Santa Cake Recipe

cropped overhead view of frosted santa face cake on a wooden cutting board.

Course: Craft, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 45

Cook Time: 30

Chill/Freeze Time: 40

Total Time: 1 55

Servings: slices

Calories: 471kcal

Author: Becky Hardin

This Santa cake is a fun and festive peppermint dessert decorated to look just like Santa Claus! Soft, fluffy peppermint cake layers, creamy buttercream, and simple decorating make it the perfect Christmas cake.

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Kitchen Scale (optional)
2 9x9-inch Baking Pan(s)
Stand Mixer
Piping Tip Set

Ingredients

For the Peppermint Cake

¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature (1½ sticks)*
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract **
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk room temperature***

For the Buttercream Frosting

2 cups unsalted butter room temperature (4 sticks)
5 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Food coloring black, red, and skin tone

Instructions

Make the Peppermint Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 9x9-inch square baking pans with parchment paper on the inside bottom and spray the entire inside (bottom and sides) with nonstick spray. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract until creamy, about 3-4 minutes.
¾ cup unsalted butter, 1½ cups granulated sugar, 3 large eggs, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
2¼ cups all-purpose flour, 2¼ teaspoons baking powder, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Pour half of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and beat just until mixed.
Pour all the buttermilk into the wet mixture and beat just until combined.
1 cup buttermilk
Add the remaining dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two baking pans (about 591 grams per pan).
Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Let cool completely before decorating.

Make the Buttercream Frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
2 cups unsalted butter, 5 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Assemble & Decorate

Start by setting one layer of cake on a flat square dish (or cardboard cake plate) and covering the top with a layer of white icing. Put the second cake layer (bottom side facing up) on top of the first layer. You should now have a two-layer cake.
Cover the cake in a thin “crumb” coating of white icing. Place the cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes to let it harden a bit.
Remove the cake from the freezer and smooth out the “crumb” coating using a cake smoother.
With the remaining white icing, take about 1 tablespoon out to color with black food coloring, take about ½ cup out to color with skin tone food coloring, take about ½ cup out to color with red food coloring and leave the rest of the icing white.
Food coloring
Place all the icings into icing bags.
Start with the skin tone icing, pipe the outline of where you’ll want Santa’s face to be. Lightly fill this in with icing and use an icing spatula to smooth.
Use the red to outline where you’ll want his hat to be. Then fill in with red icing and use the icing spatula to smooth.
Move on to the beard. You can do this with a Wilton 1M icing tip for a curly look, or flatten the icing like in the previous steps.
Do the white mustache and the trim around his hat. Then, draw in a skin color nose overlapping with the moustache. Finish off with the white and black to make the eyes. Optionally, add a little red grin over his beard.

Notes

*In the cake batter, you can swap the butter for an equal amount of neutral oil, such as vegetable, canola, or coconut oil.

**If you prefer a vanilla cake, skip this ingredient, or add another flavor, like citrus, butter, or almond.

***The acid helps activate the baking powder to create a fluffy cake. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make your own buttermilk.

Tips:

Measure your dry ingredients using the spoon-and-level method to avoid adding too much flour.
Do not overmix the cake batter; otherwise, you will end up with dry, tough cakes.
Once cooled to room temperature, I recommend chilling the two cake layers in the fridge for 30 minutes before decorating to prevent the cake from breaking apart.
Alternately, you can wrap them each separately tightly in food wrap and leave them in the fridge overnight.
Use a serrated knife or cake leveler to trim the domed tops of the cakes before stacking. This ensures Santa’s face looks even and smooth.
If the frosting is too thick, add in 1-2 teaspoons of milk and mix well. If it becomes too thin, mix in 1-2 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Fill the cake with about ⅓ of the frosting, and save the rest for decorating.
A crumb coat, or thin layer of white icing across the top and sides of the cake, will seal in any loose cake crumbs to ensure a clean finish.
Chill the crumb-coated cake for 10-15 minutes between adding different colored icings. This prevents colors from bleeding into each other.
Do the decorating close to a sink so you can keep running the smoother under hot water.
If you don't have piping tips, you can cut the corner off of a Ziplock bag.

Cake Mix: To make this recipe even easier, bake up a 2-layer cake using your favorite boxed cake mix flavor. Frost as described.

Make-Ahead: You can bake the cake layers up to 3 days ahead and store them tightly wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator until ready to frost. The buttercream can be made up to 5 days in advance and stored in an airtight container or Ziplock bag until ready to use.

Storage: Store Santa cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Nutrition