Candy Cane Sheet Cake

I like to try new recipes and I saw this recipe for a Christmas Candy Cane Cake on a blog called Preppy Kitchen the other day. It looked really pretty.
It was a delicious moist looking cake, riddled with pockets of crushed candy cane and topped with a peppermint icing and more crushed candy canes.
Candy Cane Sheet Cake

In the description of the cake, it promised to have pockets of candy cane liquid throughout, that popped in your mouth when you bit into it.
Having baked the cake now, I think that was a bit of an exaggeration, although I do have to say, that despite that, it is a very good cake!
Candy Cane Sheet Cake

It's basically a very easy cake. Super-moist and filled with lovely vanilla flavor. You would think that with the amount of crushed candy canes in the cake, the batter would be crunch, but they actually melt inside the cake.
This flavors and riddles the cake with pockets of candy cane flavor. Not a liquid as promised in the initial recipe, but still quite delicious!
Candy Cane Sheet Cake

A moist and delicious cake, it is topped with a rich peppermint flavored fluffy white frosting. More crushed candy canes are sprinkled on top to decorate it.
Of course, not everyone loved the texture of crushed candy on top of things like this, so you can totally leave them off. It's an optional decoration.
Don't worry, inside the cake the candy melts, so your cake is not filled with crunchy bits.
Candy Cane Sheet Cake

I actually bought a huge bin of crushed candy canes from Sweetpolita. They sell cake decorating supplies. They no longer seem to be available now, however.
No worries however as you can just crush regular candy canes. It's very easily done in a food processor, or in a baggie with a rolling pin. You want them to be somewhat coarse, but not overly chunky!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CANDY CANE SHEET CAKE
Pretty basic ingredients apart from the candy canes.
For the cake:

1 TBS vanilla
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup (100g) crushed candy canes (divided)
1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (180 g) butter at room temperature
½ cup (60g) dairy sour cream
6 large free range egg whites
2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour
4 tsp baking powder

For the frosting and decoration:

1 ½ cups (340g) butter, at room temperature
3 ½ cups (453g) icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp peppermint extract
¼ cup (60ml) milk
Crushed candy canes to sprinkle on top

You might wonder what you are going to do with all the leftover egg yolks. You can freeze them for later use, but I found a few delicious ideas on how to use them.Pasta Carbonara is aways a popular dish. Egg Custard is another way to use them up. I also like to beat them a few at a time into whole eggs to make scrambled eggs for breakfast, or into omelets. Don't worry about using them all up.

HOW TO MAKE CANDY CANE SHEET CAKE
It's actually a lot easier to make than you would think. Just follow the instructions and you can't go wrong.

Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch by 15-inch cake tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.Whisk the milk and sour cream together. Set aside.Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Set aside.Cream the butter using an electric mixer until really soft. Add the sugar and then cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and salt.Beat in the egg whites until thoroughly combined.Alternately beat in the flour mixture and the milk/sour cream mixture, making three dry and two wet additions. Mix to combine fully.Fold in 1/3 cup (50g) of the candy canes. Don’t overmix.Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, leveling it off. Sprinkle the remaining candy canes over top in little piles. Swirl in with a spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the cake is golden brown and tests done in the middle. (Mine actually took about 10 minutes longer.) A toothpick inserted should come out clean. Wait five minutes and then lift out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together on low, slowly pour in the milk, peppermint extract and vanilla. Beat together until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Smooth over the top of the cake evenly. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.Cut into squares to serve.

This really is a lovely cake. Nice and dense and moist. Don't use too much peppermint extract in the frosting at the risk of ending up with a cake that tastes like toothpaste! I actually left it out altogether because I was afraid that it might.
There is plenty of peppermint flavor from the candy canes themselves. This makes for a very pretty cake that would be wonderful to take to a children's school party or to a Bible study or just as a holiday dessert, cut into squares and served with a bit of ice cream!

Some other holiday cakes that you might enjoy are:
CRANBERRY BREAKFAST CAKE - Stogged full of lots of berries and toasted walnuts! Stogged as in stuffed to the hilt!It cuts like a dream and is so delicious warm . . . the berries tart and delicious against the sweetness of the cake batter . . . with that lovely nutty crunch of walnuts. Perfect with your morning cuppa! CHRISTMAS GINGER CAKE - Baked in a Bundt tin, thesmell when this cake is baking is just heavenly. It smells like what you want Christmas to smell like . . . warm, and spicy and just plain festive! Moist, delicious and very pretty.
¼¼½¾½½½½½¼’Yield: 15Author: Marie Rayner