Make a Winter Wonderland Cake

Learn to make a beautiful naked frosted cake for winter! A winter wonderland cake is a perfect idea for winter birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, New Years, and more. This easy recipe is a perfect baking project to do with kids or adults.

Before Henry was born and we realized his birthday would be during the winter months, just a couple days after Thanksgiving, at first I was a little stumped.

I didn’t really know what to do with a baby birthday party that wasn’t during spring or summer so you could be outside and do the usual kid-birthday-type-stuff. And I was searching for a theme or idea that would be fun for the cooler months.

But when the weather turned cold and I started looking around at fall and wintery stuff, inspiration hit and pretty soon I was pumped to be throwing a cozy woodland 1st birthday party, with a winter wonderland cake.

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I posted the winter wonderland cake I made for Hank on Instagram and I wasn’t really expecting it but it was a hit! So although I didn’t take step-by-step photos, I thought I’d share the how-to here, just in case you want to recreate it.

AWinter Wonderland Birthday Party

But before we get to that, a few other details! Because his birthday was between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we just decided to go full-out winter and woodsy and wonderful.

I combed through my Christmas decorations for little bottlebrush trees and any woodland animals. We used  painted plastic toy animals from another project here and there.

We had some pinecones laying around that made up a little centerpiece, and we tossed some tinsel on a cardboard moose head we found in the Target dollar aisle.

I wanted mostly kraft and gold with a few pops of color, and these tiny gold plates were perfect to use as bread plates. We spelled out “One” in my favorite little gold balloons for a little first birthday decor.

We got some super-slim, tall candles for Henry’s winter wonderland cake, which we put in a moose candle holder I made a few years back.

Boom, instant wintery party! And in case you want to make the winter wonderland cake, I outlined what we did below.

Ingredients and Supplies for a Winter Wonderland Cake

Ingredients and Materials

• 2 boxes carrot cake box mix
• any necessary ingredients (eggs, water, oil)
• 2 cans cream cheese frosting
• powdered sugar
• icing spatula
• cake stand
• mini Christmas trees
• 9″ round baking pan
• bread knife

How to Make a Winter Wonderland Cake

Make Time: 1 Hour Prep, 1 Hour Baking/Cooling

1. Mix the cake according to the instructions on the packaging. I used three 9″ round baking pans to bake all three layers at once. Optional: butter the sides of your pans and lay parchment paper on the bottom to ensure nice, even baking and cakes that won’t stick and then crumble. Bake according to the instructions on the packaging.
2. Once the cakes are baked, let them cool thoroughly. Then carefully slice off the rounded tops of two of the cakes so that they’re flat and level. The best way to do that is to take a bread knife, make a light perforated cut around the edges of each cake to make sure you’re level, and then slice off the top at the perforation. Always cut less than you think you need at first; you can always cut more!
3. Place a small dollop of frosting on the center of the cake stand and smooth it down. Place the bottom layer (one of the two flat ones) in the center of the stand and press gently to get it to adhere to the frosting.
4. With a clean icing spatula, add a thin layer of frosting on this first layer. Be sure to get it out along the edges where you’ll be able to see it between the layers. In fact, I added a little extra on the outer edge.
5. Repeat with another layer of cake and frosting. Then place the top layer (the one you didn’t flatten) on the very top and add a nice thick layer of icing.
6. Sprinkle a light dusting of powdered sugar all around the cake and cake stand.
7. Add your candle, or animals, or tiny trees and you’re done!

And then your kid will eat it like this:

More Birthday Ideas

We have so many fun birthday and cake ideas from over the years! I’ve rounded up some of the very best for you here.

Be sure to pin your favorites so that you can easily find them again.

• How to Throw A Banana 3rd Birthday Party
• Forest Animal Fourth Birthday Party
• Pink Mickey Mouse 2nd Birthday Party
• Pixar Cars Third Birthday Party
• An Two Year Birthday Party
• A Simple and Sweet 1st Birthday Party

Have fun! xoxo

Winter Wonderland Cake

Yield: 10 Servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Learn to make a beautiful naked frosted cake for winter! A winter wonderland cake is a perfect idea for winter birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, New Years, and more. This easy recipe is a perfect baking project to do with kids or adults.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 boxes carrot cake box mix
• eggs
• water
• oil
• 2 cans cream cheese frosting
• powdered sugar

Materials

• Icing spatula
• Cake stand
• Mini bottlebrush treest
• 9" round baking pan
• Bread knife

Instructions

1. Mix the cake according to the instructions on the packaging. I used three 9" round baking pans to bake all three layers at once. Optional: butter the sides of your pans and lay parchment paper on the bottom to ensure nice, even baking and cakes that won't stick and then crumble.
2. Once the cakes are baked, let them cool thoroughly. Then carefully slice off the rounded tops of two of the cakes so that they're flat and level. The best way to do that is to take a bread knife, make a light perforated cut around the edges of each cake to make sure you're level, and then slice off the top at the perforation. Always cut less than you think you need at first; you can always cut more!
3. Place a small dollop of frosting on the center of the cake stand and smooth it down. Place the bottom layer (one of the two flat ones) in the center of the stand and press gently to get it to adhere to the frosting.
4. With a clean icing spatula, add a thin layer of frosting on this first layer. Be sure to get it out along the edges where you'll be able to see it between the layers. In fact, I added a little extra on the outer edge.
5. Repeat with another layer of cake and frosting. Then place the top layer (the one you didn't flatten) on the very top and add a nice thick layer of icing.
6. Sprinkle a light dusting of powdered sugar all around the cake and cake stand.
7. Add your candle, or animals, or tiny trees and you're done!

Notes

Adding tiny bottlebrush trees and woodland creatures will make a beautiful winter wonderland effect on your cake! It also looks particularly beautiful with "naked" frosting and a little dusting of powdered sugar to mimic the look of snow.

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