Have you ever heard the phrase “imitation is the biggest form of flattery”? Well, consider this some serious flattery!
Ever since I saw the positively gorgeous photos of Liv for Cake’s Rocky Road Bundt Cake floating around on Pinterest and Facebook, I was mesmerized.
Christmas Bundt Cake
The cake is just stunning, really, no words. The kind of cake you don’t even want to cut into because it is so beautiful.
I wanted to create my own swirl cake for the holidays… but with my own recipe and different colors: Christmas Bundt Cake. I even ordered the Nordic Heritage Bundt Pan on Amazon same-day delivery.
I was so excited!
Christmas Cake
I discussed my idea of Christmas Bundt Cake with Olivia, the genius behind this glorious two-toned cake, and she was totally on-board, even anxiously awaiting the cake to come out of the oven with me (over Facebook instant messager).
Imagine both of our excitement when it turned out PERFECT! My own jaw dropping swirl cake. I was giddy with glee.
I used her handy dandy tutorial with just a few tweaks. I put my bundt pan in the freezer for a few hours, as well as the batter for about 30 minutes.
My thoughts were that if it was all cold, the batter would be stiff and not immediately sink. It seems that Olivia’s cake batter was a little more dense and this step was not needed.
Variations
Christmas Swirl Cake is also all vanilla instead of alternating flavors. Vanilla is classic and traditional. I also had to be very careful of the color of the batter, keeping it very white, so the food coloring would be as vibrant as possible.
I did use her Marshmallow Fluff Frosting due to the stark white contrast and *sticky* factor when drizzling down the nooks and crannies.
What to Serve it With
This Christmas cake is very much a standalone dessert, but it does well with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
You can also serve it with dalgona coffee, white hot chocolate or even Grinch Punch!
Check out these other holiday treats:
- Melted Snowman Cookies
- Christmas Tree Cake Cones
- Christmas Dunkaroo Dip
- Red Velvet Cake
- Gingerbread Fudge
Holiday Meringue Wreath Recipe
Meringue Christmas Trees
Santa Cookies
Christmas Puppy Chow
Christmas Swirl Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons butter room temperture
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 7 large egg whites
- 3/4 cups milk
- 2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract*
- Red Liquid Gel Food Coloring
- Green Liquid Gel Food Coloring
- Cooking Spray
- Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
- Holiday Sprinkles
Instructions
- Place dry bundt pan in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, beat butter until it lightens in color and is fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Add sugar and incorporate.
- Meanwhile, sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In another bowl, whisk together milk, clear vanilla extract and egg whites.
- Alternate adding dry flour mixture and egg white mixture to butter until fully incorporated and then for 1 minute longer.
- Measure 1 1/4 cup batter into a separate bowl and mix well with red liquid gel food coloring, approximately 1/2 teaspoon. The amount will vary greatly depending on brand, so add as much as you need to reach a red tone. Remember that the color will intensify while baking. Transfer red cake batter into a large piping bag, twist the top to secure and place in the freezer.
- Repeat the same process with green liquid gel food coloring.
- Place remaining white cake batter into the refrigerator until ready to use.
- In about 30 minutes, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove bundt pan and batters from the freezer and refrigerator.
- Spray bundt pan liberally with cooking spray. Pipe red cake batter into alternating swirls of bundt pan, using a skewer to nudge batter into crevices. Don’t be overly concerned with where they meet, as this will be covered by frosting. Repeat with green. The bundt pan has an equal number of swirls, so you will have two swirls next to each other that are the same. I know, OCD folks are going to be going nuts!
- You can use Olivia’s step-by-step photo tutorial as your guide.
- Very carefully spoon remaining white batter directly into the center, making sure you don’t mess up the piping on the sides. The white will creep up during baking, so don’t worry that it is not all the way filled. Pipe the remaining red and green batter into the top of the white and then lightly swirl with a skewer.
- Bake for for approximately 60 minutes, or until you can inset a skewer into the center and it comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 15- 20 minutes. Tap on the counter to loosen and then invert onto a cooling rack, FLIP it, pray everything loosened and then remove the bundt pan.
- Allow to cool fully and then trim the bottom to allow the cake to sit evenly. Make Marshmallow Fluff Frosting and pouring over crevices.
- Finish with holiday sprinkles. Take photos, post them on Facebook and wait for all of your friends to comment on your beautiful, amazing cake!
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you need MORE Christmas dessert ideas, check out my Orange Cardamom Slice & Bake Cookies, Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes or Eggnog Cookies!
Recipes from Day 5 of Christmas Week! Please visit all our talented participants:
- Chocolate Orange Oatmeal Cookies from Desserts Required
- Spiced Hibiscus Cranberry Mojitos from Pineapple and Coconut
- Peppermint Truffles from The Bitter Side of Sweet
- Boozy Bourbon Balls from Amee’s Savory Dish
- Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake from Comfortably Domestic
- No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars from My Catholic Kitchen
- Cardamom Coffee Bars with Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Frosting from Daily Appetite
- Cherry Brandy Old Fashioned from Food Babbles
- Chocolate Covered Coconut Bon Bons from Everyday Southwest
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies from CopyKat Recipes
- Crock Pot Chocolate Cherry Nut Cups from Flour On My Face
I made the cake and it turned out great! I made a couple edits: 1) I ‘greased’ my pan with a flour/butter/oil mixture before placing it in the freezer and froze it overnight. I also left the batter longer in the freezer….maybe about an hour in order to have more control of placement in the pattern of the pan. I also swapped the vanilla for coconut/almond/lemon pure essences. Yes, I made three cakes. I applied the technique to two other bundt designs. I liked the idea of seeing only the green and red on the outside and the surprise of white cake inside when cut. I do not know how you got your colors to be so vibrant on the outside. That is the only disappointment. I do wish it was brighter on the outside, but when it is cut the colours really pop. A point to note is the recipe does not fill the pan. I am going to multiply by 1.25 and see if it does better. Also, 60 minutes is about 10 minutes too many in the oven. It dries out at 60. I think 50 minutes might be best. Just another thing. For the lemon cake, I flavored the sugar by blitzing it with some lemon rind in my dry Vitamix jug in addition to two teaspoons of lemon essence. How do I share pictures?
Pretty to look at but the cake recipe is underwhelming, not calorie worthy. It is a dense cake without much flavor. Nice thing is, it is not too sweet, but maybe add more vanilla. I also could taste the food coloring, so I will use less next time. Directions did not indicate when to add sugar- I guessed cream with the butter. Anyway, I will try again because it is so pretty, but I will use a different cake recipe.
Thanks for the feedback Tanya. Totally get it- the cake itself isn’t the true point, it is looking pretty and red coloring is hard to cover. We will take and look and edit the instructions for sugar. Happy holidays!
good- i will make it again.
Jessica on this Christmas Bundt cake can I use a silicone Bundt swirl pan cause been everywhere and that’s all I can find
GO for it!
the cake is beautiful. so i gave it a try. for me it was too firm and dense – not sure if i over mixed it or what, but for all the effort that goes into this cake it was not a show stopper for me. Also clear vanilla is a must if you want to look like the picture.
Hi Melissa, I’m sorry it wasn’t a showstopper for you. It sounds like you might have mixed too long, but it is a pound cake, so the crumb isn’t light and fluffy. It is a pretty dense, rich, thick cake. And yes, clear vanilla is mandatory for the bright colors. I hope you had a happy holiday.