Candy Cane Cake
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I needed to make a festive Christmas cake for a family function recently and was inspired by candy canes. I decided to have some fun with it and try a few new techniques, and I think I came up with something pretty cool. Anyone up for a cake filled with peppermint buttercream and decorated to look like it's covered in Christmas ribbon candy? Here goes!
I baked a regular white cake and cut it into layers. To fill the layers, I decided to make a peppermint buttercream. I put 6 candy canes in my mini food processor and pulverized them until they were almost dust.
Then I mixed the candy into a batch of buttercream frosting that I had tinted pink.
When it was mixed thoroughly, I spread a glob on each cake layer and smoothed it out. It tasted fantastic, let me tell ya!
After filling and stacking the layers, I frosted the whole cake with white frosting.
Leaving half the white frosting alone, I used some red food coloring to make a bowl of red frosting. I also grabbed a disposable decorating bag and fitted it with a large rose petal tip.
Now for the tricky part. I used my small offset spatula to push a glob of red frosting along one side of the bag. Then I added layers of white and red frosting, until the bag was full.
I tried to keep the layers fairly even, but really it doesn't matter too much. The trick here is that you want red and white frosting to come out at the same time, and mix just a little bit on the way out.
I used this striped frosting to create ruffles all over the cake, which look kind of like Christmas ribbon candy. It's a pretty easy (and forgiving) technique. I just started at the bottom of the cake and squeezed steadily as I went back and forth, so that the frosting fell on itself in a ribbon.
I repeated this technique over and over, going from bottom to top each time. Eventually, the sides were completely covered with ribbons!
For the top, I used the same technique but let the ribbon point upwards. I went in concentric circles around and around until the top was covered.
I am pretty pleased with how it came out, and it tasted great, too!
6 comments so far:
Wow, look amazing.
That candy cane cake was just AMAZING!!!!!
Wonderful icing I will have to try this one
thanks
marlene
What is your buttercream frosting recipe?
Thanks, ladies!
Maddie, I have two standard icing recipes, depending on what I'm using them for. For a really tasty buttercream (like I used in the filling of this cake), I mix a stick of butter, 4 oz of cream cheese, and a tsp of vanilla until creamy, then add enough powdered sugar to make it the right consistency. For a pure white frosting that's sturdy enough to use for decoration(like I used on the outside of this cake), I mix a 2-lb bag of powdered sugar with 2/3 cup of shortening and enough water to make it the right consistency. I try to choose the tastier recipe whenever possible, but for intricate decorations, I have to go with the ol' standy.
That looks amazing! I'm definitely making this For Christmas and New Years!