Christmas is coming in two weeks, and it is time to find out how to make Christmas cake. If you do not have a Christmas cake recipe you like or want to try something new, here are some Christmas cake ideas.
Simple Christmas Cake recipe
If you do not have much time or you need to practice your cooking skills, find out how to make a Christmas cake easy. Sugar-dusted snowflake cake is a perfect option. Use a matured fruitcake for a base, if you have prepared one. If not, here is a last-minute traditional Christmas cake recipe.
Ingredients for cake
- Raisins – 1 cup
- Dried cranberries – ½ cup
- Cutup pitted dates – 1 cup
- Irish Whiskey (or other alcohol) – 1/8 cup
- Dried cherries – 1 cup
- Blanched almonds – 1 cup
- Walnuts – 2 cups
- Sunflower seeds – ½ cups
- All-purpose flour – ¾ cups
- Baking soda – ¼ teaspoons
- Baking powder – ¼ teaspoons
- Salt – ½ teaspoons
- Sugar – ¾ cup
- Eggs – 3
- Vanilla – 1 teaspoon
Directions
- Soak raisins, cranberries, and dates in whiskey for 15 minutes.
- Mix fruits, nuts, and seeds. Add soaked berries, too.
- Stir flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Coat the fruit and nuts mixture.
- Beat eggs with vanilla. Then pour over the fruit mixture and blend well.
- Pour the mixture into a greased pan. Bake at 300°C for 1 ½ hours. Then remove and cool.
Ingredients for coating
- Raspberry or apricot jam – 4 tablespoons
- Marzipan – 1 pack, 500 grams
- Icing sugar
- White icing – 1 ¼ kg
- Egg white – 1
- Sugar, preserving or granulated
- Snowflake-shaped cutters
Directions
- Brush the cake with jam. Roll out the marzipan on a surface dusted with sugar. Adjust the size till it becomes large enough to cover the cake on top and sides.
- Lift on the cake and smooth the icing down. Smooth out all marks in case you left any.
- Using the rest of white icing cut a few snowflakes. Dip them in sugar to coat. Decorate the cake.
Wreath Cake
You can use the fruitcake base from the previous recipe, but a different kind of Christmas cake decorations, and prepare, for instance, a wreath.
Ingredients for coating
- Fresh cranberries – a few berries
- Egg white, frotted – 1
- White sugar – 3 tablespoons
- Jam (apricot or raspberry) – 3 tablespoons
- Marzipan – 300 grams
- Icing sugar – 1 pack (500 grams)
- Leaves and sage for decoration
Directions
- Dip the cranberries in egg white, roll in sugar till they coat well, and put aside.
- Brush the top of the cake with jam. Roll out the marzipan. Place on top of the cake and press down.
- Add some water to icing sugar and stiff until it becomes smooth. Pile on the top. Push to the edges.
- Decorate the cake: make a wreath with sage and leaves.
Red Velvet Cookie Cake
How about the alternative to ordinary Christmas cookies?
Ingredients for cake
- Softened salted butter – ¾ cups
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Egg – 1
- Vanilla extract – 1 tablespoon
- Vinegar – 2 tablespoons
- Red food coloring – 1 ½ tablespoons
- All-purpose flour – 2 ¼ cups + 2 tablespoons
- Cornstarch – 2 tablespoons
- Baking soda – 1 tablespoon
- Cocoa powder – 1 tablespoon
- Salt – ¼ tablespoons
- Sprinkles – 3 tablespoons
Ingredients for frosting
- Softened cream cheese – 115 grams
- Softened butter – 3 tablespoons
- Powdered sugar – 2 cups
- Pure vanilla extract – ½ tablespoons
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°C. Meanwhile, line a cake pan with parchment and grease.
- Combine cream butter and sugar with mixer (3-4 minutes). Add egg, vanilla, vinegar, coloring, and mix well.
- Whisk flour, cornstarch, soda, cocoa powder, and salt. Mix until combined. Stir in sprinkles and put into refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Put dough into the pan. Bake up to 20 minutes, until the edges are firm. Remove and transfer to serving plate.
