Description
Festive holiday magic sparkles through this Christmas Crunch Cake, blending rich chocolate layers with peppermint crunch. Delightful seasonal dessert brings winter celebration directly to your table, promising sweet memories and joyful indulgence for all.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Cake Ingredients:
- 1 cup (230 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¾ cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- 2 ½ cups (310 g) all-purpose flour
Leavening and Seasoning:
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional Cake Mix-ins and Decorative Ingredients:
- ½ cup (85 g) crushed candy canes or peppermint candies
- 1 cup (90 g) rice cereal
- ½ cup (100 g) holiday sprinkles
- ¼ cup (50 g) crushed pretzels
- ½ cup (85 g) white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup (50 g) melted butter
- ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
Optional Glaze:
- 1 cup (125 g) powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Warm the oven to 350F (175C) and prepare a 9×13-inch cake pan with a light coating of grease and flour dusting.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing vessel, whisking thoroughly to ensure even distribution of dry ingredients.
- In a spacious mixing bowl, blend butter and sugar together, whipping until the mixture becomes airy and pale, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Incorporate eggs individually into the butter mixture, ensuring complete integration after each addition. Introduce vanilla extract and mix smoothly.
- Methodically add dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients, alternating with buttermilk. Begin and conclude with dry ingredients, stirring gently until ingredients are just harmonized.
- If desired, delicately fold crushed peppermint candies or candy canes throughout the batter, distributing evenly to create festive bursts of flavor and color throughout the cake.
Notes
- Crush candy canes finely to distribute evenly throughout the cake, ensuring a consistent peppermint flavor in every bite.
- Room temperature ingredients help create a smoother, more uniform cake batter, so take butter and eggs out 30 minutes before baking.
- For a gluten-free version, substitute all-purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend, maintaining the same measurements.
- Reduce sugar content by replacing half the sugar with unsweetened applesauce, which adds moisture and keeps the cake tender while cutting calories.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
- Calories: 360
- Sugar: 32 g
- Sodium: 180 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 11 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 49 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 70 mg