The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Tree Cake (Video!)
This vegan Christmas cake is the ultimate holiday showstopper. Super fluffy and sweet vegan eggnog cake decorated as with edible gifts underneath an edible Christmas tree! Super fun and festive for the holidays!
My favorite vegan Christmas tree cake
It’s been on my must-bake list to finally create a showstopper of a Christmas cake, only entirely vegan.
I’m talking vegan cake, dairy free buttercream, and even vegan food coloring. And she’s finally here!
This is the ultimate vegan Christmas tree cake. Made with a super fluffy and moist vegan eggnog cake (that can be gluten free as well!) and topped with a fluffy dairy free buttercream, this holiday cake is truly jaw dropping.
Of course, I had to go all out on the decorations! Topped with a vegan Christmas tree ice cream cone and presents underneath the tree, this Christmas cake is fit for any holiday table and for all eaters!
How to make a vegan Christmas Cake
The start of this vegan Christmas cake is much like any other cake.
We’ll make the cake layers first, then the vegan buttercream, and finally decorate the cake!
I made an entire YouTube video here that shows you how to make this vegan Christmas tree cake start to finish (and the video is also included down below in the recipe card!).
However, here are a few of my key tips for making a decorated holiday cake:
- The vegan cake: I used my vegan eggnog cake recipe for this Christmas cake, but you can use your favorite holiday cake here as well. The main part of this recipe is the decoration, but of course, the cake is crucial too. As with any vegan cake we’ve made on The Banana Diaries, you’ll want to be sure to whisk together the dry ingredients thoroughly. Then add in the room temperature wet ingredients to the dry. Room temperature is crucial, as this will help yield that really tender cake.
- Vegan food coloring: most vegan food colorings will bake out of our vegan cakes. I’ve tested many vegan food colorings (and include a few recommendations in the YouTube video), and have found that Nomeca works wonderfully for baking and coloring frosting. Whole Foods 365 is wonderful for decorating, but will fade while you bake. You can also use powders, such as blue spirulina, beet powder, turmeric, matcha, etc.
- Vegan buttercream: making a vegan buttercream is just like making a regular buttercream. You need to allow the butter to soften to room temperature, which allows the frosting to be super fluffy and light when whipped together with the powdered sugar. We use a lot of frosting for this cake, so don’t hold back on using the powdered sugar!
- Organize your workspace: this is probably the most important tip here, as you’ll need to work swiftly so as not to melt the vegan buttercream. I suggest reading through the instructions thoroughly before beginning. Then while the cakes are cooling, organize your work space so that you have your ingredients for the decorations, the piping tips and bags all ready to go, and the bowls all set.
- Use your imagination! You don’t have to decorate this Christmas cake as I did- you can make it however you’d like! Take elements that you like, or add your own flare. Cakes are like a blank canvas for your imagination!
How to decorate a Christmas tree cake
Now for the fun part: let’s get to decorating this vegan Christmas tree cake!
For the decorations, you’ll need:
- Piping bags and tips: I recommend closed and open star tips in varying sizes
- Cake turntable
- Offset spatula
- Vegan ice cream cone
- Vegan food coloring
- Marzipan
We’ll start by first building the cake, then layering on the decorations.
- Use about 1/2 of the vegan buttercream for frosting the cake, and the remainder for the decorations.
2. With the first half of the vegan buttercream, you’ll frost the cake. Layer the blue cake first, and frost, then layer with the yellow cake, frost on top. And finally top with the last blue cake, and frost the entire cake.
3. Place the cake into the fridge to chill while you prepare the decorations. Divide the remaining frosting into three bowls: one for green, one for pink, and one for blue.
4. Fill one piping bag with a small closed star tip with the green frosting, and pipe dots onto the ice cream cone until it’s completely filled. You’ll still have some green frosting leftover- this will be for the wreaths! Place the ice cream cone into the fridge and form the presents.
5. Marzipan presents: form about 1″ sized cubes out of marzipan and use about 1 tbsp of each color to frost the presents. Place into the fridge to set.
