Ingredients for Fondant
- Brown, dark brown, cream, black, white, green and red color
Ingredients for Spice Cake
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Ingredients for Decorations
- 2 batches swiss buttercream frosting (recipe below)
- Brown food coloring
- Edible white candy pearls
- 1 round chocolate candy (Milk Dud)
Ingredients for Sweet Buttercream Frosting (5 cups)
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 sticks (16 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
EQUIPMENT
Teardrop cookie cutters: 1 ¾ inch and 2 ½ inch
Decorating Tips: Two #824, #4, #2A
FONDANT PREP:
1. Work with fondant on wax paper sprinkled with powdered sugar.
2. For the antlers, roll out the brown fondant to ⅛ inch thick. Cut out 2 antlers.
3. For the ears, roll out the dark brown and cream fondant to ⅛ inch thick. Use teardrop cookie cutters to cut 2 large dark brown outer ears and 2 small cream inner ears. Using water, attach the small teardrop to the large teardrop.
4. For the eyes, roll out the black fondant to ¼ inch thick. Cut out 2 eyes. Roll 2 small balls of white fondant for the eye reflection and attach to the eyes.
5. For the holly, roll out the green fondant to ¼ inch thick. Cut out holly leaves. Use a fondant tool or toothpick to make leaf details. Roll ¼ inch balls of red fondant for the holly berries.
6. Set aside to harden for about 24 hours. Once dry, the antler should stand upright without bending.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease three 6-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and honey until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Beat in the vanilla.
6. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and bake until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-42 minutes.
8. Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Level off the tops with a cake leveler or a large serrated knife to create three 2-inch cake layers.
DECORATING:
1. Make the Swiss Buttercream Frosting. Tint half the frosting light brown.
2. Stack the cake layers on top of one another with a thin layer of light brown frosting in between the layers. Frost the entire cake with light brown forsting.
3. Divide the remaining frosting among 3 bowls.
4. Bowl 1: Tine light brown and scoop into separate decorating bags fitted with a #824 tip and a #4B tip.
5. Bowl 2: Tint dark brown and scoop into separate decorating bags fitted with a #824 tip and a #4B tip.
6. Bowl 3: Leave un-tinted and scoop into a decorating bag fitted with a #2A tip.
Pipe the frosting on top of the cake for decoration.
7. Place the fondant decorations on the cake: antlers, ears, eyes, and holly.
8. Sprinkle pearls on top.
9. Place the Milk Dud on the nose.
DIRECTIONS FOR FROSTING
*Heatproof bowl -Stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment
1. Fill a medium saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer.
2. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg whites, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, cream of tartar, and vanilla until combined.
3. Place the bowl over the simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk until the mixture is warm and the sugar has dissolved.
4. Pour the mixture into a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the mixture cools to room temperature, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. On low speed, slowly add the butter 1 tbsp at a time until fully combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.