Are you loving this winter season, yet? ❄️ yeah, us either 🤣. What we do look forward to, though, is the first snow that sticks. I feel like there is nothing more pretty than a fluffy white coating outside. In the meantime, we are finding some ways to stay warm other than hoarding cozy blankets and slippers! We have two things here for you today. The first being a fun delicious winter cake that is chocolate flavored with peppermint oil topped with a sugar-free vanilla frosting. The second short-read we have for you is a cute idea to make your candle tops look a bit more wintery. Both are featuring a forest-y look 🌲. We hope this read brightens your day and inspires you to create some fun at home, as well.
But first, cake..
Skimming the aisles in our grocery store, I did keep in mind that I want more time for decorating and less time for thinking about baking a cake, ha. I think it’s great if you make your cakes from scratch, but I leave that for really special moments like birthdays or holidays. This time, it was just for fun. We went with:
• 1 box Duncan Hines Swiss Chocolate Cake Mix. No rhyme or reason 🍫, just fit the season.
• Two 15 oz packages Pillsbury Dough Boy Sugar Free Vanilla Frosting
• Peppermint Flakes for Garnish (optional)
• 1/2 bag Ghirardelli White Chocolate Pieces (for the feathers)
• 2 pieces are parchment paper about 12 inches long
We literally followed the instructions on the back for the traditional cake (and if you want a less fat version they have directions for that on the back of the box.) To make this more interesting, we added in a peppermint baking oil that our craft store carries in the baking section. Since it is a baking oil and not an extract it’s perfect to keep in your home for events like this (and for coffee). This oil is sooo concentrated you need literally 2 drops added into the baking mix. That’s it.
After your cake cools off, slice into two equal pieces horizontally 
Place each half on its own plate 
On bottom half of the cake, spread about 1 cup or more of the sugar-free frosting. Sprinkle some peppermint flakes. 
Place the other half of cake on top. Spread about 1.5 cups frosting to cover the entire cake now and to fill the gaps. This is a crumb layer, so crumbs mixed into the frosting is okay. We will coat it again eventually. 
Doesn’t have to look perfect 🥰 
Finally, take out of the fridge, and coat entirely
with a second layer of frosting.
Let your cake set in the fridge while you make your chocolate feathers!
White Ghirardelli Chocolate Feathers
Grab your 1/2 bag of Ghirardelli white chocolate morsels and place into the microwave for about 30 seconds, check to see if they are melted. And if not, microwave another 15 seconds. Make sure you mix them to see if they are melted! Once they are, mix them until all of the pieces are melted. At this time if you want to add in a drop of peppermint oil, go for it!
Then grab your two pieces of parchment paper, and watch the following video 🥳
I learned how to make the feathers with this video:
The feathers are fun to make, so take your time. We also made a house outline because why not?
Now onto our mini forest candle topper!
• find some cute mini trees at your craft store
• get your favorite candle!
Glue those cute mini trees on the lid, and create the cutest little forest.
Thank you for reading!!
