This is a great cake design that is quite easy to make. I decided to make this Christmas Present Cake shaped as a square box but you could make it as a rectangle, hexagon or round if you prefer. The cake flavour and filling are the same as the ones I used for my Christmas Bauble Cake – red velvet cake with cream cheese filling.
As usual, 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: 180 min, Prep: 140 min. Cook: 40 min
Servings: ~20-24
Ingredients:
For cake (x2):
- 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
You have to double the ingredients above to make two 24 cm ( 9.5 inch) square cakes.
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:
- 2 pounds red fondant
- 1 pound green fondant for making the fondant bow topper
- Edible glue
- Fondant tools: smoother (or palm of your hands), roller, cutter (or a regular knife)
Directions:
Place the first layer on your cake board or platter. Using a spatula, evenly cover the top of the first layer with 3/4 of the filling. Place the next layer of cake and top with filling. This is a red velvet cake but it sure doesn’t look like it… my cocoa powder was too good so the cakes turned out more brown than red :).
Crumb coat the cake and seal in all the cake crumbs with the remaining cream cheese filling. Place the cake in the fridge for about an hour.
Use a measuring tape or a piece of string to measure the top and sides of the cake. So if you measured 9.5 inches across the top and your cake is 4 inches tall that is 17.5 inches of cake in total so you need to roll out the fondant at least 17.5 inches.
Sprinkle some powdered sugar onto your work surface and roll out the red fondant.
Gently lift fondant over rolling pin and place it on top of the cake.
Smooth the fondant with the palm of your hands starting from the top.
Trim the edges at the bottom.
Cut two strips about 17.5 inches long and 1 inch wide. Place them on top of the cake as seen in the picture.
Place the fondant bow in the center of the cake and attach it using some edible glue.
Roll out two thin ropes of white and green fondant. Twist them together and attach around the base of the cake using some water.
