The real star of this dessert is the cake itself! So pillowy soft and delicious. I made mine with “plain” vanilla but you could add in some peppermint extract, orange blossom water, lemon zest or whatever else you love to make this cake your own!
Pro Tips for an Amazing Christmas Tree Cake
If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans. You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference. To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set on the shop page or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested! To pipe the two-tone frosting you fill one bag (1/2 way full) with white frosting, one bag with green frosting and then put both bags in a third piping bag. No need for a tip, just snip about an inch off each bag. I like to give a really good dusting of powdered sugar “snow” to the trees for some added realism and depth. If you don’t have a #30 tip then try any small to medium star or leaf tip to pipe the tree. The trees can also look cute with little sugar or fondant ornaments and presents, too! I actually applied white ornaments to one tree with tweezers. It looked good but they kind of got lost in the snow. SO not worth the effort, for me at least. Hope you enjoy!!
Cake decorating to be a bit intimidating then check out my How to Decorate a Cake post, it has lots of helpful tips and a full how to video.
How to Make a Christmas Tree Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 3 six inch cake pans. In a large bowl add the flour, leavening agents, salt and sugar. Whisk and set aside.
In a medium bowl add the egg whites, sour cream, milk, vanilla and butter. Mix until combined but don’t worry if you see little clumps.
Add the wet mixture to the dry. Whisk batter together until smooth. Don’t over beat it though, you’re really just mixing until combined.
To make the buttercream beat the room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, and cream. Mix and add the food coloring.For the frosting; Cream the butter, add the sugar, then mix on high. Add the milk a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Divide the frosting into a two batches. Add green food coloring to one batch, mix until combined then transfer to a piping bag. add some white buttercream to another piping bag then place both in a third fitted with a large round tip. Once you have your two-tone piping bag filled you’re ready, pipe and stack your layers.
Pipe the two-toned buttercream onto the first layer, add the second layer and repeat then cover the cake in white buttercream.
Smooth out the buttercream on your cake using a bench scraper. Grab an angled cake spatula to smooth out the top and edges.
Use a sharp serrated knife to cut the ice cream cones, you’ll want some shorter ones for the top and a bunch of halved cones of various heights for the side. It’s fine to have a rough edge but it can be easier to cut them if briefly you dip the cones in water.
Press the halved cones onto the side of the cake, staggering the tall and short ones for some visual interest.
Use a number 30 tip to pipe star-shaped dollops onto the surface of the cone beginning at the bottom and working to the top.
For the cones on top of your cake; go ahead and pipe those dollops on before placing them on your cake. You can save the “tippy top dollop” for after they are placed on the top of the cake.
When the trees are frosted, arrange them on the top of the cake, then go ahead and pipe that last dollop at the top of the cone.
Last, but not least, sift confectioners’ sugar onto the top of the cake and all on those trees and it’s ready to serve! If you’ve tried this Christmas cake recipe then don’t forget leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
