For the final day of Snickerdoodle Week, I made a Snickerdoodle Christmas Wreath Cake! This is a delicious cake made of moist cinnamon and vanilla sponge, a decadent ganache filing, yummy cinnamon and vanilla buttercream, covered in festive sugar sprinkles, and topped with lovely buttercream decorations! I love the traditional red and green colors of Christmas, especially as decoration for this awesome Snickerdoodle cake! This cake gets you excited about the Christmas season both from its outside decoration and divine flavors.
Ingredients:
- Snickerdoodle Sponge (the link for my recipe is provided here)
- Snickerdoodle Buttercream (the link for my recipe is provided here)
- Caramelized White Chocolate and Cinnamon Ganache
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream or Vanilla Buttercream (you can find my Vanilla Buttercream recipe here)
- Red and Green Food Gels
- Ground cinnamon (optional)
- Granulated sugar (optional)
- Christmas Sprinkles: gold sugar sprinkles, green sugar sprinkles, and red sugar sprinkles
Step 1: Make the Caramelized White Chocolate and Cinnamon Ganache for the Filling:
Caramelize the White Chocolate:
As I mentioned earlier this week, this process does take some time to complete, but the flavor is significantly better than regular white chocolate. For this cupcake filling, I decided to try the oven method. While this method allowed me to work on other things while waiting to stir the white chocolate every 10 minutes, it took quite a long time and I got better caramelization on the white chocolate using the microwave method. If you have the time to stir the white chocolate every 15-20 seconds, I recommend utilizing the microwave.
The two methods for caramelizing white chocolate use either an oven or a microwave. Here is a how I used the oven method for this ganache:
- Oven Method: For this method, you spread your white chocolate (2 cups) out onto a sheet pan and bake it on a very low heat, 250°F (120°C). Every 10 minutes, you remove the sheet pan and thoroughly mix all the white chocolate around to both ensure that it does not burn and that it cooks evenly. Once you are satisfied with the color of the caramelized white chocolate, proceed to the next step.
Make the Ganache:
Add the 1 cup of heavy whipping cream to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for approximately 30 seconds – 1 minute. Add the caramelized white chocolate and use either a whisk or the spatula to mix the cream into the caramelized white chocolate. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and thoroughly mix them into the ganache. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the ganache so that it will not form a skin on the top layer of ganache. Let it cool until it is close to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Step 2: Fill, Layer, And Frost the Cake
Add about a teaspoon of buttercream to the center of the cake board and then place the first layer of sponge on the cake board (the buttercream will act as a glue to ensure that the cake does not slide off the cake board). Add some buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2A piping tip. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the perimeter of the sponge. Add a layer of the ganache and spread into an even layer on the sponge. Recommended: Add a generous sprinkling of equal parts ground cinnamon and granulated sugar on top of the ganache layer.
Add the next layer of sponge and then repeat the process until the cake is fully stacked. Dirty ice/crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Once the buttercream firms up, add a thick layer of buttercream and use a bench scraper or another sharp sided kitchen tool to smooth the sides and top of the cake. Do not put this cake in the refrigerator yet because you want to make sure that the buttercream will not be too firm when proceeding to Step 4.
Step 3: Make the Poinsettia Flowers
Pipe the Petals 
Add gold sugar sprinkles to the center
Separate some Swiss Meringue Buttercream (or Vanilla Buttercream) into two separate bowls. Add red food gel to one bowl and green food gel to the other bowl. Thoroughly mix the colors into the buttercream. Add the red buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 366 piping tip. Using a flower nail and parchment squares, pipe 5 large petals onto a parchment square and then pipe a second layer of 5 small petals. Remove the parchment paper from the flower nail and place it on a sheet tray. Use the rest of the red buttercream to pipe more flowers and place them all on the sheet tray. Sprinkle a little gold sprinkles in the center of the flowers, and then place the sheet tray in the freezer.
Note: I used Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the decorations on this particular cake because it tastes a lot less sweet than a typical American style buttercream.
Step 4: Cover the Cake in Sprinkles
Mix green sugar sprinkles and red sugar sprinkles in a small mixing bowl. Hold the cake over a sheet tray, piece of parchment paper, or aluminum foil. Carefully press the sugar sprinkles into the side of the cake. Continue to do this until all sides of the cake are covered in green and red sugar sprinkles. Add gold sugar sprinkles to the top of the cake and spread them into a thin layer.
Note: I realized that this process would have been much easier if I had rolled the cake in the green and red sprinkles, so I definitely recommend that method if you try a sprinkle-covered cake!
Step 5: Pipe the Wreath and Add the Poinsettias
Add the green buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip. To make the wreath, you will pipe a series of overlapping “x’s” along the top of the cake. Note: If your buttercream has trouble sticking to the top of the cake or it does not easily separate from the piping tip, use an offset spatula or even a butter knife to release the buttercream and help put it in its place. Once the wreath is complete, remove the poinsettias from the freezer, peel them off the parchment paper, and place them on top of the wreath. Your Snickerdoodle Christmas Wreath Cake is complete!
Thank you so much for checking out this post! I hope that you enjoyed it and that you enjoyed all the festive treats during Snickerdoodle Week! Please leave a comment below regarding if you made this cake, or what other cakes I should try to make!
Make sure to come by next week to check out the third week of Christmas themed goodies . . . Peppermint Week!
