Ingredients
EGGNOG CAKE INGREDIENTS:
- 4 egg whites
- 3/4 Cup Darigold Eggnog
- 2/3 Cup sour cream
- 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 Duncan Hines white cake mix, sifted
EGGNOG BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (depending on how strong you like it)
- pinch of cinnamon
- 1/2 Cup Darigold Eggnog
- pinch of salt
- 4-6 cups sifted powdered sugar
- heavy cream if needed to thicken buttercream (you can also use more eggnog here)
GARNISHES:
- Powdered Nutmeg
- Cinnamon Sticks
- *Buttercream Leaves
- Chocolate Fondant Balls
Makes 3 6” rounds or 2 8” rounds
DIRECTIONS:
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and prep cake pans. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, eggnog, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg until uniform throughout. Sift in cake mix, then whisk until just combined. Don't overmix, but make sure all the dry ingredient is incorporated.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the center does not move, do not overbake. Remove from oven, let cool in pans for 2 minutes, then carefully flip out onto a wire rack to cool to almost room temperature.
For the buttercream:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add in butter, and whip around until it's light and fluffy.
- Add in vanilla, nutmeg/cinnamon, and mix until combined. Add in eggnog, then the powdered sugar about a half cup at a time, on low speed, until your desired consistency has been reached. (You may not use all the powdered sugar, but at least 4 cups. Add in heavy cream a tablespoon at a time to make it more of a thin consistency).
- Then let the mixer go on full speed for about 2-3 minutes to add volume and air. Turn off mixer, then mix by hand with a wooden spoon to smash out all the air bubbles.
Assembly:
- On a cake turntable, add on a cardboard cake round the side of your cake taped to one size bigger (6” round taped to a 8” round, for example).
- Add a little bit of the buttercream in the center of the cardboard round to act as “glue” for that bottom cake layer. Place the first cake layer down, add on a layer of buttercream, then repeat step 2 again for the next buttercream layer, and then add on the top cake round.
- Crumb coat the entire cake, then place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Add the final buttercream coat to the cake, using a cake knife and cake scraper for clean edges. Add on piped buttercream decor, fondant circles, and cinnamon sticks.
*For the buttercream leaves, tint the eggnog buttercream three different soft shades of green. Using a leaf tip, pipe different leaves onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze until firm. Then carefully place onto the cake.