Merry Christmas!

This year, my parents waited until everyone drove into town to decorate the house for Christmas. Two days before, we tangled the tree in three strands of colored lights and haphazardly scattered a small shoebox of ornaments around its branches. We hung the handmade stockings a few hours before Santa’s arrival and dug around the kitchen cabinets to pull out the dusty holiday Spode dishware. But we neglected to carry the Christmas wreath down from the attic to decorate the front door.  

 

Although we mainly enter the house through the garage, I still felt like something was missing without that wreath on the front door. Maybe I had embodied the Grinch and just needed to find my holiday spirit, but I didn’t want to have Christmas without a wreath. Instead, I made my own wreath with flour and sugar (for the table, not the front door!).

 

 

Christmas Wreath Cake

modified from CL’s Classic Yellow Layer Cake

serves 10-12

This cake is moist enough that it doesn’t need frosting, but feel free to add some decorative vanilla frosting “snow” around the base to hide any broken edges.

1 large pomegranate, seeds removed

1⅔ c. sugar

½ c. butter, softened

1 tbsp vanilla

3 eggs

2¼ c. flour

2¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1¼ c. fat-free milk

green, red, and blue food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Generously coat a 12-cup bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour.
2. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl for 3-5 minutes, or until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Add ⅓ of flour mixture to egg mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Add half of milk, and mix until just incorporated. Repeat with next ⅓ of flour, remaining milk, and finishing with last ⅓ of flour.
4. Gradually add 25 drops of green food coloring, 5 drops of blue, and 3 drops of red, stirring well. Gently fold in the pomegranate seeds, and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 55-65 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (I under-baked mine at around 50 min, so check frequently!) Cool in the pan for 15 min before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.