Christmas Tree Cake for New Year's: A Step-by-Step Recipe for Making Your Own

Luxurious Christmas tree cake – an original idea for a festive New Year's dessert. The striking presentation and vibrant flavor of the sweet shortbread layers paired with the most delicate cheesecake are sure to please guests. Using our simple step-by-step recipe, you can easily make this delicious New Year's cake yourself.

Christmas Tree Cake for New Year: A Step-by-Step Recipe

Nutritional value per serving

432.6 kcal

Proteins: 8.6 g
Fats: 25.1 g
Carbohydrates: 43.2 g

*Nutritional value is calculated per 100g of ingredients

Total time: 3 hours
Time in the kitchen: 1 hour
Complexity:

It's easy and straightforward to prepare, but it does require some experience. Not everyone can do it right the first time.
Number of servings: 6

The "Yolochka" cake is another interpretation of a dessert recently introduced by Israeli pastry chef Adi Klinghofer. After she posted beautiful photos of her signature "Digit" cake on Instagram, many tried to replicate the unusual recipe. The most popular recipes turned out to be those based on honey and shortbread layers with beautifully piped cream cheese peaks.

We have previously prepared with you using a similar technology. honey cake with cream cheese and fresh fruit In the style of a Christmas wreath. Today we'll make a "Christmas Tree" cake using sabele shortcrust pastry.

This dessert is quite simple to prepare. If you plan to make this cake often, you can purchase a ready-made cake mold (solid or hollow), but today we'll be cutting out the cakes using a paper stencil, so a special mold isn't required. To ensure all the cakes are uniform, we recommend making a Christmas Tree cake stencil by drawing the desired outline on an A4 sheet of paper or thick cardboard.

You can also download a ready-made one from us A4 size Christmas tree sketch in PDF file and simply print the template for cutting on the printer.

Step-by-step recipe for the Christmas tree cake

Christmas Tree Cake – A Simple Step-by-Step Recipe for Homemade Baking

Ingredients

Servings

Ingredients for shortbread layers:

Butter

150 G
Powdered sugar

100 G
Flour

280 G
Egg yolks

2 pcs
Baking powder

6 G
Vanilla extract

1 tsp
Salt

1 pinch

Ingredients for cream cheese:

Creamy cottage cheese

600 G
Cream 33%

200 G
Powdered sugar

220 G

Preparation

Step 1

Step 1 – prepare shortcrust pastry.

Combine 150 grams of softened butter and 100 grams of powdered sugar.

Please note that the butter should be soft, not melted. The optimal temperature for whipping is 22°C (72°F).

Step 2

Beat the butter with powdered sugar until smooth, as shown in the photo.

Step 3

Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

If you use vanilla sugar instead of extract, you can add it along with the powdered sugar.

Step 4

Add the egg yolks to the mixture. Add the egg gradually. After adding one yolk, beat the butter mixture thoroughly, and only after achieving a smooth consistency, add the second.

Step 5

Mix dry ingredients (280 grams of sifted flour, a pinch of salt and 6 grams of baking powder) separately.

Step 6

Add dry ingredients to the butter base and knead into a soft shortcrust pastry.

You can knead the dough with your hands, but not for too long (about 2 minutes) so that the butter does not start to melt.

Step 7

Form a ball from the prepared dough, wrap it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Step 8

Step 2 – bake the cake layers in the shape of a spruce tree.

Divide the chilled dough into three equal parts.

Step 9

Roll out the first part of the dough into a thin cake (about 3 mm) directly on parchment (if you roll it out on another base, it will be impossible to transfer the delicate cake to the baking sheet without disturbing its geometry).

Step 10

Apply the Christmas tree cake stencil to the sheet of dough.

If there are any areas on the rolled out sheet where there is not enough dough, cut off the excess dough in places where it extends beyond the stencil, and attach it where needed, smoothing the surface with a rolling pin.

Step 11

Cut out the cake in the shape of a “fir tree” using the stencil and prick it thoroughly with a fork to prevent the dough from swelling too much during cooking.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake. 10 minutes at 160℃ (top + bottom mode without convection).

Baking time depends on the oven's characteristics, so it may vary slightly, either up or down.

Step 12

Repeat steps 9-11, baking three identical shortbread cookies in the shape of a Christmas tree.

When hot, the trees will be soft, but after they cool completely, they will become hard and crumbly, like large shortbread cookies.

The finished cakes can be stored for several days, which is very convenient if you have planned a lot of dishes for the New Year and simply don’t have time to fully prepare the cake on the day before the holiday.

Step 13

Step 2 – Making the perfect cream cheese.

You can use any cream cheese for this frosting (plain cream cheese won't work). Mascarpone cheese is also a good choice; it'll be delicious.

Place 600 grams of cream cheese, 200 grams of heavy cream (33-35%), and 220 grams of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. All ingredients should be cold.

Step 14

Beat the curd mixture with a mixer until a smooth, stable cream forms. Start beating at low speed, gradually increasing the mixer speed.

Step 15

Step 3 – Assembling the Christmas Tree cake.

Transfer the cream into a pastry bag.

Step 16

Spread a little frosting on the base and place the first layer on top. If any of your layers break, we recommend placing them on the very bottom.

Step 17

Pipe the cream cheese into balls about 1 cm high.

The spaces between the cream can be filled with jam, pieces of fruit, nuts, coconut flakes, chocolate or confiture, if desired.

Step 18

Place the second cake layer on top, press lightly, and pipe crepe balls again, as shown in the photo.

Step 19

Cover the third (top) layer of cake with cream balls as well. You can pipe the cream onto the top layer in two layers, leaving as few gaps as possible.

Step 20

All that's left to do is decorate the cake as desired. In our case, the recipe calls for marshmallows of various colors and shapes, nut halves, snowflake-shaped cookies, and round white chocolate-covered candies.

You can decorate our festive New Year's cake with a variety of sweets. The most common garnishes used in recipes include:

various types of ready-made cookies;
miniature cookies baked from leftover cake layers;
marshmallows;
nuts;
sugar beads;
candies with white or dark chocolate;
Raffaello;
fresh fruit;
cream cheese, etc., tinted in different shades with food coloring.

We invite you to evaluate the design options and decide what exactly your "Yolochka" cake will look like for the upcoming New Year.

If you prefer a soft, classic honey cake, try making this luxurious "Yolochka" cake for New Year's, using the step-by-step recipe in this video as a basis: