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Jolly Santa Claus Cake

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  • Prep 45 min
  • Total 3 hr 0 min
  • Servings 12
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Holiday dessert is made easy, delicious and extra fun with Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ White Cake Mix, vanilla frosting and festive sprinkles. Serve up this jolly Santa cake as a fun family dessert after your holiday dinner, or bring it out at the end of a Christmas party if you really want to feel like Saint Nick himself.
Updated Oct 21, 2022
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Ingredients

Steps

  • 1
    Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray bottoms and sides of 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
  • 2
    In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. In small bowl, place 1/2 cup of the batter; stir in 1/2 teaspoon of the food color. Divide remaining batter between pans. Drop tablespoonfuls of colored batter in random pattern over top of batter in each pan. Cut through batters with table knife in zigzag pattern for marbled design.
  • 3
    Bake 29 to 34 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; run metal spatula around edges of pans to loosen cakes. Remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Trim off rounded tops of cake layers, if necessary.
  • 4
    Place one cake layer on serving plate, bottom side down. Spread 2/3 cup frosting on top; top with second cake layer. Frost top and side of cake with thin layer of frosting to form a crumb coat. Refrigerate 30 minutes to set.
  • 5
    In small bowl, place 3 tablespoons of the frosting; stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon food color until blended. Fit decorating bag with 1/2-inch star piping tip; fill with 3/4 cup of the untinted frosting. Set red colored frosting and filled decorating bag aside.
  • 6
    Remove cake from refrigerator. Using remaining 3/4 cup untinted frosting, spread around side and two-thirds of top of cake (use photo as a guide).
  • 7
    To decorate Santa’s face: For hat, spread red frosting on top third of cake. Place 2 candies for eyes. Slightly flatten gumdrop to form nose; place in center of cake. Using decorating bag, pipe brim for hat, mustache and decorative swirls for the beard. Slightly flatten marshmallow; place at side of hat for pom pom (use photo as a guide).
  • 8
    Sprinkle 1 tablespoon white candy sprinkles on beard. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of the holiday mix sprinkles on brim of hat. Press remaining holiday mix sprinkles along bottom edge of cake. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

  • tip 1
    Try using Betty Crocker™ Decorating Bags and Decorating Tips for this jolly Santa cake.
  • tip 2
    Applying a thin layer of frosting to a cake and refrigerating helps to seal in the crumbs before the final decorating.
  • tip 3
    Get creative and try using other sprinkles to decorate this Santa face cake, such as Betty Crocker™ Sprinkles Classic Pearls or Betty Crocker™ White Shimmer Sugar for Santa’s beard. Try sprinkling Betty Crocker™ Holly Berry & Leaves or Red & Green Pearls for the brim of the hat and edge of cake.
  • tip 4
    Not sure where two-thirds is on top of the cake? Use toothpick to draw a faint line across top of cake, and use this as a guide when spreading frosting.
  • tip 5
    Short on time? Make and bake cake layers the day before. Once cooled completely, store loosely covered on a cookie sheet at room temperature. The next day, continue with the recipe.
  • tip 6
    An easy way to put candy sprinkles on the side of your Santa face cake is to hold the plated cake over a small bowl of the sprinkles. Cup your hand and press the sprinkles onto the bottom of the cake, using the bowl to catch extras. Keep using what is in the bowl as you press the sprinkles all around the edge.
  • tip 7
    To keep your serving plate clean while frosting the cake, place strips of waxed paper around the edge of the plate. Remove after frosting and sprinkling the edge of the cake with sprinkles is complete.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts are not available for this recipe
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