Top 5 Holiday Cakes That Will Make Christmas Deliciously Merry and Bright
We’re less than a week away from Christmas. Although there are still many of us who are rushing to do some last-minute shopping or checking on the mail each day for our gifts to be delivered, there’s also the big holiday meal that happens on December 25.
We’ve already covered you on how to be the best host or crafty decorator. And we’ve also shared some tips on how to stay sane while the family is over. But what if you’re the guest who needs to know what to bring to the soiree?
Well, who doesn’t like something sweet? We’ve already covered the cookie department, so it’d also be good to offer some solid cake recipes that will be a great end to the Christmas meal. We cover traditional recipes as well as some quirky contemporary ones. Check out our Top 5 recipes below.
5. Festive Bundt Cake
If you’re looking for no-fuss baking, Nigella Lawson has a foolproof recipe for a cider and five-spice bundt cake. You’ll need to incorporate all your wet ingredients, including the brown sugar, treacle (or what the British call molasses), and your favorite bottle of hard cider. Then, after doing the same with the dry ingredients, put them all together and gently mix them.
Next, could you take a greased bundt pan like this one? You can also have fun with the bundt style or shape like this rose tin or make mini ones with this pan. Bake in the oven at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes and serve.
4. Croquembouche
If you’re looking for something very elaborate that makes you look like you’ve been slaving in the kitchen all day, maybe the croquembouche is the proper dessert.
The traditional French dessert comprises a tower of choux pastry balls (the doughy stuff in cream puffs) and caramel sugar strands. The higher you pile these dough balls, the more impressed your loved ones will be.
Duff Goldman walks you through the process and shows you that you can make it, no matter how elaborate it looks. Just ensure you’ve got piping bags to make the balls and their fillings!
3. Bûche de Noël
Don’t let the name of this dessert intimidate you. The bûche de Noël has also been known as the yule log or Swiss roll. But let’s be honest — how impressive will you sound when you tell your relatives that you made this bûche de Noël from scratch?
The cake is always a hit during the holidays and is traditionally served in Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Quebec. Edd Kimber has a recipe that will make you feel like you can whip up this dessert other times throughout the year.
Although he makes the sponge cake from scratch, he gives us a hack by using whipped cream mixed with dark chocolate. Of course, you can make your own whipped cream by using one of these fun whisks. Edd also gives us another tip when it comes to rolling it up. He suggests we pre-roll the cake with a tea towel right after it comes out of the oven. As it cools, the cake will start to take on a rolled-up shape and won’t break when we add the cream inside. Once it’s rolled, you can sprinkle powdered sugar all over it. Or you can go wild and ice it up to look like an eggnog piece of wood.
2. Holiday Eggnog Cake
Eggnog has become a fixture during the holidays. Although some people can guzzle glass after glass, others need help to handle the frothy creaminess. If the latter is the case, but you still love the flavor, why not turn that beverage into a cake? Tatyana’s Everyday Food has a simple recipe for putting this multi-layered cake together.
To make the assembly much more manageable, you can use a rotating cake stand while you spread the cream between the cake layers and ice the cake at the end. Tatyana uses a squeeze bottle to ensure each cake layer is soaked with eggnog. Tatyana shows you how to make snowflakes using white chocolate melts if you want to add more holiday flair.
1. Gingerbread Mega Cake
While these delicious recipes look a little plain at the table, if you’re looking for something full of color or with the WOW factor, you can bake the Gingerbread Mega Cake by How to Cake It.
Aside from making gingerbread cake from scratch, you’ll also learn how to make a vibrant cranberry buttercream that will go into each layer, made with fresh cranberries that you’ll cook down and whiz in a food processor. The video above will show you how to ice the cake and what fun gingerbread decorations you can make and use for the cake. By the end, you’ll have a show-stopping dessert that’ll be great as a table centerpiece (and equally delicious). After all the photos, you’ll be able to enjoy its gingerbread goodness.
What’s your favorite dessert to make for the holidays? Let us know in the comments below!
