Buttercream Candy Cane Gingerbread Cake

Last week I whipped up a new vegan gingerbread cookie recipe and blogged about it on this page. Here is the link. As I was making the cute little faces on the cookies, I began dreaming up a pink candy cane buttercream cake. I thought, hummm what type of cake batter would that go nicely with. Gingerbread right?! Yup that’ll do it! So I got into my kitchen, opened up my cookbook to the Gingerbread bundt cake recipe. I wanted to switch up the cake batter slightly to a lighter, more moist cake and slightly spicier.

This beautiful pink Buttercream Candy Cane Gingerbread cake is literally like a taste of Christmas when you bite into it. Pink has been a colour that recently attracted me when I put up some new wallpaper and added some red Christmas decorations. The colour pink got added little by little and I am glad I listened to this creative pull to do so. From the little accents of pink around the house to this pinkish cake, brought the entire decor together. This cake unintentionaly became the theme piece on display with its final sprinkle of pink and red candy cane crush. I just wanted to leave it on the counter forever. I know what you’re thinking….not a good plan right lol! Such a pretty festive cake, that is for sure but suggest we all choose to eat it within a few days and keep it refrigerated in an airtight container. I do not recommend freezing this cake as it will dry out as the days go by.

Don’t let this cake’s beauty fool you, as it is a simple one to make! This vegan buttercream icing only takes a couple of minutes and as for the batter, just a simple dry and wet mixture blended.

This cake is now my new favourite holiday treat and might even be yours. Let me know what you think! This vegan festive dessert pairs nicely with a fresh cold glass of oat milk.

My Measurements Tips

• T – is for Tablespoon
• t – is for teaspoon

• Yields: 6 inch round double layer cake
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Bake Time: 40 minutes

Must Haves

• 2 round spring form baking pans
• parchment paper
• spatula
• stand mixer
• electric blender or hammer

What To Grab • Melted Mixture

• 1 1/2 cups vegan butter
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 1/4 cups oat milk
• 1 T molasses
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 2 t ground clove
• 2 T ginger powder
• 2 t allspice
• 1 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 1/2 t cinnamon

Dry Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cup organic all purpose flour or gluten free flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 1/2 T baking powder
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 2 T dry egg substitute

Candy Cane Buttercream Icing

• 1 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups icing confectioners sugar
• 4 T oat milk
• 1 T peppermint essential oil flavouring
• 1/4 cup candy cane crush (crushed candy cane)

Toppings

• 2 crushed vegan candy canes with some bigger chunks

Recipe Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to bake at 375F. Place the oven rack at medium height. Grease the inside of the bundt cake pan with 2 t of raw organic coconut oil and set aside and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Place a medium sized pot on the burner and turn the burner to low heat. Pour in the butter, brown sugar, milk, spices, molasses and stir while it melts. Remove pot from burner and set aside.
3. In a large sized mixing bowl add all of the Dry Ingredients and give it a good stir.
4. Fold the Melted Mixture into the Dry Ingredients Mixture. Evenly pour cake mixture into both cake pans. Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 40 minutes. Check to see if the cakes are baked by pricking with a toothpick at 38 minutes. If the toothpick comes out wet, then bake for 5 more minutes. If it is dry then remove cakes from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes. Remove cakes from the spring form cake pans and chill them for 1 hour.
5. Crush some vegan candy canes to equal 1/4 cup.
6. While the cakes are chilling, add the icing sugar, butter, oat milk, peppermint essential oil and 1/4 cup candy cane crush into the stand mixer bowl. Blend at high speed until ingredients are thoroughly mixed and resemble buttercream. Place one cake onto a serving platter. Pour 1/3 icing onto the bottom cake and using a spatula spread the icing one the top. Add the second cake on top and apply the rest of buttercream icing. Sprinkle the rest of the crushed candy cane over the entire cake. Chill cake for 1 hour before serving. This cake can be kept in the freezer inside an airtight container for up to 1 month. Best eaten within three days of making. Keep the cake chilled.