Go Back Email Link
–+ servings
two christmas tree cakes on white plate with greenery underneath, two forks, three christmas cakes around, two book pages underneath plate, and mini red and green ornments around

Vanilla Christmas Tree Cakes

5 from 1 vote
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Author: Traci Crossland
Extra sweet and extra delicious! These Vanilla Christmas Tree Cakes taste even BETTER than you remember. Every bite is full of vanilla flavor, soft, fluffy, sweet, and just melt in your mouth delicious. It's the perfect mini cake for this holiday season!

Ingredients

Cake

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup milk

Buttercream

  • 1 ⅛ cups salted butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons heavy cream
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla

Fondant

  • 12 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 cup corn syrup
  • ¾ cup water
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla powder
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cake

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Spray an 11"x15" pan with baking spray. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • Beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy.
  • Stream in sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • Add milk alternately with flour, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
  • Stir in vanilla.
  • Pour into prepared pan.
  • Bake 20 minutes, or until done.

Buttercream

  • Place butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla in a bowl.
  • Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Fondant

  • Place powdered sugar and vanilla powder in a large bowl.
  • Combine corn syrup and water.
  • Heat until corn syrup has dissolved.
  • Pour corn syrup mixture over powdered sugar mixture.
  • Stir until smooth.

Putting It Together

  • Place cooled cake on a wire rack over a sheet pan.
  • Use a long serrated knife to cut cake in half horizontally.
  • Slide top of cake onto the back of a sheet pan.
  • Spoon frosting over cake.
  • Spread evenly.
  • Replace top layer of cake.
  • Use a 5-inch Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut out Christmas tree shapes.
  • Working with one cake at a time, spoon fondant around edges and down sides to cover.
  • Fill in top.
  • If you run out of fondant, scrape the fondant from the bottom of the pan back into the bowl, heat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to loosen it back up, and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Repeat as many times as needed.
  • Allow to dry completely.
  • Color a small amount of remaining fondant with red food coloring, put in a piping bag, and pipe a zigzag on the trees.
  • Top with green coarse sugar.

Notes

Substitutions:
  • If you don't have vanilla powder, you can use vanilla extract. Just remember that the fondant won't be a pure white if extract is used.
  • These cakes are really sweet! If you want them a little less sweet, substitute lemon juice for half the water in the fondant.
  • Salted butter can be used in this recipe. Just omit the salt.
  • You can use any color dye you wish, as well as any color course sugar.
Expert Tips:
  • Be sure to not over mix the cake batter.
  • When cutting the cake in half, be very careful and go slowly with it! You will need a serrated knife to do this.
  • Once the cake is cut in half, it is very fragile. You may need help moving it. We used a large cake spatula to help place the top layer of cake onto an upside down sheet pan.
  • We actually highly recommend using an upside down sheet pan or cake board to place the top layer of cake on. This way, you can simply slide it back onto the frosted bottom layer.
  • Remember to sift the powdered sugar for the fondant!
  • The microwave is your friend with this fondant. Don't be afraid to reheat as often as you need to!
  • Do not waste the excess cake! After cutting, there tends to be a lot of cake leftover that can’t be used. No worries! Use that cake to make Christmas themed cake pops to be served alongside these.

Nutrition

Serving: 1CakeCalories: 1634kcalCarbohydrates: 301gProtein: 8gFat: 48gSaturated Fat: 29gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 204mgSodium: 679mgPotassium: 134mgFiber: 1gSugar: 265gVitamin A: 1540IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 150mgIron: 3mg

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.