It's almost that time of year again. It's almost Christmas. Every year I try to avoid thinking about it but ever since I saw one of those holiday countdown memes on Facebook a few weeks ago, it has been on my mind. There's just so much that goes into the holiday: party planning, making ornaments for my nephews, and don't forget all the shopping. Though I have to admit that I've already picked up a couple Christmas gifts. Please tell me I'm not the only one LOL. Since I love to bake, dessert has always been my responsibility for the family Christmas Eve party, so I came up with this easy Christmas Tree cake.
                                        
                                         
                                        
                                               For my Christmas Tree cake design I used an 8" square pan. After a few attempts on paper I finally created a template that worked well and was ready to start my design. 
                                        
                                        
                                               1.  I measured about 3" both ways from the upper left corner and cut across the cake creating the top portion of the tree. 
                                        
                                        
                                               2.  Next I cut the cake in half by cutting from upper right corner to lower left corner. The section above the cut will become the bottom section of the tree. 
                                        
                                        
                                               3.  I measured about 4.5" both ways from the lower right corner and cut across the cake to form the middle section of the tree.
                                        
                                        
                                               5.  From the leftover section of cake I cut out a 2.5" wide piece for the tree stump and a star for the tree top.
                                        
                                        
                                          Get the template here. 
                                        
                                        Once your cake is assembled, it's time to decorate
                                               I divided a can of frosting into 4 bowls but put the majority of the frosting in one bowl to dye it green for the tree. I dyed another bowl yellow for the star and the third bowl brown for the tree stump.
                                        
                                        
                                               The last bowl will be used to decorate the tree with garland. I chose to leave the frosting the white vanilla color but you can use any color that you want . 
                                        
                                          After frosting the cake, I used the white frosting in a sandwich bag with the corner cut off to pipe garland across the cake and then decorated it with candy. I chose to use M&Ms but you can use whatever candy you prefer. This is a great time to let the kids help. 
                                        
                                        
                                               Feeling really festive, add some green food coloring to the cake mix before baking for a green tree all the way through. 
                                        
                                        
                                              If you're not a cake fan don't worry. This design works great with brownies too. You can use cream cheese frosting instead of the vanilla. 
                                        
                                               Can't wait to see all of your cakes.  
                                        
                                        