Chocolate Buttercream Christmas Tree Cake


Emma and I made a Chocolate Buttercream cake for Mike's birthday.   Mike is a fan of the classics - chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies and brownies - so for his birthday, we thought a classic chocolate cake with homemade buttercream would be perfect.


We've become fascinated by Culinary Dots cakes - I've never seen anything quite like them.   She recently made a cake with a Christmas Tree in the center that Emma thought would be fun to try.  I made the cake and frosted it with the buttercream (recipe below), and she made the Tree 100% by herself.



 She started with an ice cream cone as the base, then added green buttercream.

While Culinary Dots makes vegan treats... we used a boxed cake mix and this wonderful Homemade Chocolate Buttercream.  I made the cakes in these 8" cake pans.


8" x 3" Cake Pans, $8










Chocolate Buttercream

1 stick of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of cocoa
1/2 cup of milk (plus more)
2 sticks of butter, softened
5-6 cups of powdered sugar (plus maybe more)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a glass bowl, melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave.  Add cocoa and milk and microwave for 1 more minute, stir to mix.

In a mixer, cream 2 sticks of butter and powdered sugar.  Add cocoa mixture slowly.  Add vanilla.   Mix on high for 2 minutes.  Add more milk or powdered sugar until the desired consistency.





We made a simple butter frosting for the green frosting and decorations.

1 stick of softened butter
2 cups of powdered sugar

Creamed together until smooth.

We topped the entire cake with a sprinkling of powdered sugar snow.


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