New Year's cake Christmas tree

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 1 day

1. STEP 1

   

   How to make a Christmas tree cake? First, prepare the necessary ingredients for the cream. Use sour cream with a fat content of at least 20%, this is enough for the cream to have the desired consistency. I took store-bought, quite thick, but it’s better to play it safe and weigh it out overnight. To do this, line a colander with 3-4 layers of gauze, pour sour cream into it, and tie the gauze together. Place a colander on a bowl and put this entire structure in the refrigerator.

2. STEP 2

   

   Prepare sour cream. Simply mix the weighed sour cream with a spatula with vanilla and simple sugar until smooth. Let the cream sit on the counter for a while until the sugar dissolves, then cover and put in the refrigerator. Sugar will make the sour cream thinner at first, but in the cold the cream will thicken. There is no need to whip the sour cream; the resulting consistency will be just right to soak the cake well.

3. STEP 3

   

   Prepare the ingredients for the sponge cake. It is necessary to prepare a sponge cake in a form d 23 and several smaller forms. But the biscuit dough must be baked immediately, otherwise the air bubbles will disappear and it will not rise magnificently. Therefore, from the same norm of products, later prepare another batch and bake in forms d 16, 12 and 10 cm, dividing the dough, but on one baking sheet. I used small cupcake tins, maybe paper ones for Easter. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator in advance.

4. STEP 4

   

   Turn on the oven to 180 degrees. Sift the flour, preferably twice. Thanks to this, it will be saturated with oxygen, and the finished biscuit will turn out airier and fluffier. I used fine flour for biscuits, but you can use regular premium flour.

5. STEP 5

   

   Wash the eggs well with soda, wipe dry and separate into whites and yolks. Do this very carefully so that not a single drop of yolk gets into the whites, otherwise they will not beat in the future. Place the whites in the refrigerator for now. Add vanilla sugar and 75 grams of regular sugar to the yolks. With a mixer at maximum speed, beat the yolks with sugar until light and dense. This will take about 2 minutes. The exact time depends on the power of the mixer.

6. STEP 6

   

   Then add a pinch of salt to the whites and beat with a mixer until soft peaks, start adding the second half of the sugar and continue beating until hard peaks form. Start beating egg whites at low speed and gradually increase to high speed. The whole process takes approximately 5-6 minutes. The whisks should be clean and dry, as should the container in which you beat the egg whites.

7. STEP 7

   

   Add the whites into the yolks in three additions and gently mix with a spatula with a confident movement from top to bottom, from the edge to the center.

8. STEP 8

   

   Then also carefully add flour in 2-3 stages.

9. STEP 9

   

   The whites should not settle, the dough should be airy, not liquid.

10. STEP 10

    

    Carefully pour the dough into the prepared pan, carefully smoothing the top. Line the bottom of the springform pan with parchment and, if necessary, grease it with butter, but the sides should not be so that the growing sponge cake clings and can easily rise. You can choose the right parchment paper by reading a separate article about the features of parchment, the link is at the end of the recipe.

11. STEP 11

    

    Bake the sponge cake in a preheated oven at 180' for about 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown. The exact time depends on your oven. You can learn about the operating features of ovens by reading a separate article, link at the end of the recipe. You can check readiness with a toothpick - insert it into the middle of the biscuit and immediately remove it. If it is dry, then it is ready. Open the door slightly and remove the biscuit after 5 minutes so that it does not collapse due to a sudden temperature change.

12. STEP 12

    

    Then take it out and, turning it upside down, let the biscuit cool on a wire rack so that it does not sag under its own weight. When the pan has cooled sufficiently, run a thin knife along the edge, open the pan and remove the sponge cake to a wire rack.

13. STEP 13

    

    I use the steaming basket for my slow cooker for this. Carefully remove the paper from the bottom and let the biscuit cool completely. It turns out very tender and airy. Wrap the cooled biscuit in cling film and put it in the refrigerator overnight. This will make it denser and easier to cut.

