Candy Cane Sheet Cake

Name: Candy Cane Sheet Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Ingredients: 1 TBS vanilla; ¼ tsp salt; 2/3 cup (100g) crushed candy cane (divided); 1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk; 1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar; ¾ cup (180 g) butter at room temperature; ½ cup (60g) dairy sour cream; 6 large free range egg whites; 2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour; 4 tsp baking powder; 1 ½ cups (340g) butter, at room temperature; 3 ½ cups (453g) icing sugar; 1 tsp vanilla; ½ tsp peppermint extract; ¼ cup (60ml) milk; Crushed candy canes to sprinkle on top

Sunday, 4 December 2022

I like to try new recipes and I saw this recipe for a Christmas Candy Cane Cake on a blog called Preppy Kitchen the other day. It looked really pretty.

It was a delicious moist looking cake, riddled with pockets of crushed candy cane and topped with a peppermint icing and more crushed candy canes.

In the description of the cake, it promised to have pockets of candy cane liquid throughout, that popped in your mouth when you bit into it.

Having baked the cake now, I think that was a bit of an exaggeration, although I do have to say, that despite that, it is a very good cake!

It's basically a very easy cake. Super-moist and filled with lovely vanilla flavor. You would think that with the amount of crushed candy canes in the cake, the batter would be crunch, but they actually melt inside the cake.

This flavors and riddles the cake with pockets of candy cane flavor. Not a liquid as promised in the initial recipe, but still quite delicious!

A moist and delicious cake, it is topped with a rich peppermint flavored fluffy white frosting. More crushed candy canes are sprinkled on top to decorate it.

Of course, not everyone loved the texture of crushed candy on top of things like this, so you can totally leave them off. It's an optional decoration.

Don't worry, inside the cake the candy melts, so your cake is not filled with crunchy bits.

I actually bought a huge bin of crushed candy canes from Sweetpolita. They sell cake decorating supplies. They no longer seem to be available now, however.

No worries however as you can just crush regular candy canes. It's very easily done in a food processor, or in a baggie with a rolling pin. You want them to be somewhat coarse, but not overly chunky!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CANDY CANE SHEET CAKE

Pretty basic ingredients apart from the candy canes.

For the cake:

1 TBS vanilla
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup (100g) crushed candy canes (divided)
1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (180 g) butter at room temperature
½ cup (60g) dairy sour cream
6 large free range egg whites
2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour
4 tsp baking powder

For the frosting and decoration:

1 ½ cups (340g) butter, at room temperature
3 ½ cups (453g) icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp peppermint extract
¼ cup (60ml) milk
Crushed candy canes to sprinkle on top

You might wonder what you are going to do with all the leftover egg yolks. You can freeze them for later use, but I found a few delicious ideas on how to use them.

Pasta Carbonara is aways a popular dish. Egg Custard is another way to use them up. I also like to beat them a few at a time into whole eggs to make scrambled eggs for breakfast, or into omelets. Don't worry about using them all up.

HOW TO MAKE CANDY CANE SHEET CAKE

It's actually a lot easier to make than you would think. Just follow the instructions and you can't go wrong.

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch by 15-inch cake tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.

Whisk the milk and sour cream together. Set aside.

Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Set aside.

Cream the butter using an electric mixer until really soft. Add the sugar and then cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and salt.

Beat in the egg whites until thoroughly combined.

Alternately beat in the flour mixture and the milk/sour cream mixture, making three dry and two wet additions. Mix to combine fully.

Fold in 1/3 cup (50g) of the candy canes. Don’t overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, leveling it off. Sprinkle the remaining candy canes over top in little piles. Swirl in with a spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the cake is golden brown and tests done in the middle. (Mine actually took about 10 minutes longer.) A toothpick inserted should come out clean. Wait five minutes and then lift out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together on low, slowly pour in the milk, peppermint extract and vanilla. Beat together until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Smooth over the top of the cake evenly. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Cut into squares to serve.

This really is a lovely cake. Nice and dense and moist. Don't use too much peppermint extract in the frosting at the risk of ending up with a cake that tastes like toothpaste! I actually left it out altogether because I was afraid that it might.

There is plenty of peppermint flavor from the candy canes themselves. This makes for a very pretty cake that would be wonderful to take to a children's school party or to a Bible study or just as a holiday dessert, cut into squares and served with a bit of ice cream!

Some other holiday cakes that you might enjoy are:

CRANBERRY BREAKFAST CAKE - Stogged full of lots of berries and toasted walnuts! Stogged as in stuffed to the hilt!It cuts like a dream and is so delicious warm . . . the berries tart and delicious against the sweetness of the cake batter . . . with that lovely nutty crunch of walnuts. Perfect with your morning cuppa!

CHRISTMAS GINGER CAKE - Baked in a Bundt tin, the smell when this cake is baking is just heavenly. It smells like what you want Christmas to smell like . . . warm, and spicy and just plain festive! Moist, delicious and very pretty.

Yield: 15

Author: Marie Rayner

Candy Cane Sheet Cake

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

This beautiful cake is riddled with crushed candy canes and topped with a fluffy peppermint icing and more crushed candy canes!

