Santa cake has arrived! Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday of all. The shiny lights and the smell of the fresh-cut Christmas tree lift up my spirits. To celebrate this beautiful time of the year, I made mini Santa clause cakes. This recipe is really easy, and the cakes will be a crowd-pleaser!
Each mini Santa cake is dressed up with red frosting, whipped cream, and a strawberry as Santa’s hat. To simplify the whole baking process, I used store-bought boxed cake mix and red frosting. If you have your favorite cake or frosting recipe, they will be perfect for this cake, too.
When I use a store-bought cake mix, I always arrange it to make it taste better. The following ingredients can be replaced:
- From vegetable oil to butter
- From water to milk
Just switching these out makes a huge difference in taste!
WHAT TOOLS ARE NEEDED FOR THIS SANTA CAKE?
- Electric stand mixer or hand mixer
- Large silicone mold (2.75 inches in diameter per dome)
- Medium silicone mold (1.5 inches in diameter per dome)
- Parchment paper (Optional)
- Cake decorating turntable (Optional)
- Piping bags or Ziplock bags
- Piping tip
Ingredients
Cake (Makes about 12 half-dome cakes + 24 small half-dome cakes)
- 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Pecan cake mix
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cups butter, melted
- 3 eggs
Red Frosting
- 1 Pillsbury Funfetti Radiant Red Vanilla Flavored Frosting, 15.6-Ounce
Whipped cream (There will be some left-over)
- 2oz. full-fat cream cheese
- 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decoration
- Strawberries
- Some chocolate
- Christmas Sprinkles
Instruction
For The Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- Mix cake mix powder, melted butter, eggs, and milk in a large bowl until fully combined.
- Pour the mixture into the silicone molds. Fill 12 large silicone domes and 24 medium silicone domes. Do NOT fill the molds to the top. It will overflow when baked.
- Bake the cake batter for about 15 mins for the medium silicone molds and about 20 minutes for the large silicone molds. Stick a toothpick into the middle of the cake, and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
- Let them cool in the mold.
For The Whipped Cream
- Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy.
- Add heavy whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture and whip it with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until firm peaks form.
- Refrigerate it until needed for decoration
For Assembly
- Remove large dome cakes from the silicone molds.
- Put the red frosting into a piping bag or Ziplock bag with a piping tip. Pipe the frosting to cover the entire dome cake. Repeat until all individual domes are covered. (Tip: if you have a cake decorating turntable, decorating on top of it will make the process easier. If you don’t own it, place a small piece of parchment paper underneath each cake dome, and spin the paper as you pipe the frosting around the cake). Set them aside.
- Remove medium dome cakes from the silicone molds.
- On the flat side of the dome, place a small amount of red frosting in the center (Do NOT spread the frosting). Grab another medium dome cake and press them against each other to make a ball shape. Place the ball on top of each large dome cake.
- Put the whipped cream into another piping bag or Ziplock bag with a piping tip (or you can simply snip the corner off). Pipe a small amount of whipped cream on top of each ball. Also, pipe some whipped cream at the front side of the ball to draw Santa’s beard.
- Place a strawberry on top of whipped cream to make it look like a Santa hat. Repeat until all cakes have strawberries on top.
- Melt some chocolate in a microwave, about 20 seconds. Place the melted chocolate in another piping bag or Ziplock bag. Draw Santa’s eyes.
- Add some Christmas sprinkles on Santa’s jacket as buttons.
Easy Santa Cake
The cake is dressed up with red frosting, whipped cream, and a strawberry as Santa’s hat. To simplify the whole process, I used store-bought boxed cake mix and red frosting.
Equipment
- Electric stand mixer or hand mixer
- Large silicone mold (2.75 inches in diameter per dome)
- Medium silicone mold (1.5 inches in diameter per dome)
- Parchment paper (Optional)
- Cake decorating turntable (Optional)
- Piping bags or Ziplock bags
- Piping tip
Ingredients
Cake (Makes about 12 half-dome cakes + 24 small half-dome cakes)
- 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Pecan cake mix
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 3 eggs
Red Frosting
- 1 container Pillsbury Funfetti Radiant Red Vanilla Flavored Frosting 15.6-ounce
Whipped Cream (There will be some leftover)
- 2 ounce Full-fat cream cheese
- 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Decoration
- Strawberries
- Chocolate
- Christmas Sprinkles
Instructions
For The Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- Mix cake mix, melted butter, eggs, and milk in a large bowl until fully combined.
- Pour the mixture into the silicone molds. Fill 12 large silicone domes and 24 medium silicone domes. Do NOT fill the molds to the top. It will overflow when baked.
- Bake the cake batter for about 15 mins for the medium silicone molds and about 20 minutes for the large silicone molds. Stick a toothpick into the middle of the cake, and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
- Let them cool in the mold.
For The Whipped Cream
- Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy.
- Add heavy whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture and whip it with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until firm peaks form.
- Refrigerate it until needed for decoration
For Assembly
- Remove large dome cakes from the silicone molds.
- Put the red frosting into a piping bag or Ziplock bag with a piping tip. Pipe the frosting to cover the entire dome cake. Repeat until all individual domes are covered. (Tip: if you have a cake decorating turntable, decorating on top of it will make the process easier. If you don’t own it, place a small piece of parchment paper underneath each cake dome, and spin the paper as you pipe the frosting around the cake). Set them aside.
- Remove medium dome cakes from the silicone molds.
- On the flat side of the dome, place a small amount of red frosting in the center (Do NOT spread the frosting). Grab another medium dome cake and press them against each other to make a ball shape. Place the ball on top of each large dome cake.
- Put the whipped cream into another piping bag or Ziplock bag with a piping tip (or you can simply snip the corner off). Pipe a small amount of whipped cream on top of each ball. Also, pipe some whipped cream at the front side of the ball to draw Santa’s beard.
- Place a strawberry on top of whipped cream to make it look like a Santa hat. Repeat until all cakes have strawberries on top.
- Melt some chocolate in a microwave, about 20 seconds. Place the melted chocolate in another piping bag or Ziplock bag. Draw Santa’s eyes.
- Add some Christmas sprinkles on Santa’s jacket as buttons.
