Candy Cane Cocktail Cake
White Chocolate liqueur and Peppermint Schnapps combine to make this incredible Candy Cane Cocktail Cake - perfect for the holidays!
Equipment
- Ridged cake comb (to add stripes - I used the ‘Two Tone Random Stripe Contour Comb’ from this set!)
- Squeeze bottle (optional) (or jigger; to add liqueurs to the cake layers)
- small piping bag + small round tip (to pipe the frosting to make stripes)
Ingredients
Candy Cane Cake Layers
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (or 1 stick, room temperature)
- 4 egg whites
- ¾ cups buttermilk (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 1 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- Few drops of liquid red food color (save & add at the end)
Cake Drizzle (optional)
- ¼ cup Peppermint Schnapps (I used Rumplemintz)
- ¼ cup White chocolate liqueur (I used Godiva)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 package; softened)
- 1 cup butter (1 stick; softened)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 3-4 drops Americolor red gel food color (Save and add later!)
Decorations
- 1 cup crushed peppermint candy or candy canes
- 1 teaspoon Crisco / vegetable shortening (to add the peppermint candy stripe to the cake)
- 2 mini candy canes (optional; to top the cake)
Instructions
Candy Cane Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch round pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined. Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture looks crumbly.
- Pour in egg whites and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk on a low speed. Add in peppermint extract and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Divide batter evenly evenly between prepared cake pans (I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part). This guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height. Add a few drops of red food color to each pan, and marble it in with a knife or offset spatula.
- Bake for 28-35 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans.. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.
- Once the layers have fully cooled, they can be leveled and any caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides / top of the cake using a serrated knife if desired. Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming. If you try to trim the layers while they’re still warm, they will crumble apart. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
Cake drizzle (optional)
- After cake layers are leveled, combine peppermint schnapps and white chocolate liqueur and use a squeeze bottle (or jigger) to infuse each layer with about 2 Tablespoons each of liqueur mixture.
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk and peppermint extract until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. Beat until well combined.
- Remove about 1 cup of frosting from the bowl and color with red gel color – you’ll use this in a bit for decorating!
Assembly
- Place a smear of frosting on your cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center of the circle.
- Spread the layer with frosting, and sprinkle a bit of crushed peppermint candy over the frosting. Place your next cake layer on top, and repeat the process with your remaining cake layers.
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer. I usually do this with my large offset spatula.
- Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layer of frosting and smooth. I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part. Once the frosting is mostly smooth, work your way around the cake several times with the textured cake comb, until the stripes are smooth and even. Place it into the fridge or freezer to set the frosting and chill the cake before adding the stripes!
Decorating
- Now the fun part – stripes! Transfer some red frosting to a small piping bag with a small round tip, and fill the small gaps left by the cake comb with red frosting. Over-filling a bit is fine, and actually makes the smoothing process easier.
- Turn the cake comb to the smooth side and run it around the cake until the stripes appear smooth – work gently; you don’t want to scrape off all the stripes! This is where having the cake well-chilled is helpful; it makes it easier to smooth the stripes without scraping them off.
- Transfer the rest of the red frosting to a large piping bag fitted with a star tip, and pipe a rim of large frosting swirls around the top of the cake – I alternated large swirls and slightly smaller stars.
- Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy over the frosting swirls and around the cake base, pressing them gently into the frosting around the base. Place two mini candy canes together to form a ‘heart’ in the center of the cake if desired!
- And you're done! Step back and admire your fabulous-looking cake - and cut in and enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice (1/12th cake)Calories: 725kcalCarbohydrates: 98gProtein: 9gFat: 38g
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Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
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This cake looks yummmmylicious! Definitely need to try this
Thank you! 🙂 I love this recipe! Let me know how it goes!