White Chocolate Candy Cane Cake Recipes

WHITE CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat milk and chocolate until melted and combined, cool to room temperature.*
• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8" cake rounds and line with parchment.
• In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins). Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add peppermint extract.
• Alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition.
• Bake for 45-50mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
• Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.
• Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.**
• Place bowl over a double boiler on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot and no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3mins). Or registers 160F on a candy thermometer.
• Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
• Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.***
• Add white chocolate, vanilla (or more peppermint extract) and whip until smooth.
• Melt red and white candy melts in bowls over simmering pots of water.
• Using a large offset spatula, spread white candy melts in a thin, even layer on a large sheet of parchment.
• Pour melted red candy melts into a piping bag. Snip off the tip to about 1/2" in size. Pipe diagonal strips across the sheet of white. Spread using a small offset spatula to flatten.
• Roll up from the short side of the parchment. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until firm (approx. 30mins in fridge).
• Unroll to create chocolate bark.
• See this post for more details.
• Remove 1/3 of the frosting and color it red. You'll need to use a fair amount of color gel to do this. Frosting will darken a bit over time.
• Fill one piping bag, fitted with a large round tip with the red frosting, fill another with the white.
• Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Alternate piping white and red circles starting from the outside edge working your way in.
• Place second cake layer on top and repeat the same process.
• Apply a thin coat of the white frosting on the outside of the cake. Smooth the sides and top. Leave a bit of the sides exposed for a naked look if desired. Chill for 20mins.
• Place remaining red and white frosting in a separate piping bag fitted with a French piping tip. I used a spatula to spread the white on one side of the piping bag and the red on the other. Pipe rosettes on the top of the cake.
• Fill the middle between the rosettes with chopped candy canes and white chocolate shavings if desired.
• Place candy cane bark around the outside of the cake. Adhere with some extra buttercream if needed.

CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE CAKE

Steps:

• Gather the cake ingredients.
• Position two racks in the upper and lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 F. Line 3 (8-inch) cake pan bottoms with parchment paper Spray the parchment and the sides of the pans with cooking spray.
• Add the butter and both sugars to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
• Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and continue to beat until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
• With the mixer running on low, add 1/4 of the sifted flour mixture and continue beating until well combined.
• Add 1/3 of the buttermilk and continue beating until well combined. Continue alternating mixing in the flour and buttermilk, ending with the flour, beating well after each addition.
• Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smoothing the tops. Bake, rotating the pan half way through until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, 22 to 26 minutes (you may need to bake the cakes separately if your oven can't fit all three cakes simultaneously). Cool completely. To Make the Frosting and Assemble:
• Gather the frosting ingredients.
• Combine the egg whites, confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix together on low speed, until the sugar is moistened and no dry patches remain. Turn off the mixer. With a silicone spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, beat until well combined, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the mixer to medium-low. With the machine running, add the softened butter 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until completely combined before adding more.
• When all the butter is incorporated, stir in the vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium and beat the buttercream until smooth and creamy, about 10 minutes.
• Divide the buttercream evenly into two large bowls. Add the melted chocolate to one bowl, folding together with a silicone spatula. Add the candy cane pieces to the second bowl, folding together with a clean silicone spatula.
• To assemble the cake, place 1 layer on a cake cardboard, and transfer to a cake turntable, if available. Scoop half of the candy cane frosting on top of the cake, and spread it into an even layer.
• Place a second cake layer on top of the frosting, and spread the remaining candy cane frosting on top of the cake. Finally, add the third cake layer on top.
• Spread a very thin layer of chocolate frosting all over the top and sides of the cake-this is the "crumb coat," to lock any stray crumbs to the cake. Refrigerate the cake briefly, for about 30 minutes, so the crumb coat can firm up.
• Spread a thicker layer of frosting along the top and sides of the cake. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, because the imperfections will be covered up with the chocolate sprinkles or curls (leave some of the chocolate frosting for decorating the top of the cake).
• Place the chocolate sprinkles or curls in a large shallow pie tin or bowl. Hold the cake in one hand, keeping it over the pie tin, and use the other hand to scoop up handfuls of chocolate sprinkles and press them into the sides of the cake, letting the excess drop back into the bowl.
• Transfer the reserved chocolate frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
• Pipe rosettes of frosting all along the outer edge of the cake. Press a mini candy cane into each rosette and serve.

CANDY CANE BARK

Steps:

• Break candy canes into 2 or 3 pieces and place in a plastic bag and close top; smash with kitchen mallet to take out your frustrations and pulverize the candy.
• In a small bowl, melt chocolate in microwave oven with Medium-Low power, checking every 30 seconds or so; white chocolate burns easily even in the microwave so better safe than sorry.
• Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper.
• Stir candy cane crumbs into melted white chocolate and stir well to combine.
• Pour chocolate mixture onto wax paper, spreading thin with a spatula.
• Stash cookie sheet in fridge about an hour or until it hardens.
• Hold wax paper by one corner and start peeling it back, breaking off pieces of the bark; store pieces in airtight container in fridge.
• Keeps well.

WHITE CHOCOLATE-CANDY CANE CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F.
• Mix graham crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 min.
• Beat cream cheese and remaining sugar with mixer until well blended. Add chocolate and extract; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended; pour over crust.
• Bake 45 to 50 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with COOL WHIP and chopped candy just before serving.