AAAAA! Christmas is almost here!! Time really has flown by. I seriously cannot believe that just a few months ago I was talking about how much I love fall. But I have to say, as much as I am a fall person, this time of year is really great. There are so many breaks from work and school, singing and dancing, and of course loads of baking!
However, it can get a tad stressful too. What with all of the pressure of getting gifts for people, last minute due dates, and performances. In the dance world, December is filled TO THE BRIM with performances. You’ve got parties, retirement homes, toy drives, and other community events to perform at. And not to mention The Nutcracker. As tiring as all of this is, it’s also super fun to celebrate with your friends and dance all throughout the holiday.
Anyway, with all this stress sometimes I just need to bake. Baking helps me unwind (is this just me??), especially cake decorating. So what better a time then now to make this show stopping dessert, complete with fun festive decorations, and intriguing cozy flavors. Not sure what to make for dessert this season? Look no further!
The Cake
The base for this cake is a basic vanilla cake. It’s fluffy, buttery, and moist, all things you want in a cake. In order to make this cake taste like the holidays, we make a handful of changes. First off, we are replacing buttermilk with eggnog. Luckily, we don’t need to change the amounts. But eggnog is really sweet, so we reduce the sugar to 1 1/4 cup instead of the usual 2 cups. Lastly, I add some complimenting spices to really bring out that festive flavor. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about the syrup! Before we put the frosting on the baked cakes, I brush them with a bourbon simple syrup. This is just a simple one-to-one ratio of sugar and water, with plenty of bourbon. I brush the cakes with it which moistens them and cuts some of the sweetness with the pop of alcohol.
The Frosting
To contrast the sweet and spiced flavor of the eggnog, we have a hazelnut buttercream. This was tricky to get right because I didn’t want chocolate and hazelnut like Nutella, just real, natural, hazelnut flavor. So, after some research I found this wonderful thing known as hazelnut paste. It’s like peanut butter, but with hazelnuts. Its only ingredients are roasted hazelnuts and it works perfectly in a frosting. It creates a slightly salty, buttery frosting which is perfect next to the sweet cake. And here’s the best part: it actually tastes like hazelnuts!!!
The Decorations
For this cake the possibilities for decoration are endless. You could leave it plain, add some festive sprinkles, or do some fun piping. For this recipe, I quickly whip up some sugared cranberries and rosemary and put that on the tops and sides, with a few pinecones to! If you want to go really crazy, you could make some gingerbread or chocolate figures to create a holiday scene on top, or even venture into fondant.
Troubleshooting
Cakes have multiple steps, with the batter, decorations/extras, and frosting there is so much to do! As fun as all this is, it means there are multiple places where mistakes can happen. So here are my best tips to ensure this dessert is great!
1: Room temperature ingredients: This is super important for all baked goods, but especially for a big cake. I know it can be hassle to remember, but when your dairy ingredients are cold, the chemical reactions in the cake get all messed up and the texture and flavor aren’t as nice. With frosting, if your butter isn’t at room temperature it will stiffen up and create a dense, tacky frosting, that will tear up the cake when you try and spread it.
2. Wiegh your cake batter: This is optional, but much encouraged. It can be super annoying to open the oven and find that one of your cakes is way taller then the others. Finding a simple food scale and wieghing your batter in the pans as you scoop it, guarentees even sizing and baking.
3. Make decorations ahead of time: If you choose to make the sugared cranberries and rosemary, make them before everything else. They need to sit for a while to harden so make them in advance! The same goes for the bourbon syrup, it needs to be cool by the time you put it on the cakes so either make it first thing, or while the cakes bake.
4: Level your cakes: Cakes usually dome in the oven so I like use a seraded knife to cut the tops off. This can be a little tricky, but with practice it can be done. To make it easier, there are loads of different kinds of gadgets you can get to help cut it. In the end, you will have a nice flat surface to work on for decorating!