Ingredients

For the cake:

1 TBS vanilla
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup (100g) crushed candy cane (divided)
1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (180 g) butter at room temperature
½ cup (60g) dairy sour cream
6 large free range egg whites
2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour
4 tsp baking powder

For the frosting and decoration:

1 ½ cups (340g) butter, at room temperature
3 ½ cups (453g) icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp peppermint extract
¼ cup (60ml) milk
Crushed candy canes to sprinkle on top

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch by 15-inch cake tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.
Whisk the milk and sour cream together. Set aside.
Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Set aside.
Cream the butter using an electric mixer until really soft. Add the sugar and then cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and salt.
Beat in the egg whites until thoroughly combined.
Alternately beat in the flour mixture and the milk/sour cream mixture, making three dry and two wet additions. Mix to combine fully.
Fold in 1/3 cup (50g) of the candy canes. Don’t overmix.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, leveling it off. Sprinkle the remaining candy canes over top in little piles. Swirl in with a spatula.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the cake is golden brown and tests done in the middle. A toothpick inserted should come out clean. Wait five minutes and then lift out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together on low, slowly pour in the milk, peppermint extract and vanilla. Beat together until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Smooth over the top of the cake evenly. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
Cut into squares to serve.

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Walnut Cherry Slices

Saturday, 3 December 2022

I am sharing another favorite Christmas cookie with you today. It just wouldn't be Christmas without some of these delicious Walnut Cherry Slices on the cookie tray!

Short, crisp, buttery and studded with plenty of red and green candied cherries and toasted walnuts. No, you are not going blind. There are no walnuts in my cookies.

I left them out this time because my family here in Nova Scotia are not overly fond of them! I added extra cherries in their place!

These cookies are very much a holiday tradition here in the Maritimes, and something which I grew up with. They have a lovely texture very similar to a short bread cookie with lots of bits of sweet cherries in them.

I always try to use both red and green cherries, which really gives them a festive look! I would never ice these as it would make them far too sweet for my liking. I do, personally, like toasted walnuts in them, but . . . you know.

One thing I like about these is that you can make the dough well ahead of time, shape it into the roll, (ready for slicing) and then freeze until you need or want to bake them. This dough will keep well, frozen for up to three months.

You can also keep it wrapped in the refrigerator for a week or so, ready to slice and bake as and when you want them.

They really make a beautiful show on the Christmas Cookie tray, especially if you use both red and green cherries. In terms of ease, these are quite simply one of my favorite cookies to bake.

But then I am a huge fan of the slice and bake cookie. My Washboard Cookies are a slice and bake cookie as are my Mom's Butterscotch Cookies.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE WALNUT CHERRY SLICES

Very simple baking ingredients. You probably have everything but the glace cherries and those can easily be purchased at the shops.

1 cup (240g) butter, softened
1 cup (130g) sifted icing sugar
1 large free-range egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 (315g) cups plain all-purpose flour
1 cup (116g) chopped toasted walnuts (my family is not overly fond of walnuts, so I just add extra cherries)
2 cups (450g) chopped candied cherries

Glace cherries (also known as candied cherries) are fresh cherries that have been simmered in a thick sugar syrup until they are "candied." Cherries have been preserved in this way since the 14th century.

They can be found in the grocery store along with any other candied fruit that might be used in making fruit cakes.

If you are using walnuts (and I love them with walnuts myself), do toast them. You will find the flavor of the nuts is so much better when they are toasted.

You can either do this in a dry skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, or you can spread them out on a baking sheet and toast them in a moderate oven (350*F/180*C) for 5 to 10 minutes. Leave them to cool before using.

Keep a watch on them as they can go from perfect to burnt in seconds.

As with any ingredients you are going to use in baking, it is better that they all be at room temperature. This ensures a much more even and reliable result. This goes for butter, eggs, milk, flour, etc.

HOW TO MAKE WALNUT CHERRY SLICES

Nothing could be easier.

Cream the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until well incorporated

Beat in the flour until well combined, and then fold in the chopped cherries and nuts (if using). Use a wooden spoon to stir these through the cookie dough and be gentle so as not to break them up too much.

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of non-stick baking or wax paper. Shape into a long log, about 18 inches in length. Roll the log in the paper, twisting the ends tightly. Wrap again in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for one hour if you are planning to bake on the day. You can refrigerate the cookie dough for 3-5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. (If frozen, remove dough from freezer and allow to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes and continue with the following steps.)

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 325*F/165*C/ gas mark 3. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set it aside.

Unwrap the cookie log. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Lay the slices onto the prepared baking sheet leaving an inch of space in between cookies. Bake for 12 minutes or until the bottom edge of the cookies has turned golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

These really are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. Don't be tempted to use maraschino cherries to make these. They are not the same as glace cherries. In the US if you are having a problem finding them a very popular brand is Paradise, and these can be found online on Amazon.

Don't worry about using them up. I have lots of recipes on here where you will be able to use them, and they are not all Christmas recipes.

Some of those recipes are:

ROCKY ROAD BROWNIES - Rocky Road Brownies are a glorious amalgamation of dense and fudgy, filled with toasted nuts, candied cherries and loads of chocolate flavor. Topped with a fudgy icing and mini marshmallows.

CHERRY AND VANILLA SCONES - Buttery and light and perfect split and filled with jam and cream. Delicious served with a nice hot cup of tea, herbal or otherwise.

Yield: 30 cookies

Author: Marie Rayner

Walnut Cherry Slices

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 12 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 27 M

You can prepare the dough for these delicious Christmas cookies ahead of time and freeze. (Up to a month in advance.) When ready to bake, just slice and bake until done. It wouldn't be Christmas without these! Plan ahead as the dough for these needs to chill for at least an hour. (I prefer overnight, myself.)