- Melt the chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat. Add 1-2 teaspoons of refined coconut oil to it, and keep stirring to make sure it doesn't burn. The consistency should be enough that once cooled, it is able to be "dripped" onto the cake to the create the effect in the picture. Depending on the fat content of the chocolate chips you buy, you may need more or less oil. I would start with 1 teaspoon and add more if needed. Once completely melted, remove the chocolate from the heat and let it cool completely. It will not work as a topping if it isn't completely cooled down! Add the chocolate to a squeeze bottle and put the bottle upside down so the chocolate comes to the tip and is able to be squeezed out. Set it aside.
- Take 1/2 cup of the buttercream frosting you made earlier, and add red food coloring to it. Alternatively, you could just keep it white as well. If making it red, then add the buttercream to a bowl and attach a mixing paddle on it. While the mixer is on, slowly add in red food coloring, a little bit at a time, until you get the desired color. The food coloring we used turned a little more red over time, but looked pink to begin with. Add that frosting to a piping bag, attach a star icing tip (or any other icing tip you prefer) and set aside.
- Take 4 Oreos and cut them in half. You will use these 8 halves on the top. Set aside.
Assemble the Cake
- The first layer is one of the four cake layers. Put this on a cake tray, or whatever tray you will be keeping the entire cake on. It will be difficult to move once it is assembled.
- Carefully, using an offset frosting spatula, put frosting on top of this cake. Then crush some Oreos, and add a layer on crushed Oreos on top. I would use about 1/2 of an Oreo sleeve for this. (The Oreos should be crushed, not whole. Otherwise the second cake layer will not stick on top if it does not touch the icing underneath).
- Repeat the same as Layers 1 and 2
- Repeat the same as Layers 1 and 2
- Now put the last cake layer on top of the crushed Oreos.
- This last frosting layer will be the top of the cake. Make a "crumb coat" over the cake. This is a layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake, completely covering it in white frosting. This crumb coat prevents crumbs from coming into the real icing layer.
- After the crumb coat, refrigerate the cake for an hour to let it set.
- Now to add the real frosting layer on top of the crumb coat. Using the offset frosting spatula, put frosting to cover the entire cake.
- Put crushed candycanes all along the outer bottom edge of the cake using your hands. You will have to press the candycanes into the frosting, as shown in the pictures of the cake above.
- Refrigerate the cake for a half hour to let it set.
- Using the chocolate topping in the squeeze bottle, cover the entire cake top in chocolate topping, and use a frosting spatula to spread it around. Then on the sides, "drip" the chocolate like it shows in the pictures above.
- Using the piping bag with a star icing tip and red frosting within it, pipe icing (as shown in the pictures above) into 8 circles around the cake. Top with half an Oreo slice each.
- Sprinkle some Christmas sprinkles into the middle of the cake.
- Refrigerate the cake for about an hour to let it set, then serve!
Notes
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Storage
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
- I used this cake mix hack to make the cake without eggs.