5: Take your time when decorating: I know this seems too simple, but you really have to take it slow. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have been assembling cakes and mess up the frosting because I rush. Make sure your cakes are fully cooled, your frosting is fully mixed, and most importantly: HAVE A PLAN. It might seem like a good idea to jump in and just let the decorations come, but it really isn’t. Know what look you are going for from the start. It’s completely ok if it doesn’t look like what you wanted however, because it will taste great!
I will most likely not be posting new recipes until January, but I wish you all a happy holidays and happy new year! It’s hard to believe that this year is already almost over, but here we are! It was supposed to snow this week, but now it’s only rain. As disapointing as this is, I still love rainy days and I will take what I can get. Its’s only two degrees above freezeing, so frustrating! Anyway, I hope you enjoy baking and celebrating over the break! Without further ado, the cake!
Eggnog Cake with Hazelnut Buttercream
Ingredients
Sugared Cranberries and Rosemary (optional topping)
- ½ cup cranberries
- 4-5 sprigs rosemary (the exact amount doesn't matter, just however much you want for decoration)
- 2 cups granulated sugar divided
- 1 cup water
Eggnog Cake
- 3 ⅔ cup cake flour (spoon and leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs +2 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups regular eggnog at room temperature
Bourbon Syrup (optional)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- 2 ½ Tablespoons bourbon
- ½ Tablespoon rum* or more to taste (optional)
Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- ⅓ cup heavy cream*
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons hazelnut paste*
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
First, make the sugared cranberries and rosemary (optional)
- In a medium saucepan heat 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water over medium heat. Stir often until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and immediately add the rosemary and cranberries to the pot. Let them sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they are being evenly coated in the mixture.
- Drain the cranberries and rosemary and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toss them with the remaining 1 cup of sugar until evenly coated in the sugar (you might have some extra sugar, that's ok!). Spread the sugared cranberries and rosemary out into an even layer and let them sit at room temperature for at least one hour.
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease three 9 inch round cake pans, line them with parchment paper rounds, and then grease the parchment. We want to make sure this cake doesn't stick.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt.
- In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until fluffy and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs, 2 egg whites, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed, until combined, around 2 minutes it may look a little curdled, but that's to be expected due to the eggs combining with the solids in the butter.
- On low speed, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Then, with the mixer still on low, stream in the eggnog. The batter will be thick. Pour/scoop the batter evenly into the prepared pans. A kitchen scale is very useful to get even cakes. Bake the cakes for 20-23 minutes or until they are pulling away from the sides and they bounce back when gently poked. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire cooling rack.
While the cakes bake and cool, make the bourbon syrup (optional)
- In a small sauce pan, cook the sugar and water on medium heat, stirring often. The sugar will dissolve within 1-2 minutes. Once dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the bourbon, and rum if using. Add more bourbon if you would like a stronger taste. Allow the syrup to cool before adding it to the cakes.
Make the frosting
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, using either a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, hazelnut paste, and salt and beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Then, turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste, add more salt if desired. If frosting is too thin, add some more sugar, one Tablespoon at a time. If too thick, add some more cream, one Tablespoon at a time.
Assemble the cake
- Remove the cakes from their pans. This next step is optional: use a serrated knife to carefully cut a thin layer off of the tops to create a flat surface. Place one cake on a cake stand. If using the bourbon syrup, brush the top of the cake with it using a pastry brush. The more you add, the more it will taste like bourbon so use to your liking. Spread a blob, about ½ – ⅔ cup, of frosting on top of the cake. Place another cake layer on top and repeat the process, starting with the syrup. Repeat with the third and final cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting on the edges of the cake. An offset spatula makes these steps easier to get even and flat layers. I use a bench scraper and run it along the sides of the cake to get flat sides.
- For decoration, I run sugared rosemary along the bottom of the cake and place sugared cranberries, more rosemary, and pine cones on the top. You could also use fun holiday sprinkles, or piping to create anything you want. Its an empty canvas, do whatever you want!
- The cake will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 5 days.