14. STEP 14

    

    Prepare another batch of dough and pour it into 3 forms. The dough can be weighed and divided by weight, using spoons: 4, 3, 2. The dough will rise, fill the mold 1/3 full. The spoons will be heaped. Bake in the same way, only the time may vary slightly depending on the type of oven, the size of the mold, and the height of the sponge cake.

15. STEP 15

    

    You can make a tiered cake from the cake layers, designing and decorating it like a Christmas tree, but you can change it a little and make a Christmas tree with branches. All baked layers will be used for the cake. In this photo, the 2nd cake from the bottom went to another cake, and the bottom and three top ones went to the Christmas tree cake.

16. STEP 16

    

    Place the canned peaches for the filling in a colander and let the syrup drain. Cut the peaches into medium and small cubes. Leave the syrup for soaking the cakes.

17. STEP 17

    

    Divide the cream into 3 parts. Leave 4 spoons of cream for coating on top, 1.5 - 2 for coloring green, the rest of the cream will be used for impregnation. We get the green color by mixing yellow and blue food coloring drop by drop; if you are against paint, leave the cake white.

18. STEP 18

    

    You can start assembling the cake. It will be assembled in tiers. Cut the largest sponge cake (d 23 cm) into 2 layers. The circle will be the base. Cut the second circle into 6 triangular segments. Each segment needs to be trimmed a little to form a circle-shaped center. The remaining triangle and trimmings will be used to fill the center, which now looks like a hole in the photo. You will get a star on a circle.

19. STEP 19

    

    Soak the base with syrup using a silicone brush. Then apply a thin layer of cream and add the filling - peaches.

20. STEP 20

    

    Apply cream to the bottom of each star ray with a brush and place it as described above in step 18. Repeat layers: soaked in juice, cream on top and on the sides of the rays, peach only in the center. Immediately cover the sides of the bottom circle with cream. Cut the sponge cake 16 cm into 3 layers.

21. STEP 21

    

    Leave the central part of the sponge cake in a circle, and cut the top and bottom with the crust into rays.

22. STEP 22

    

    Lay the tiers in the same order, only place the rays between the rays of the lower tier and lubricate them well with cream so that they hold tightly. The peach filling will only be in the center of the round crust. Soak the rays in syrup and cover with cream, not forgetting the sides. Attach the remaining small rays to the lower tier to make the tree fluffy. Lay the 12 cm sponge cake in the same way, also cutting it into 3 layers. The tree should taper into a cone.

23. STEP 23

    

    Leave the smallest sponge cake (d 10 cm) to form the top. Cut a 1.5 cm thick circle from it, cut out the center from the high part, and cut the “donut with a hole” into rays. Complete the formation of the Christmas tree. In this form, cover the cake and leave it to soak for 4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight.

24. STEP 24

    

    Then cover the finished Christmas tree with white cream. If you decide to decorate it, drop the dye into the set aside cream and stir well.

25. STEP 25

    

    Apply colored cream with a brush, whiten the ends of the rays with light cream, imitating snow. Decorate the cake as you wish. I used Mishki marmalade: when you cut it, the sticky edge holds well and looks like toys. A little snowflake confectionery sprinkles, a marshmallow on the top of the head and the outfit is complete. Serve the cake on a large platter, which can also be decorated with the theme of the coming year. It is also good to use colored marshmallows for decoration.

Comments on the recipe

Julia

11.12.2023

4.7

Sveta, what a beautiful Christmas tree! And there is no doubt about the taste at all; sponge cakes always turn out tender and soaked. Original cake assembly, great!

Alya Zhemchuzhinka

11.12.2023

4.5

Svetlana, amazing cake! Very beautiful and delicious!

BLUE-EYED

11.12.2023

4.6

Oh girls, thank you! I completely agree with you, it’s beautiful and appetizing, and so tasty and tender! The family and guests appreciated it, the children were absolutely delighted, they had never seen such a cake before.. Thank you for your attention to the recipe!!