Buttercream Christmas Tree Cake Tutorial

One of my most popular Christmas cakes is this gorgeous buttercream Christmas tree cake. So I’ve updated it with brand new photos and lots of helpful information on how to decorate a Christmas tree cake in your own kitchen. Today’s tutorial post includes detailed step-by-step photos to teach you everything you need to know to create your own cake decorated with a buttercream Christmas tree, sprinkle lights and ornaments, and topped with a star. Impress your friends and family this holiday season with a cake that’s as beautiful to look at as it is delicious.

Looking for more Christmas cake ideas? You’ll love this beautiful eggnog cake, cranberry Christmas cake, and snowman cake.

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What You’ll Need

Cake

• Any standard-sized cake recipe (or box cake mix), baked in four 6-inch cake pans.
• The cake flavor is totally up to you, but for reference, I used this high altitude chocolate cake recipe.

Today’s design with the Christmas tree piped up the side of the cake in buttercream works best with a tall cake, preferably 3-4 layers. A wide, short cake just won’t give you enough height to work with for piping a pretty Christmas tree. If you choose the 3-layer option, simply wrap and freeze the 4th layer of cake for another project.

• 4-Layer Cake. Stacking 4 six-inch cake layers will make a cake that’s about 7 inches tall, and this is what’s pictured in today’s post. This will give you the most height for piping your Christmas tree. Note that this is a very tall cake, and since it’s taller than it is wide, it can be a little tricky to fill and frost. I’d only recommend this option if you’re more experienced with stacking and frosting layer cakes.
• 3-Layer Cake. Stacking 3 six-inch cake layers will make a cake that’s about 5 – 5 1/2 inches tall. This size is much more manageable, especially if you’re a beginner when it comes to stacking and frosting layer cakes. You won’t have quite as much height to work with, so your piped buttercream Christmas tree will be a little shorter, but still beautiful.

Buttercream

• For today’s cake, you’ll need to make 5x my buttercream recipe, which will yield plenty of buttercream for frosting your cake, as well as to use for the Christmas tree. After frosting your cake, you should have about 1 3/4 cups left for the tree. You’ll likely have some buttercream leftover, which you can freeze for another project. The extra green buttercream would be perfect for decorating these Christmas tree sugar cookies.
• You can make the buttercream any flavor that complements your cake, for example flavored with vanilla or almond extract, but it’ll look best if you keep it white. For a white buttercream, I recommend making it with half butter and half vegetable shortening.

I’d encourage you to read my comprehensive guide on Perfect American Buttercream. It includes not only my perfect buttercream recipe with flavor variations, but also essential ingredients and tools, tips and techniques, and how to achieve a perfect texture and consistency in your buttercream.

Essential Tools.

• 6-inch Cake Pans (x4). I use Fat Daddio’s aluminum cake pans for all of my cake baking.
• Piping Bag
• Piping Tip #1M
• Sugar Pearls, Nonpareils and Sprinkles, in various sizes and colors, for the lights and ornaments
• Gold or Silver Sparkling Sugar
• Wax Paper
• 1-inch Mini Star Shaped Cutter (or just a knife), to make a buttercream star
• Star Anise, as an alternative to a buttercream star
• Gel Food Coloring. To make a deep, woodsy Christmas green color, I used “forest green”, “electric green”, “turquoise”, “leaf green”, and “super black”.

Instructions

Bake and cool your cake.

• After baking your cake, cool the cake layers completely before assembling and frosting your cake.
• If you’re making the 4-layer cake option, it can be helpful to wrap the cake layers individually in plastic wrap and chill them in the refrigerator, then stack and fill the chilled cake layers.

Make the Buttercream.

• After making your buttercream, you can refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or freeze it for up to 3-6 months.
• Let the buttercream come to room temperature, and if necessary, re-whip it for several minutes with your mixer.

Fill and Frost the Cake.

• Once you’ve baked and cooled your cake layers, and made your buttercream, you can get started on the decorating. Stack and fill your cake layers with buttercream, then frost your cake all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream.
• Chill your crumb-coated cake for 30 minutes, then frost all over with a final coat of buttercream, saving the extra buttercream for the tree. You can smooth out the buttercream on the sides of the cake, or leave it swirly, whatever you like.
• Once your cake is frosted, chill it in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes before piping your Christmas tree.

Be sure to read my post How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost a Cake for lots of helpful tips and step by step photos.

Decorating your cake.

Make a Cake Decorating Template.

• I highly recommend making yourself a template to use as a guide when you start piping on the buttercream for the tree. You’ll find the whole decorating process so much easier if you know exactly where to put your piping tip before you begin.
• To make a template, simply measure the height of your cake, then cut a piece of wax paper that same height. Now cut the wax paper in the shape of a triangle, to resemble the general shape of your Christmas tree. Hold the paper against the cake, and use a toothpick or sharp knife to lightly scratch the outline onto your buttercream.
• Lastly, scratch horizontal lines across the triangle to divide the tree into 3 or 4 sections. Since my cake is tall, I knew that I wanted 4 sections of branches. If you’re decorating a shorter 3-layer cake, you may only want 3 sections, or you can do 4 shorter sections. It’s totally up to you, depending on how you want your tree to look.
• Return the cake to the refrigerator until you’re ready to start the decorating.

Making a Buttercream Star.

• For the star, spread a small amount of buttercream (about a tablespoon) onto a piece of wax paper. The buttercream should be about 1/4 inch thick or slightly thinner. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar, and press it gently into the buttercream. Freeze the buttercream on the wax paper for about 10-15 minutes, until firm.
• Use a mini star cutter (about 1 inch wide) to cut a star from the frozen buttercream. If you don’t have a star cutter, you can just use a knife to cut a star shape. Keep the star in the freezer until you’re ready to place it on your cake.
• When your tree is done, you can carefully lift the frozen star off the wax paper with a small offset spatula, and press it onto your cake.
• In the end, I decided not to use my buttercream star, and I used a star anise instead. Either option looks really pretty on top of the cake.

