The Quick Decorating Trick To Get A Perfect Proportioned Reindeer Cake

This quick decorating trick transforms cake into a merry Christmas treat. With just a few simple toppings you can create a dessert that will delight children and impress adults too. The idea is to place candy, pretzels, and icing in a circular pattern so that when the cake is cut, each equal slice looks like Santa's reindeer. Make this cute and clever cake for parties, and you'll go down in history as everyone's favorite holiday baker.

For the base, you can use just about any kind of frosted cake, from vanilla with buttercream to classic glazed chocolate — you only need two ingredients to make chocolate ganache. Make it extra festive with chocolate peppermint, black forest cherry, gingerbread spice, or bring in the Christmastime color with a vibrant red velvet cake.

Fill a medium-tipped piping bag with icing and draw four equidistant crisscrossing lines across the top of the cake — this outlines eight perfectly portioned slices. Use a contrasting color here; for example, on chocolate cake, use royal icing or melted white chocolate. Place seven brown M&M's and one red one inside the triangular spaces where the lines intersect. These represent noses, including one for Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer. Above these, put two edible googly eyes on each slice. To make antlers, snap a mini pretzel in half then push two per slice into the cake near the rim. To slice the cake, use the lines as your guide ... Each piece will have an adorable face looking ready to pull Santa's sleigh.

While this trick is a piece of cake, you can also do it with pies, as well as cheesecake, cookie cakes, and brownies. For a nearly effortless version that's just the thing for last-minute gatherings, you don't even have to bake — just use store bought. There are a number of ways to upgrade canned frosting too. All you'll need to do is add the reindeer details, and you'll have an adorable dessert in minutes.

While you can decorate your cake before you cut it, it's much easier to slice first and then add the embellishments. To do this but still preserve the magic of revealing the individual faces, slice the cake but leave it intact in its original shape, either in its pan or on a cake stand, then add the toppings. This way you can still show off the entire cake and then surprise everyone with their own reindeer when it comes time to serve. If you're baking your own, this process can be simplified by using a scone pan, which bakes individual slices.

For a bit of freshness, instead of M&M's try blueberries and one raspberry to make the noses. Green and red Maraschino cherries are fun for this too. Green and red glittery sprinkles around the outside will amp up the Christmassy cheer. Turn those pretzels into snow-tipped antlers by dipping them in white chocolate, and for a spectacular finishing touch, display your reindeer cake on a bed of edible two-ingredient fake snow.