Candy Cane Cake

Candy Cane Cake

As a child I used to love eating candy canes. I loved the peppermint flavor. However, as I got older, I didn't like it as much. I wasn't too convinced about this Candy Cane Cake recipe, but the minute I thought about pairing it up with homemade cream cheese frosting I thought... of course it'll be AWESOME!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Every year since my husband and I were married my mom and I would swap Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner. This year my husband and I are hosting the Christmas Eve dinner. What's for dinner?

New England Clam Chowder (recipe courtesy of my dear friend Jen)

some brothy soup (my husband probably doesn't know which one he'll be making yet)

fresh dinner rolls

Candy Cane Cake

I decided to share the Candy Cane recipe on my blog, since it's Christmas (time for sharing) and I absolutely LOVED the cream cheese frosting.

Oh, by the way... as much as I LOVE "Nothing Bundt Cake," I couldn't bring myself to spending almost $40 for a cake. My husband probably would've frieked.

Candy Cane Bundt Cake

from Betty Crocker

Cake Ingredients

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix

ingredients for box recipe

1/2 teaspoon red food color

1/2 teaspoon pepppermint extract

Frosting Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature

8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature

3 cups of powder sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Decoration Ingredients

crushed candy canes or peppermint red swirl candies

Cake Directions

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Using shortening, grease the fluted tube cake pan really well. I used a silicone brush to get into all the crevices really well, and it saved me from a lot of mess. Dust the entire pan with flour and shake off the excess.

Make the cake batter according to the directions on the cake box.

Pour 2 cups of the batter into the pan.

Take about 3/4 cup of the remaining batter and add the peppermint extract and red food coloring to it. Mix well.

You'll have a pink batter!

Pour the pink batter carefully on top of the white batter in the pan.

Pour the remaining white batter on top of the pink batter and bake according to the box. Mine baked for 42 minutes. Check with a toothpick!

While it bakes, crush up some candy canes and/or peppermint swirly candy. You could crush them by hand or by food processor.

I would probably crush it by hand next time. It was uneven.

Let your bundt cake cool for 10 minutes and then transfer it to a cooling rack. Let it fully cool for about an hour before you frost it. I love my cooling racks! It was an early Christmas present from my best friend, Meredith!

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add the vanilla and powder sugar and mix well. I piped it onto the bundt cake by using a Ziploc bag. I started piping from the bottom up. It was pure luck that I started that way. I guess watching all those cake challenge shows on the Food Network paid off!

Lastly, sprinkle your crushed up candies on top, and you have yourself a Candy Cane Cake!

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

Come back soon! I'll be posting what the inside of the cake looks like!