A fun sprinkle medley makes all the difference to this amazing Christmas Cake. The Maui Christmas sprinkle collection is baked on the meringues and decorating the six layer cake.
Maui Christmas Meringue Cake
Welcome to the Christmas season! I think that 90% of people are already up and running with their holiday decor thanks to the stores and social media. It’s all good!
Everyone loves the Christmas lights, the festive parties, the family gatherings, and all the incredible food this time of year. I know that cake isn’t a traditional Christmas dessert, but I’m not a traditional gal – so here’s to Christmas cakes for all!
Maui Christmas Sprinkle Mix
The Maui Christmas Sprinkle Mix is a medley from Sweetapolita. It’s a great collection of teal, burgundy, orange, white, and pink. And since I grew up in Hawaii, I thought it was quite fitting to use it for my cake. I also used metallic rods on the cake, just for an extra kick!
Baking the Meringues
If you have never baked meringues before, don’t fret! Meringues are easy to make because the mixer does all the work. Follow the easy instructions and whip the heck out of the egg whites until you get stiff peaks.
- Transfer half the meringue to a piping bag and make little drops.
- With the bag straight up and down, add some pressure to push the meringue out and on to your baking sheet.
- Release the pressure and then pull the bag straight up. You’ll get the hang of it quickly enough.
These fun sprinkles hold up super well while baking. The key is to just use a little on each meringue. You don’t want to weigh it down and make it collapse.
Making the Teal Ganache
To make the bright teal drip down the cake, I started with white candy melts and heavy cream. Once it was all melted I slowly added blue gel food coloring, a touch of yellow and then a hint of orange. I can’t really tell you how much because it took about 5 minutes of stirring and testing until I got my desired color.
I was just putting a small, pin-head size amount – like a fraction of a “drip” – on my spatula before stirring it in.
You can always add more color, but you can’t take any out. So err on the side of less is more.
Decorating a Drip Cake
The first step to decorating a drip cake needs to be learning how to get that buttercream super smooth. This fun drip technique isn’t new. It’s gotten more refined over the years, and now it’s all dressed up with sprinkles on the drips.
To get this look, you need to work quickly. While the ganache is still wet, carefully add the sprinkles. They will stick. The trick is to not poke your finger into the wet ganache and ruin your super fancy drip.
To help with that, simply keep a wet paper towel nearby and dampen your fingertip. The sprinkles will stick to your fingertip to transfer it over to the ganache. Pretty smart, right? You can work 3 drips at a time, then make three more drips and add the sprinkles. Work slowly, this is a bit tedious. But it’s so worth it in the end.
I added a two-inch boarder of Maui Christmas sprinkles around the bottom of the cake and loved it. This is a very messy process, and you will end up with shiny sprinkle balls all over your floor, but again, it’s so worth it. The last thing to add are the Meringues. I just added piled them up to half the cake, trying to make a crescent shape on top.
This Christmas Drip Cake is more Happy Birthday or even Gender Reveal, but I love everything about the colors, the style, and the look of this cake. It just makes me smile from ear to ear. And that’s what Christmas is all about!
Here’s a few more Christmas Cakes I’ve made over the year:
Chocolate Peppermint Christmas Cake
Christmas Eggnog Cake
Candy Cane Cake
Ingredients
For the Meringues
- 4 large egg whites at room temperature
- ½ C superfine sugar
- ½ C powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp almond extract
- Sweetapolita Maui Christmas Sprinkles
For the Cake
- ¾ C buttermilk
- ⅔ C sour cream
- 1 Tbsp almond extract
- 4 egg whites
- ⅓ C vegetable oil
- 1 Box White Cake mix
- Food Coloring Gel
For the Buttercream
- 2 cups butter
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ C heavy cream
- 1 tsp Almond Extract
- Pink food coloring gel
For the Ganache
- 1 C white candy melts
- ¼ C heavy cream
- teal food coloring gel
Instructions
Make the Meringues
- Preheat the oven to 175F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. DO NOT pipe on to an unlined cookie sheet!! THEY WILL STICK!
- Use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment to whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy.
- Gradually add in the superfine sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue whipping on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form adding in the extract just before finishing.
- Sift together the powdered sugar and salt into a large bowl. Fold the powdered sugar into the egg whites.
- Use a large open baking tip in a pastry bag and pipe put the "kiss" shapes. (Think Hershey’s Kisses)
- Add a few Maui Christmas sprinkles to the pipped kisses. for decoration.
- Bake for 4 hours. Rotate the cookie sheets at the 2 hour mark.
- Turn the oven off and leave the baked meringues inside overnight to completely dry. You can leave them in the oven until you’re ready to use them.
Bake the Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 325F. Prepare 6 6-inch cake pans with min-stick spray or shortening and flower. Set aside.
- Whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, extract, egg whites, and vegetable oil. Sift in the cake mix (do NOT just dump it in). Mix until just combined.
- Fill one cake pan with just the white cake mix. Gradually mix blue food coloring into each cake layer for an ombre effect focusing on lighter to darker.
- Bake the cake layers for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
- Wrap the cake layers in plastic and place in the freezer overnight for best frosting experience.
Make the Buttercream
- Fit your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix the butter until light and fluffy – 4 minutes.
- Sift the powdered sugar and salt and gradually add it to the butter.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix in the heavy cream, almond extract and pink food coloring. Pink will get darker over time, so less is more.
- Cover and set aside until ready to use.
Make the Ganache
- Add the candy melts and heavy cream to a microwave bowl and heat for 45 seconds. Stir with a spatula until smooth adding the food coloring until desired color is achieved.
- Transfer to a piping bag or sandwich baggie.
Decorate the Cake
- Remove the frozen cakes from the freezer. Add a dollop of butter to a cardboard cake round and place the darkest cake on first. Top with 1/4 cup of buttercream and repeat the layering of the cakes and buttercream. Crumb coat the cake and then refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Add second coat of buttercream around cake and smooth out with a cake scraper.
- Add sprinkles around the base of the cake.
- Snip off the tip of the piping bag with the ganache and add the drip around the cake and on top of the cake.
- Use a wet finger to carefully the sprinkles to the drips. Top the cake with the Meringue Kisses as you desire, adding more sprinkles to the top of the cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Equipment
Recipe Video
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