Happy Holidays! I have to admit that I didn’t intend to publish this recipe on Christmas, and I also didn’t intend to publish it the day after I published a different recipe. But as I said in my previous post, better late than never right?
And there was no way I was skipping over this cake. This is the biggest cake I have ever made, so I think it’s fitting to have it be published on a holiday. It’s a bit late notice to make this on Christmas, but it’s still a fun winter recipe.
I actually came up with the idea for this cake two years ago and I finally decided to tackle it this year. As a dancer, Nutcracker is probably my favorite part of the holiday season, so I was excited to mix my two interests into one for this recipe.
Describe This Cake to Me
Taste: The flavor of this cake is meant to resemble a classic sugarplum, which is a ball of spiced dried fruits and nuts. The cake itself is a delicate spice cake, and in-between each layer is a mixture of dried fruit, jams, and spices, that really brings out the sugar plum vibe.
Texture: The cake itself is incredibly fluffy and soft, while the fruit filling adds a bit of moisture. The frosting adds that last little bit of creaminess that ties the whole thing together.
Ease: I won’t lie this cake is a little tricky. It’s sort of an all day commitment. Making the cake layers isn’t difficult, but because there’s so much batter it takes time. The filling and frosting are also easy enough to make, it’s the assembly that makes it a little tricky. It’s a three tier cake which essentially means you have the work of decorating three cakes. As long as you’re patient and take your time, this is perfectly reasonable. But if you rush the decoration process, it can quickly fall apart.
The Cake
This is a classic vanilla cake with a twist. It’s made with all the classic ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, butter, etcetera. But the vanilla bean paste, buttermilk, and spices are what take this cake over the top. Vanilla bean paste gives it a pure and sweet vanilla flavor, while the buttermilk adds a little balance to the sweetness as well as moisture to the batter, and the spices compliment the fruit filling and bring out the classic sugar plum flavors.
The Filling
This is a very simple and unique filling. Made from apricot jam, dried cranberries, prunes, and spices, this filling adds a contrast to the cake and frosting and makes it much more interesting then a classic vanilla cake. This filling is what really makes this recipe taste like a classic sugar plum in cake form.
Assembly
A tiered cake can look a little intimidating at first, but it’s really just 3 different cakes stacked on top of each other. To assemble it, you stack and crumb coat each layer separately, and then carefully stack them with cake dowels. The dowels keep the layers in place and stop the cake from sinking. Then to decorate, I freeze the cake for around 30 minutes (when I tested this I just put it outside because it was so cold) and then layer on the colored frosting and pipe on the details. It’s much easier to decorate a cold cake because the frosting stays firm. In terms of piping, you can follow the design I did (pictured above) or you can do whatever you want. That’s the beauty of this cake.
Sugar Plum Fairy Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Using butter and parchment paper rounds, grease and line two 8 inch cake pans, two 6 inch cake pans, and one 4 inch cake pan. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, and allspice. Set aside.
- In a very large mixing bowl (there will be a lot of batter) using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until fluffy and combined, about 3 minutes. Add in the eggs, egg whites, and vanilla extract and beat on medium high speed until combined. It may look a little split at this point, don't worry! Add in the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed until almost combined. With the mixer still running on low speed, slowly stream in the buttermilk until completely incorporated. You may need to use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get it fully mixed together. The batter will be thick.
- Scoop the batter into the previously prepared cake pans, filling each roughly ⅔ of the way. You may have a little leftover batter, I recommend you bake it into cupcakes! Bake the cakes for 18-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Because of the cakes different sizes, they will most likely be ready at different times, so I recommend checking them at the 18 minute mark to see how they're baking.
- Let the cakes cool completely before assembling.
- In a large bowl mix together the apricot jam, prunes, cranberries, and spices using a spatula. Set aside while we make the frosting.
- In a large mixing bowl using either a hand or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the butter and shortening together on medium high speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add in the confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then turn the speed up to high and whip for at least a minute. The frosting should be creamy and light.
- Slice the tops off of each of the cakes to create a flat surface. Place one of the 8 inch layers on a cake stand. Spread a thin layer of the sugar plum filling on top, and then pipe a ring of frosting around the edge of the cake to create a "moat" for the fruit filling. Place the second 8 inch cake layer on top. Spread a thin layer of frosting on the top and sides of the 8 inch cake. Place three cake dowels into the cake in a triangle (make sure they are close enough that the 6 inch cake will fit on top), just tall enough so that they stick out of the top by about 2 inches.
- Spread a thin layer of the sugar plum filling on top of one of the 6 inch cakes. Pipe a moat of frosting around the cake filling and top it with the second 6 inch cake. Spread a thin layer of frosting on the tops and sides of the cake as a crumb coat before carefully transferring and placing it on top of the dowels on the 8 inch cake. Place one dowel in the center of the 6 inch cake, so that it's sticking up 2 inches out of the cake.
- Slice the 4 inch cake in half so that you now have two round 4 inch cake layers. Spread a thin layer of the sugar plum filling on one of the cake layers, and pipe a moat around the filling before topping with the other 4 inch cake layer. Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the tops and sides. Place this 4 inch cake on top of the dowel on the 6 inch cake. Chill the assembled cake for 30 minutes.
- While the cake chills, split the remaining frosting into three bowls. Dye one of the bowls of frosting pink, one of them a dark purple, and one of them a light pinkish purple.
- Frost all sides of the tiered cake in the light pinkish purple. Then using the other two colors add swirls and frills all around the cake. The two piping tips I used were Wilton 4B and Wilton 1M, and Decorate with sprinkles and cranberries.