The most christmasy-wintery cake I have ever made! And it doesn’t just look great but also so delicious!!
*I am sitting on my bed right now under tons of cozy blankets with a giant cup of hot tea writing this post. This couldn’t be more festive!*
We made this cake with Chilli and Z. for one of my friends birthday! We planned it in September, so you can imagine how excited we were to finally make it! And this isn’t „just a cake”. This is a two leveled edible winter wonderland!
So for the base I used the sponge from my Lemon Meringue Pie Cake recipe but instead of lemon I used orange and I also added some cinnamon and honey. It already tasted like Christmas, but th
We filled the cake with a cinnamon-walnut buttercream and some of my cinnamon candied walnuts, and meringues. Then we covered the whole cake with a simple buttercream so it looked like a snow covered mountain. As a decoration I made honey christmas cookies aka hungarian gingerbread in house shapes and we decorated them with Chilli.
We also put some meringues and tiny cookie presents on the top along with a cookie christmas cake.
Here is a little tip for how to use your leftover royal icing. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and you can pipe little dotts, snowflakes, stars, hearts on it. I also drew some long lines and after they dried and hardened I broke them up into sprinkles. You can also colour your icing. I think this would be a great homemade gift as well. You make a lot of colorful dotts and sprinkles and put them into a little container as home made cupcake/cake decor sprinkles.
And now let’s talk about the flavours! OMG it was sooooo delicious I can’t even explain!! Like christmas punching you in the face. Orange, cinnamon, walnut, honey, meringues... Instant diabetes! But this is the best in the holidays! You are not just allowed to eat a lot but you literally have to!
If you want to make it for Christmas I would recommend to make the candied walnuts, honey cookies, meringues a few days ahead and the sponge a the day before putting the cake together so you don’t have to spend your whole day in the kitchen.
I hope you like this cake because I am really proud of it.
P.S.: If you make it please share a photo. Send me an email (bakinggym@gmail.com) or tag me on instagram @bakinggym, #Bakinggym. I would really like to see your creations!
Winter Wonderland Cake
Prep Time: 1+ hour Baking Time: 2,5+ hours Total Time: 4,5+ hours Portions: 14-16 slices
Ingredients:
- Cinnamon Candied Walnuts (recipe here)
- Honey Christmas Cookies/Gingerbread (recipe here)*
Sponge: (for 4 layers 8-inch or 20 cm round sponge)
500g granulated sugar - 500g butter (room temperature)
8 eggs
1 orange zest
**500g self-rasing flour
5 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon gorund cloves
Cinnamon-Walnut Buttercream:
2/3 cup or 150g butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups confectioner sugar
1 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cinnamon
extra milk if it’s too thick
Plain Buttercream:
1 cup or 225g butter (room temperature)
3 cups confectioner sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
Meringue:
2 egg whites (room temperature!)
double the weight of your egg whites in caster sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
*For the bigger houses I drew around 2,7 inch or 7 cm high houses in different shapes and the smaller ones were 1,7 inch or 4,5 cm high. We used 11 big houses and 7 small houses. I also did two same christmas trees and then cut one of them vertically in half. I used some royal icing and „glued” the to halves on the to sides of the whole tree. For the tiny presents I cut out some squares.
**If self-raising flour is not available in your country you can make your own. Add ½ teaspoon baking powder to 1 cup plain flour. In this recipe add 1 and ½ teaspoons to the 500g flour.
Directions:
Sponge:
Preheat your oven to 340 F or 170 C. Butter and flour 4 8-inch or 20 cm round cake pans. (I have only one so I baked one at a time.)
Put the butter and the sugar in a large bowl and start mixing it with a hand mixer or a stand mixer on low speed first then medium-high speed for around 5 minutes or until it’s pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time while you are mixing it on a low speed.
Add the orange zest, the flour and the spices and mix it until it’s well-combined.
Pour the milk and the honey and mix it just until it’s combined.
Divide the batter into four pans evenly and smooth the tops with a spatula.
Bake the sponges for 25-30 minutes. It’s done when the middle is firm and if you push a fork in it, the fork comes out clean.
If the sponges are not straight enough on the top, you can trim the top with a serrated knife.
9. Draw a 10 cm or 4 inch circle on a paper and cut it out (I found a bowl which is exactly 10 cm so I used that as a template.) And cut out 2 circles from one of the sponges and two half rounds.
Cinnamon Walnut Buttercream:
Put the butter into a large bowl and start mixing it with a hand mixer or a standing mixer on a medium-high speed for around 5-10 minutes, until it’s really pale an fluffy.
Gradually start to add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and mix them well together.
Add the cinnamon, the salt and the honey and mix for an other minutes.
If it’s too thick you can add a tablespoon of milk at a time.
Chop the walnuts into small pieces and fold them into the buttercream.
Make the plain buttercream the same way but leave out the cinnamon, and the walnuts.
Meringue:
Preheat you oven to 210 F or 100 C. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet
Use a big metal bowl and make sure it’s very clean. Put in the eggs and measure them. If there is any yolk in it you have to make an other batch.
Measure out the sugar (double the weight of your eggs) and add a pinch of salt and the cinnamon.
Use a whisk attachment and start to whisk your eggs on a low speed. When it’s foamy whisk it on a higher speed.
Beat it until it’s firm and you can turn the bowl upside down.
Put it back on a medium-high speed and add the sugar one tablespoon at time. Mix it for about five minutes or until if you rub it between your fingers you don’t feel any grains of sugar left.
Add the vanilla extract and beat it until it’s combined for a few seconds.
Fill a piping bag or a plastic bag with the meringue batter. Pipe little meringues to the baking sheet.
Bake them for about 30-35 minutes or until you can pull them off the paper. Let them cool down in the oven with a slightly open door.
How to put together the cake:
Put some cinnamon walnut buttercream on top of the first sponge. Chop some of the bigger pieces of candied a walnuts and make an even layer on top of the buttercream.
Then put on an other sponge, spread some buttercream on it and break some meringues on the top of that. Then add the last sponge. Cover the top with the cinnamon buttercream.
For the mini cake first put one of the mini sponges in the middle of the big cake and repeat the first step (candied walnuts on the top). Than stick together the two halves with some buttercream for the second layer and repeat the second step (break meringues). Put on the last small cake.
Cover the whole cake with a thin layer of the cinnamon walnut buttercream. This is the crumb coat. Chill the cake for around 30 minutes or until the buttercream is set.
Then cover the cake with the plain white buttercream. You don’t have to make it perfectly because the houses will cover it.
Cover the side of the cakes with the houses and put the tree, some meringues, candied walnuts and the small presents on the top of the small cake. We also sprinkled some of the homemade white sprinkles and snowflakes on the cake.
