Have you ever tried making a Christmas cake? No? Then the submitted article will help you with this.
What is the difference between a Christmas cake and an ordinary one, you ask? There are practically no differences between such desserts. Unless a festive treat can have an unusual shape, as well as a special decoration.
Today we will bring to your attention several options for making a beautiful dessert that will surely appeal to your guests and household.
Christmas cakes: recipes with photos
How to cook an original treat for the arrival of guests? The most popular dessert for the festive table is the Christmas Wreath Cake. Making such a treat is easy, but it turns out incredibly beautiful.
So, for the test we need:
- fresh chicken egg - about 6 pcs.;
- white sugar - 2 full glasses;
- softened butter - about 250 g for dough and about 2 large spoons for lubricating the mold;
- white flour - 2 full cups for the dough and 2 large spoons for the mold;
- food baking powder - 2 dessert spoons.
For the cream you will need:
- softened butter - about 300 g;
- unboiled condensed milk - approximately 300 g;
- any brandy - 2 large spoons.
The following products are needed for decoration and interlayer:
- thick apricot jam - 250 g;
- chocolate dragee in green glaze - about 500 g.
Knead the dough
Before you prepare a Christmas cake in the form of a wreath, you should knead the base for the cake. To do this, combine the egg yolks with soft butter, and then add sugar to them and mix thoroughly with an ordinary fork. Leaving the resulting mass aside, you should whisk the chilled proteins strongly. After that, both components need to be combined in one dish, and then add baking powder and white flour to them.
Beating products with a mixer at maximum speed, you should get a homogeneous dough of not very thick consistency.
Cake baking process
In order for the Christmas cake to take the necessary shape and look as close as possible to a wreath, it is recommended to use non-stick dishes for baking a large cake. The mold should be well lubricated with soft butter, and then sprinkled with light flour. After that, cook the dough into the dishes. Then the form must be placed in a preheated oven. Bake the cake for an hour at a temperature of 190 degrees.
When the cupcake is fully cooked, it must be removed from the mold and placed on a flat surface, cool thoroughly. After that, it needs to be cut into 4 or 5 cake layers using a long and sharp knife.
Cooking cream
Of course, a Christmas cake with mastic turns out to be much more beautiful and original than that dessert, which is covered with ordinary butter cream. But not every housewife knows how to make such a mass, and then use it to decorate homemade delicacies. In this regard, we want to present you the most simple recipe for this holiday dessert.
So, if you decide not to make Christmas cakes from mastic, the photos of which always hit us, then after baking the cakes, you should immediately start cooking the cream. To do this, you need to whip the soft butter strongly, and then add the uncooked condensed milk and a couple of spoons of cognac to it. By repeating the mixing procedure, you should get a very magnificent and sweet mass.
We form a dessert
A Christmas cake, the recipe of which we are considering, is formed quite simply. To begin with, the bottom cake should be placed on a dish, and then generously grease it with thick apricot jam. After that, apply a butter cream to the sweet base. Having covered it with the second cake, the procedure should be repeated.
After laying out all the layers you should get a rather high sweet product. In conclusion, it must be uniformly covered with the remains of the cream and sent for half an hour to the refrigerator.
Decoration process
How to decorate a Christmas cake? The recipe for such a dessert may involve the use of completely different ingredients. Someone decorates the cake with mastic, someone uses a regular cream with dye, and someone uses a confectionery powder. We decided to stay on a chocolate dragee in green glaze. They should be nicely distributed over the entire surface of the "wreath". To make it look like Christmas, it is recommended to use red berries, which must also be laid out on the cake.
Proper serving
After the Christmas cake, the photo of which is presented in this article, is ready, it should be placed in the refrigerator for several hours. Over time, the dessert must be cut into pieces and presented to the festive table. An unforgettable holiday tea party is provided for you!
French Christmas cake: photo and cooking recipe
A popular French dessert called "Christmas log" is very popular among those sweet tooth who love coffee and chocolate treats.
To prepare such a cake, we need (for dough and toppings):
- light flour - about 120 g;
- instant coffee - exactly 2 dessert spoons;
- drinking water - ½ cup;
- fresh eggs - 4 pcs.;
- white sugar - about 200 g;
- cream 30% - about 250 ml;
- any nuts - about 50 g;
- vanillin - ½ dessert spoon;
- baking powder dough - a small spoon;
- sea salt - a pinch.
In order to prepare the cream, we will need:
- soft butter - about 100 g;
- cocoa - about 150 g;
- dark chocolate - about 100 g;
- icing sugar - about 100 g;
- vanillin - a pinch.
Cooking basics
French Christmas cake is made easy and simple. First you need to knead the dough for the base. To do this, beat the chilled eggs strongly with a mixer, gradually adding sugar and salt to them. Next to the products should be added drinking water and add vanillin. After the described actions, it is required to sift the wheat flour together with the baking powder and pour into the liquid mass. As a result, you should get a not very thick, but uniform dough.
Culinary product baking
To make a Christmas cake in the form of logs, you need to bake one large and thin cake. To do this, thoroughly grease the baking sheet with oil and pour the whole base onto it. Bake the formation preferably at a temperature of 200 degrees for 25 minutes.
Make the filling and roll the roll
Before forming the basis for the cake, you should prepare the filling in advance. To do this, whip the cream with 2 large tablespoons of sugar, and then add instant coffee to them. In the end, you should get an airy and fragrant milk cream.
After the cake is baked, it must be removed from the oven, and then quickly sprinkle with powder and grease with a creamy filling. At the end, the product should be rolled into a tight roll. You can do this with a kitchen towel. If desired, its uneven edges can be cut with a sharp knife.
Cooking chocolate cream for decoration
Having made the basis for the Christmas cake, you should start cooking the cream. First you need to melt the dark chocolate in a water bath, and then cool it slightly. Meanwhile, you need to whip the soft butter along with cocoa, powder and vanilla. Subsequently, melted chocolate must be poured into the resulting air mass. Whipping the oil cream is recommended with a blender.
Dessert decoration process
Having made a delicious and thick chocolate cream, you should proceed to decorate our holiday delicacies. Its surface must be completely greased with an oily brown mass, and then grooves made with a fork, so that the roll becomes as similar to a log as possible.
After that, our “Christmas log” should be sprinkled with plenty of chopped and roasted nuts. This procedure will make the surface of the dessert very similar to the bark of a real tree. In the future, the resulting delicacy can be decorated with red berries and green grapes.
We serve a delicious homemade dessert to the festive table.
Now you know how to make a Christmas treat for the festive table. Believe me, observing all the requirements of recipes, you will definitely get not only very tasty, but also a beautiful cake that will cause your guests and relatives only one admiration.
After forming the dessert in the form of logs, it should immediately be placed in the refrigerator. In the cold, it is recommended to stand the sweet chocolate treat for two hours. After that, “Christmas log” can be served. To cut such a dessert into pieces should only be after all its beauty is appreciated by your guests and loved ones.
To summarize
There are quite a few recipes for holiday cakes. Some of them require the use of a minimum amount of ingredients, and some involve the use of a large set of products. If you want to make an unusual and delicate dessert, we recommend preparing the cake “Christmas bomb”, “Christmas tree”, “Christmas star” and so on.
In order for these delicacies to surprise your guests with their appearance and appearance and to their liking, they should be done slowly, carefully and with great love. Then any holiday will succeed! Bon Appetit!