In our house growing up we always had a Christmas cake. I was always really into baking and at around age 12 my mom let me take over decorating it. The first one I did had these holly and ivy leaves that had painted on gold dust, it was quite amazing.
This year I thought it was time to bring back the tradition, but with a new spin. No fruit cake for a start! Here is a photo of my red velvet cake, filled with white chocolate buttercream frosting and finished with a peppermint marshmallow fondant. I added little baubles to the trees with sparkle decorating gel. The cake came from a box, but I made the frosting and the fondant from scratch.
White Chocolate Buttercream frosting (adapted from food.com)
1 cup soft butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
6 ounces white chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Beat the butter and sugar together in the Kitchenaid until fluffy. With the motor running at the lowest speed, slowly pour in the cooled white chocolate. It's important to not let the chocolate cool too much or you'll get white chocolate chunks in your frosting! Then add the cream, and crank the speed up to medium high and let it go for 3-4 minutes.
I filled and covered 2 8 inch round layers with this and had some to spare.
Peppermint Marshmallow Fondant (adapted from wilton.com
16 oz mini marshmallows
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
7 cups sifted powdered sugar
Crisco to coat the Kitchenaid (1-2 tbsp)
Before you start have your Kitchenaid ready to go. Once the marshmallows are melted you have to work pretty fast. You'll need your dough hook attachment for your mixer too btw. Coat the dough hook and the mixer bowl really well with Crisco.
Melt the marshmallows with the water and peppermint extract in the microwave, it should take around a minute but do it in 30 second bursts to be sure, stirring in between each blast. Pour the melted marshmallows into the mixer bowl, and switch on the mixer. Start pouring in the powdered sugar and let it go until it's all mixed in and in a large ball. You may need to mix the last bits in by hand.
The finished fondant should be kept wrapped in airtight plastic, and don't put it in the fridge! Leave it at least overnight before rolling. It's quite a workout rolling this out so leave yourself plenty of time, and you'll want to use some of that leftover cup of powdered sugar on your rolling pin and work surface.
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