Getting a Deep Green Buttercream Color.

• It can be a little tricky to get a deep, woodsy green color with food coloring, but the key is to use several different colors until you’re happy with the shade. There are so many shades of green gel food coloring available, but I’ll just explain how I achieved this shade with the colors I have on hand. All of my gel colors are the AmeriColor brand.
• With my bowl of extra buttercream, I started by adding a few drops of Forest Green. You would think from the name that it would make a deep green buttercream, but it doesn’t. Then I added a few drops of Super Black to darken it a little. Be careful with the black, as too much can make your frosting gray. From there, I added a touch of Electric Green and a small dab of Turquoise and Leaf Green. Then I just kept adding a bit more of each as needed until I was pleased with the shade of green. If you search online, there are many articles that can guide you on how to combine food colors to get the specific shade you’re after. I think that gel food coloring is very hard to measure, since some are thicker and some are thinner, so a “drop” to me might be something different to you.
• Remember that you can always add more color, but you can’t take it out if you add too much.
• Also note that buttercream darkens as it sits. So if you think it isn’t dark enough, let it sit (covered) for 30 minutes if you have the time to spare, then come back and check the color.

I’ve also done this exact Christmas tree cake design in all white, which you can see here on my Eggnog Christmas Tree Cake. How gorgeous is the white tree with gold and silver sprinkle “ornaments”?

Practice Piping

• To pipe the Christmas tree, fit a piping bag with tip #1M, and fill with buttercream.
• If you need to, practice your piping first on a piece of wax paper. Then you can scrape the buttercream back into the bowl and use it again. There are only two styles you need to master for today’s cake.
• First, practice piping a “shell”. A shell involves first pushing the piping tip forward slightly, and then pulling it back in the opposite direction. This will create a rounded look for the bottom of the branches. You’ll be piping this shape in a vertical line, from the bottom of the cake, upwards.
• Then, practice the “swoops” shown in the next image. This is sort of like a shell, but with a little swoop off to the side, before piping upwards. I used this shape for the outer branches on my cake, to give it a prettier shape.

Piping the Buttercream Christmas Tree.

• Start at the bottom of the cake, and pipe a vertical shell in the center, from the bottom edge, up to the first horizontal line on your template.
• Then pipe 1-2 more shells on either side of the middle one, to start filling in your template. To finish the bottom row, pipe a swoopy shell on each side. On the left of your Christmas tree, swoop from the left towards the right. On the right side of your tree, swoop from the right towards the left.

• Now pipe the branches on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sections, always working your way from the middle to the edge. The top branch of the tree should be the last branch you pipe.
• 4-Layer Cake Option. Note that on my cake, which is a 7-inch tall, 4-layer cake, I have 4 sections of branches. The bottom section has 7 piped branches, the next has 5 branches, the next has 4 branches, and the top has 2 branches.
• 3-Layer Cake Option. For a shorter 3-layer cake, you may only need 3 sections of branches, or you could also do 4 shorter sections. This will mean that you’ll be piping fewer branches. Your bottom section might only have 5 branches, the middle section might only have 3-4 branches, and the top section will have 2 branches.

Decorating with Sprinkles.

• Before the buttercream crusts over, decorate the Christmas tree with sugar pearls and sprinkle “ornaments”.
• I like to start by tossing some gold or silver sparkling sugar at the tree. There’s no real technique here – I just toss it and see where it lands. Then I’ll do the same with some nonpareils in red, green and white.
• Next, you can use your fingers or a pair of tweezers to individually place medium and large sugar pearls. I even had some edible gold leaf on hand that I’ve been saving for a special project, and this seemed like the perfect cake to use it on.
• Lastly, place your star on top.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the decorated cake be frozen?

Yes, you can freeze a buttercream frosted cake, including the sprinkles. Place the cake in a cake carrier or cake box, and freeze for up to 2 weeks. To thaw, place in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then let come to room temperature for several hours before serving.

How many people will this cake serve?

The 4 layer cake option will serve 16 people. The 3 layer cake option will serve 12 people.

How do you cut and serve an extra tall cake?

I’m sure you’ve seen videos of someone cutting an enormous slice of cake from an extra tall cake. If you do this, you’ll have to cut those pieces in half, because they’re just too big. The problem, though, is that after you cut a few pieces, your cake will become very wobbly, and can fall over as you cut more slices.

The best way to cut an extra tall cake is to only cut halfway down. So for example, with today’s taller, 4-layer option, you’ll cut through just the top two layers, and then serve that piece. Continue cutting pieces from the top 2 layers, cutting it into 8 pieces, until you’ve served the top half of the cake. Now you can do the same on the bottom half of the cake. You may even want to insert a cake board between the 2nd and 3rd layers, both to stabilize the structure and to assist in cutting halfway down.

Can I make the cake or buttercream in advance?

To make the cake in advance, bake the cake, and while the cake layers are still slightly warm, wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3-6 months. Let thaw to room temperature or partially chilled, then frost and assemble your cake.

To make the buttercream in advance, you can make the buttercream and store it in a lidded container or freezer bag. Refrigerate it for up to 1 week, or freeze it for up to 3-6 months. Frozen buttercream needs to be brought back to room temperature, and may need to be whipped again with your mixer for 1-2 minutes, if the texture seems dry or crumbly from the freezer.

Where do you buy your sprinkles?

I find sprinkles all over. I buy them at my local craft stores, like Joanne’s, Michaels and Hobby Lobby, and I also buy them on Amazon.

What brand of food coloring do you use?

I use Americolor gel food coloring.

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