Rosy-Cheeked Santa Claus
by Cindi Sutter, Founder & Editor Spirited Table® - Recipe excerpt from Cakes for Kids by Juliette Lalbaltry. Cakes for Kids by Juliette Lalbaltry. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith.
For 6 to 8 kids -Preparation: 40 minutes - Baking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour + more for the pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup sunflower oil
Butter, for greasing the pan
To Decorate
3 /4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
About 45 marshmallow strawberries or red gumdrops
1 large white marshmallow
2 small black Haribo Dragibus or Sixlets
1 small pink Haribo Dragibus or Sixlets
2 small candy or plastic eyes
1 large pink marshmallow
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, vanilla, and eggs.
Sift the flour and baking powder together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well to break up any lumps. Incorporate the oil.
Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan then pour the cake batter into the pan.
Bake for 40 minutes. Keep baking for a few minutes if the cake isn’t done. Let the cake cool to room temperature before removing it from the pan.
Make the whipped cream: add the heavy cream and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer or a mixing bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the whipped cream over the bottom of the cake, stopping half-way up the cake, to create Santa’s beard and hair, leaving some space in the center of the cake for the face.
Cover the top half of the cake with marshmallow strawberries to represent Santa Claus’ hat, using dabs of the whipped cream for glue. Use 3 marshmallow strawberries to make the point of the hat over one side of Santa’s face, and the white marshmallow at the tip to create the pompom (as shown in the photo).
Add 2 small black Dragibus candies for the eyes and top them with 2 small candy or plastic eyes. (If using plastic eyes, remove before eating.)
Place 1 small pink Dragibus for the nose and cut 1 pink Marshmallow in half for the cheeks.