Christmas Bauble Cake

Let the baking begin for this holiday season with this lovely Christmas Bauble Cake! I have four cake designs in mind this year and just as many Christmas parties to go to so it’s perfect! If you are still looking for a great dessert idea for Christmas, look no further! This is a delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese filling that is very easy to make. You don’t need any special pans, just two round metal bowls that are about 19cm (7.5 inches) in diameter. For the cake and filling I will list all the ingredients but you can find step-by-step pictures and instructions in the How To’s section or by following the links below.

Time: 110 min, Prep: 70 min. Cook: 40 min
Servings: ~16

Ingredients:

For red velvet cake:

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp red food coloring

These ingredients are for 2 small cakes baked in round bowls which are 19 cm ( 7.5 inch) in diameter. Divide the batter equally between the two bowls.

For cream cheese filling:

225 g (8 oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp sour cream

For covering and decorating the cake:

1 pound red fondant
1/8 pound white fondant
A snowflake plunger cutter
Fondant tools: smoother (or palm of your hands), roller, cutter (or a regular knife)

Directions:

Cut off any dome or excess on your cakes using a sharp knife to level them off. Then cut each cake horizontally in two. One cake face-up and the other face-down, will make a bauble.

Place the first layer on your cake platter. Using a spatula, evenly cover the top of the first layer with a few generous tablespoons of filling.

Place the next layer of cake and top with filling. Repeat until you are done with all your layers. I actually didn’t use the larger half of the second cake as my cake would’ve been too tall and looked more like an oval rather than round like a bauble. It all depends on the size of the bowls you are using and how much your cakes will rise in the oven. I’ll let you be the judge on that!

Save a few tablespoons of cream cheese filling to crumb coat the cake and seal in all the cake crumbs. Place the cake in the fridge for about an hour.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar onto your work surface, roll out the fondant and cover the cake.

Smooth the fondant with the palm of your hands starting from the top.

Trim the edges at the bottom.

I used the frill cutter seen in the picture to cut a strip about 1/3 inch tall.

Then I placed it around the base of the cake.

Take a piece of white fondant and make a cylinder shape to form the top of the bauble. Roll out a thin rope of white fondant about 1.5 inch long. Cut out another small strip using the frill cutter.

Attach the rope on top of the cylinder as seen in the picture and the strip around the base . Place this on top of the bauble.

Roll out a small piece of white fondant fairly thin and cut out snowflake shapes with the cutter (without pressing on the plunger) then press the plunger to emboss the snowflake and press it out.