Copycat Little Debbie® Christmas Tree Cakes
Servings: 18
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Christmas Tree Cakes:
- ½ cup olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 cup pure cane sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup full fat coconut milk or whole milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups Namaste GF flour blend do not pack down – fluff before measuring
- 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
For the Frosting Middle:
- ¼ cup room temp organic palm shortening or butter
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tbsp coconut milk or milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the White Chocolate Coating:
- 1 – 9oz bag Enjoy Life White Chocolate Chips about 3 cups of white chocolate total (plus more for the red stripe)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- Naturally dyed green sanding sugar
For the Naturally Dyed Red Stripe:
- Either 1/3 cup of the frosting from above OR more melted white chocolate
- Natural red dye
Instructions
To make the vanilla Christmas tree cakes:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. I used 3 silicone Christmas Tree molds, sitting 2 baking sheets, making 18 total Christmas trees.
- I liked making the cake batter right in a 4 cup liquid measuring cup so that it poured into the cake molds easily with less clean up. Alternatively, you could use a medium mixing bowl. Blend the oil, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Add the milk, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, and salt, and blend to combine until creamy.
- Pour the cake batter into your Christmas tree molds about half to ¾ of the way up, and bake the cakes at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden and spring back to touch.
- Let the Christmas cakes cool completely before popping them out of the molds.
To make the frosting for the middle of the tree cakes:
- Blend the frosting ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Slice each Christmas tree in half, lengthwise, and spread a thin layer of frosting on each side before sandwiching the cakes back together. Place the frosted cakes on a baking tray and freeze the cakes for at least an hour before starting the white chocolate step.
To make the white chocolate coating:
- Once the Christmas tree cakes are frozen, you can coat them in the white chocolate. First, line a baking sheet with parchment paper for the finished cakes to be placed on. Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil in a medium sauce pan, whisking until smooth.
- Place one of the cakes in the melted white chocolate and use 2 forks to turn it over and over to ensure the whole cake is coated in white chocolate. Use the forks to lift the cake out, letting it drip, before placing it on the parchment paper to solidify. Continue coating each of the Christmas tree cakes. Before the white chocolate hardens, you’ll want to sprinkle the naturally dyed green sanding sugar. You may need to do the sprinkles after doing 1 or 2 trees as the white chocolate does harden fairly quickly.
To make the naturally dyed red stripes:
- Once the white chocolate has hardened, you can add the red stripes. You can either use the leftover frosting from frosting the middle of the cakes, or, if you want the stripes to fully harden, use more melted white chocolate. For either method, add natural red dye to the frosting or the white chocolate to make the red color you wish. If using the frosting, you may want to thin the frosting out with some splashes of milk to make it easier to pipe.Use a thin tip on a piping bag to pipe the red stripes onto the Christmas tree cakes.
- The Christmas tree cakes will stay good on the counter in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Freeze them if you intend to have them around longer to maintain the freshness of the cake.
Notes
- Other GF flour blends with xanthan gum should work in this recipe. Also, if you tolerate gluten and want to use all purpose flour, that should work as well.
- Quick tip for littles! If you have little ones wanting to help with the frosting middle step, I would suggest FREEZING the cake halves before frosting so they don’t break the cakes trying to frost them!
- You can freeze the Christmas tree cakes for days or even weeks in advance before dunking in the white chocolate. If you plan to freeze longer than a day, freeze them for an hour or so first, and then pop them in to freezer bags to keep them from drying out. You could also freeze the white chocolate coated cakes with the same method.
- White chocolate that has clean ingredients is HARD to find! I have felt the most comfortable with the Enjoy Life white chocolate chips. If you have found another clean brand, we would love to hear from you!
- The naturally dyed green sanding sugar is option if you cannot find something like that! I've been able to find a lot of naturally dyed sanding sugars and sprinkles online, but I know that is not always accessible all over the world! Leave it out if you cannot find it!
- The naturally dyed red stripe is optional as well if you cannot find natural food coloring! You could sprinkle shaved chocolate on your trees or use chopped dried fruit as the "lights" on the trees!