- Beat cream cheese with butter. After the mixture becomes smooth, add a half of sugar, and mix until combined. Then slowly add the remaining sugar and vanilla, and mix well.
- After the mixture becomes smooth, cover the cake with frosting and garnish with sprinkles.
Ugly Sweater Cake
If you are tired of ordinary Christmas cake designs, this one is for you. Ugly Sweater Cake is easy to prepare. Nevertheless, it looks impressive and is delicious.
Ingredients for cake
- Yellow cake mix
- Vegetable oil – 1/3 cup
- Eggs – 3
- Vanilla extract – ½ teaspoon
Combine the following ingredients to prepare yellow cake mix:
- All-purpose flour – 1 ¼ cups
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Baking powder – 2 teaspoons
- Baking soda – ½ teaspoon
- Salt – ¼ teaspoon
Ingredients for frosting
- Unsalted butter, softened – 1 cup
- Powdered sugar – 3-4 cups
- Heavy cream – ¼ cup
- Vanilla extract – 2 ½ teaspoons
- Red food coloring paste
- Chocolate chips
- Candies
- M&M’s, skittles, Jingles, or other candies you like– 1 pack of each
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 175°C and grease the baking dish.
- Beat cake mix, eggs, vanilla, 1/3 cup of oil, 1 cup of water in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed for around 2 minutes.
- Pour into a pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the starts to spring back and becomes colored brown and gold.
- On a medium speed, beat softened butter for 3 minutes. After it becomes smooth and creamy, add sugar, cream, and vanilla extract and beat for 3 more minutes.
- Leave 1 ½ cups of frosting white, the rest color red. Reserve 1/3 cup and use the rest to frost the cake.
- Place the frosting in pastry bags and decorate the cake as a sweater. Use chocolate chips as buttons and other candies for sweater decoration. Use the photo as an example or design your own kind of ugly sweater.
Gingerbread Layer Cake
Gingerbread cookies are Christmas classic. Let’s try to reinvent the classic and test this gingerbread cake recipe.
Ingredients for cake
- All-purpose flour – 2 ½ cups
- Ground cinnamon – 1 tablespoon
- Ground ginger – 1 tablespoon
- Ground nutmeg – ½ tablespoon
- Espresso powder – 1 tablespoon
- Baking soda – 1 tablespoon
- Salt – ¾ tablespoons
- Unsalted butter, softened – ¾ cup
- Granulated sugar – ½ cup
- Brown sugar – ½ cup
- Eggs – 2
- Molasses – ½ cup
- Warm water – ½ cup
Ingredient for frosting
- Cold sour cream – 2/3 cup
- Cold heavy cream – 1 ¾ cups
- Light brown sugar – 1/3 cup
- Powdered sugar – ½ cup
- Maple extract ½ tablespoon
- Cinnamon sugar almonds
Directions
- Preheat oven to 175°C. Cover the baking forms with parchment and grease it.
- Whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Set the mixture aside.
- Mix cream butter with sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs and molasses and mix everything well.
- Gradually add ingredients to the mixture: 1/3 of mix, ½ of water, and repeat until all ingredients are used. Mixed everything well to combine.
- Divide and place in three baking forms. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove and cool. Then slice each piece in half to get six layers.
- Meanwhile, combine sour and heavy cream, and mix on a medium speed.
- When the mixture starts to thicken, add brown and powder sugar. Add maple extract. Place cream and almonds on every layer.
Christmas cake tips
Is there a secret to making a perfect Christmas cake? The most important thing is the proper mood. You should forget about all worries and everything that bothers you. Everything is easier for a positive and enthusiastic person. Surround yourself with Christmas spirit.
Also, do not forget about using fresh ingredients of good quality. Prepare everything beforehand: make a list of ingredients you will need for cooking Christmas cake in Nigeria and do some shopping to be certain that you don’t lack anything when you start cooking. Do not add ingredient you like unless you are sure that the changes will not spoil the taste.
If you want to make the traditional Nigerian Christmas cake use a matured fruitcake recipe. For this, you should set a reminder and cook it in October or November.
Browse different Christmas recipes and pick the one you like the most. Do not be afraid to experiment and try something new.