6. Remove the cake from the fridge. It doesn’t matter what you pipe on first, but I recommend starting with the pink tree or blue swirls on top. For the pink tree, pipe dots, starting with one dot on the top side of the cake, and pipe down, increasing the dots with each line (see video).
7. For the blue swirls, fill a closed star tip piping bag with the blue and pipe swirls onto the cake.
8. For the wreaths, pipe the remaining green frosting into dots forming a circle, like a wreath. Use the remaining pink frosting to pipe bows onto the wreaths.
9. Finish the piping by connecting the wreaths with the blue (or pink!).
10. Carefully transfer the ice cream cone to the top of the cake using an offset spatula, along with the presents. Finish with sprinkles if desired and serve!
I hope you love this vegan Christmas cake as much as I do! If you make it, let me know how it goes down below in the comments section, along with giving it a rating so that others may find it.
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy Christmas tree cake decorating!
More vegan Christmas recipes:
Ultimate Vegan Christmas Cookies Guide
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Tree Cake (Video!)
- Prep Time: 40
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan Christmas cake is the ultimate holiday showstopper. Super fluffy and sweet vegan eggnog cake decorated as with edible gifts underneath an edible Christmas tree! Super fun and festive for the holidays!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour (with 1 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder)
- 1 cup granulated sugar or coconut sugar*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups vegan eggnog, room temperature
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1/3 cup olive oil (or melted coconut oil, not hot)
- Blue vegan food coloring
Vegan Buttercream + Decorations:
- 2 cups vegan butter, softened
- 6–7 cups powdered sugar
- 1–2 tbsp dairy free milk
- 1 vegan ice cream cone
- Marzipan
- Vegan food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line three 6″ cake pans with parchment paper and oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add in the vegan eggnog, applesauce and oil, and use a rubber spatula to mix the batter until there are no more dry streaks throughout the batter.
- Pour 1/3 of the batter into one cake pan and set aside.
- Then add in the vegan blue food coloring to the bowl and mix until the color is fully incorporated. Divide the batter into the two remaining cake pans.
- Place the cake pans into the oven to bake for 27-32 minutes, or until the plain cake pan is lightly golden and the toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Then remove the cakes to cool on a cooling rack completely before frosting. The cakes should be cool to touch (absolutely no warmth whatsoever!).
Vegan Buttercream + decorations:
- When the cakes are ready to frost, prepare the vegan buttercream and decorations.
- To a large bowl or a stand mixer, add the 2 cups of vegan butter and cream until fluffy.
- Then add in the powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, creaming together in between each pour. Use the dairy free milk to help with consistency.
- Divide the buttercream in half, saving half of the buttercream to ice the cake. The remaining buttercream will be divided into 3 bowls, one for green, one for pink, and one for blue.
- Mix the colors into the 3 bowls, using a little food coloring to start and only adding more until you’ve achieved your desired color.
- Spoon the green frosting into a piping bag with a small star tip, and pipe dots onto the ice cream cone. Place the ice cream cone into the fridge to chill while you prepare the remaining decorations.
- With the marzipan, form 1″ sized cubed presents using your hands. Use about 1 tablespoon of each color and a knife to “paint” the buttercream onto the presents. Place the presents into the fridge to chill while you frost the cake.
Vegan Christmas Cake Assembly:
- Use half of the frosting to frost between the two layers of the cake and around the cake. Use a bench scraper to smooth the frosting. You’ll want to alternate the colors of the cake: the bottom is blue, the middle is white, and the top is blue.
- Use the pink frosting with a star tip to pipe the tree onto the side of the cake, starting from the top with just one dot, and working your way down. Decorate with vegan sprinkles if desired.
- Then use the remaining green frosting to pipe 4 wreaths around the cake. Use any leftover pink frosting to pipe a bow onto each wreath.
- Use the blue frosting with a closed star tip to pipe swirls onto the top of the cake and to connect the wreaths.
- Use an offset knife or spatula to carefully transfer the tree onto the top of the cake, along with the presents.
- Finish off with any decorative sugar and enjoy!
Notes
*using coconut sugar will make these cakes more tan in color, and may make the blue color brown. However, it will keep the cake layers completely refined sugar free.