Christmas Tree Cake

Everyone will pine over this adorable Christmas Tree Cake. It’s a great way to practice your piping technique and get creative with a variety of trees in different shades of green. You could even customize this cake with a holiday message or cake topper. Serve it at your next holiday celebration for a tree-mendous dessert everyone will love!

Prep2 hr
Total Time5 hr 30 min
Skill LevelIntermediate

Amount10-12 servings

Ingredients & Tools
Instructions

Instructions

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Bake Cake. Prepare cake mix or batter following the chosen recipe’s instructions. Bake two 3 inch cake layers and cool completely. Trim ½ an inch off both layers to be 2 ½ inches high each. Fill and stack layers to create a 5 inch high cake.
Make Frosting. In a large bowl, cream the butter and shortening. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy for about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla and scrape down the bowl occasionally.
Gradually add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, starting by mixing each cup on a low speed then beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl after each cup of sugar is added. When all sugar has been mixed in, the frosting will appear dry and stiff.
Gradually add milk or water, adding small amounts at a time until the desired consistency is reached; continue to beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl once more and beat again to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated. Add a pinch of salt if too sweet and mix until completely dissolved.
Use spatula to frosting cake smooth using untinted buttercream frosting.
Tint frosting. Tint buttercream to create the following colors:
Tint ½ cup white frosting lime green by combining Moss Green and Lemon Yellow icing colors.
Tint ¼ cup white frosting dark green by combining Kelly Green, Royal Blue and a touch of Black icing colors.
Tint ¼ cup white frosting teal green by combining Sky Blue, Lemon Yellow and touch of Black icing colors.
Tint ¼ cup white frosting red by combining Red-Red and Christmas Red icing colors.
Tint ½ cup white frosting juniper green using Juniper Green icing color.
Add all tinted frostings into decorating bags. Pair tinted colors in decorating bags with tips as follows.
Tip 18 and lime green frosting
Tip 3 and dark green frosting
Tip 5 and teal green frosting
Tip 2 and red frosting
Tip 16 and juniper green frosting.
Decorate the cake. Use the piping bag with tip 2 and red frosting to pipe swag around the cake using dots of red frosting. The lowest part of the swag should measure about 1¼ in. from top of cake and be about 1½ in. wide.
Use the other prepared decorating bags to pipe trees around the sides of cake, in any height or style you’d like.