Whenever Christmas comes along my kids get excited because there’s going to be fruit cake. I’m not sure why this happens, because they will not eat a traditional fruit cake at all. When I asked my eldest about it, she said that Christmas means fruit in a cake, and she was expecting it to be a bit like banana bread.
Because my kids love chocolate anything, and cherries definitely mean Christmas and cake to me, I thought I’d try to bring those two flavours together in this Black Forest cake. Hey, it’s festive and fruity – it must be a Christmas cake, right? Plus if it looks like a reindeer, it is going to get a thumbs up from the kids too.
Ingredients for Black Forest reindeer Christmas cake
Cake:
- 1 ½ cups Flour
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
- ½ cup of vegetable oil
- ½ cup of water
- ½ cup of syrup from the can of cherries
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 TBSP white vinegar
- ½ can of cherries
Icing and Cheeky Reindeer Decoration:
- 3 cups of icing sugar
- 200 grams of butter
- 2 tsp of cherry syrup
- 1 tsp of cocoa powder
- Lollies to decorate – one Jaffa and two Halloween Gummy eyes
- Black Writing Icing
- Cooking chocolate for melting
Recipe
Into a bowl, I mixed all the cake ingredients together until well combined. Once my cake batter was ready, I transferred it to a greased cake tin and baked for 35 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. To check to make sure the cake is cooked through, insert a toothpick into the centre of the cakes and if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. To make a layer cake, you’ll need to double the recipe across two round cake tins. Decrease baking time to about 20 – 25 minutes if you wish to make cupcakes instead.
I let the cake cool for one hour and then I creamed the butter and icing sugar together in a clean bowl. I added the cocoa powder and the cherry syrup. Then I combined the icing mixture until it was light and fluffy. I iced the cake, and then added two Halloween gummy eyeballs for my cake’s eyes, as well as a Jaffa for her nose. I used black writing icing to make her a cheeky grin.
Lastly I used some melted chocolate to make some freehand antler shapes on baking paper. Once the chocolate set, I peeled the antlers off the baking paper and then placed them on the cake. And there you have it – a cheeky reindeer Christmas cake!
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This article was written by Kym Moore. Kym is a working mum of two, and occasional blogger. Fancies herself a writer, when she isn’t editing her kids’ vlogs or running their social media at Baby Likes Cake. Follow them on Facebook and YouTube.
This sounds so good, it’s a great idea for birthdays that fall around Christmas too!
Yummy. I hate traditional fruit cake but in our family we make it as a big group every year (all hand mix it on the table) as we have a family recipe. This could be a new family tradition for me and my wee family as this sounds way nicer.
this sounds delicious and i think would also work as cute little cupcakes as well – much better than traditional Christmas cake
I’m going to have to try this it’s sounds delicious and I’m pretty sure the kids will love it with the yummy flavours
This cake lasted all of two days. My kids absolutely demolished it. They were surprised to learn it had fruit in it at all 😂
This could be the new Christmas cake for our family as we are all not very fussed on actual Christmas cake because none of us like sultanas. This one may not be as healthy but least we will have all the energy to get through Christmas day.
I LOVE fruit cake, it’s one of my favs. My late Nanna made the best fruit cakes every year and I really should be making one. You can make and freeze and take out as you need it too, so perfect for those coffees when your friends drop over 🙂
This cake looks so simple but effective! We also don’t really like traditional Christmas cake in our household so it would be great to try an alternative that still fits in with our Christmas spirit.