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December 3, 2015 · 13 Comments

Ugly Sweater Cake

Cakes & Pies· Holidays

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Make this adorable Ugly Sweater Cake for the holidays this year! It’s easy to make using a 13×9 pan to bake your favorite cake mix, then frost with homemade buttercream and add some crazy cute details to make it the ugliest sweater cake at the party!


This Ugly Sweater Cake shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NestleHoliday #CollectiveBias

Ugly Sweater Cake

It’s Christmas time and also Ugly Sweater season! Have you ever been to an Ugly Sweater party? A lot of you most likely know what I’m talking about, but just in case, let me explain. Its a party where everyone attending wears an ugly sweater (also known as a Christmas sweater with lots of different colors and goofy holiday decorations all over it). To tell you the truth, I secretly love “ugly” Christmas sweaters and I’m so glad that these parties are in style now, so that I can wear fun, festive sweaters and not feel embarassed. (Shhhh! Don’t tell. Thanks!)

Ugly Sweater Cake

We are going to an ugly sweater party in just a couple of weeks, so I wanted to do a test run on a cute cake that looks like said garment. It’s an Ugly Christmas Cake and isn’t it adorable! I just love it! All the bright colors and cheerful designs that you’d find on the actual cloth version. So much fun. And scrumptious too! It’s a yellow cake underneath with a homemade buttercream frosting on top.

Ugly Sweater Cake

Decorating the cake was easy with NESTLÉ® BUTTERFINGER® Jingle Bells and NESTLÉ® CRUNCH® Jingles. The brightly colored foil was just the right touch for my cake. I found them at Walmart in the seasonal section. But hurry, because they won’t be there long. I also picked up a package of the NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Famous Fudge Kit. It makes making fudge so simple with everything you need in one box. Fudge is also a great gift for teachers or friends.

Ugly Sweater Cake

I used a yellow cake mix for this recipe. I prepared it according to the package instructions and baked in a greased 13″ x 9″ baking pan for about 30 minutes at 350°F. Then I let it cool completely. (It’s actually ideal if you can cover and refrigerate the cake for a few hours before decorating but you don’t have to if you’re in a hurry.)

Ugly Sweater Cake

Meanwhile, whip up this super awesome buttercream frosting. I’ve posted this recipe before, but it’s just so delicious. I think it’s especially important to use homemade frosting if you’re using a store bought mix for the cake. After mixing up the frosting, I reserved about 1 1/2 cups to keep white and then colored the rest red. I used red food coloring paste. Set aside 1/3 cup of red frosting, then use the rest to frost the cake.

Frosting-Cake

After frosting the cake in red, put it in the refrigerater for about an hour, so it will set.

Ugly Sweater Cake

You’ll need 3 pastry bags for decorating. One with a #3 tip (red frosting), one with a #5 tip (white) and one with a #1M tip (white).

Ugly Sweater Cake

Pretty NESTLÉ® BUTTERFINGER® Jingle Bells and NESTLÉ® CRUNCH® Jingles!

Ugly Sweater Cake - Mom Loves Baking

For the label of the sweater, I used a little bit of green fondant, rolled it out and cut into a small rectangle. Then I piped the word “ugly” with the red frosting. Use the #1M tip to pipe the lines to create the neck of the sweater and the middle section for the buttons. Add chocolate chips for the buttons. Use the #5 tip to pipe the strings for the “Jingle lights”. I also added some holiday candies for an added touch.

Ugly Sweater Cake - Mom Loves Baking

I’m so happy with how this cake came out. I will definitely bring it to the Ugly Sweater Party we’re going to later this month.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. You can find more creative recipes at the Flavorful Moments Pinterest Board.

Print Recipe

Ugly Sweater Cake

Ingredients

  • For the cake
  • 1 yellow cake mix prepared according to package instructions
  • For the frosting
  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
  • 3-4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract use clear vanilla flavoring for whiter frosting
  • Red food coloring paste
  • For the decoration
  • 1 package NESTLÉ® BUTTERFINGER® Jingle Bells
  • 1 package NESTLÉ® CRUNCH® Jingles
  • Chocolate chips
  • Holiday candies
  • Green fondant

Instructions

  • Prepare cake according to package instructions. Let cool completely. If possible, refrigerate covered for a few hours to make it easy to work with when frosting, but you can skip this step if you're in a hurry. Place cake on a large platter or cake board.
  • Make the frosting:
  • Beat softened butter on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if mixture is too thick. Reserve about 1 1/2 cups of frosting to keep white, then color the rest red. (Note: I used 2 heaping teaspoons of the "no taste" red food coloring paste. It looks like it isn't red enough at first, but gets darker after it sits for awhile.)
  • Reserve 1/3 cup of red frosting, then use the rest to frost the cake. Refrigerate for one hour.
  • Meanwhile place half of the white frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a #5 tip and the other half of the frosting fitted with a #1M tip. Fill a third pastry bag fitted with a #3 tip with the remaining red frosting.
  • Pipe a "V" shape at the top of cake with the #1M tip and then a line down the middle. Create string designs with the #5 tip. Roll out a 1/2" x 1" rectangle of green fondant for the label. Pipe the word "ugly" in red. Add the NESTLÉ® Jingles and holiday candies. Surround the base of the cake with the extra NESTLÉ® Jingles. Use chocolate chips for buttons.
  • Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Ugly Sweater Cake - Mom Loves Baking

This Ugly Sweater Cake Post is featured on Southern Plate Meal Plan Monday.

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Comments

  1. Heather Brummett says

    December 4, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    I am in LOVE with this cake!!! I am saving this for our Christmas party. I need to stock up on my Nestle products and get to baking. This is so much fun! Thanks for sharing! -client

    Reply
  2. Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says

    December 4, 2015 at 7:02 pm

    This is the most creative cake I’ve ever seen!

    Reply
  3. Holly says

    December 4, 2015 at 9:02 pm

    That is a neat idea to bring to a party!

    Reply
  4. Stephanie says

    December 5, 2015 at 5:28 pm

    Looks great and I’m going to make it but you never said what to do with the red frosting in the bag with the #3 tip. Lol

    Reply
  5. Mom Loves Baking says

    December 10, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    @Stephanie – It’s in there. It says, “Pipe the word “ugly” in red.” Glad you like it. Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Mom Loves Baking says

    December 13, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    Dorothy – Thanks so much!
    Holly – Definitely great for a party! 🙂

    Reply
  7. Mom Loves Baking says

    December 13, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    Thank you, Heather!

    Reply
  8. Linda says

    December 4, 2016 at 11:03 pm

    Glad I found this great idea for a cake…very cute. I have an ugly sweater party to go to next weekend and will try to make it. I don’t have fondant so my plan is to use part of a flat candy bar as the label and write “ugly” on it. I was able to find the jingles but where did you find the “holiday candies”? Any suggestions if I am unable to find them?
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Mom Loves Baking says

      December 5, 2016 at 3:00 pm

      Fun! So glad you are going to make it. I found the holiday candies at Walmart. They are made by Wilton.

      Reply
  9. Linda says

    December 10, 2016 at 11:00 am

    I made the cake yesterday. Bought a new Wilton pan because I know from past experience that cakes “fall out ” of their pans so much easier. I used white cake.
    Guess I didn’t realize a single packaged cake would not be enough batter so I had to bake 2 layers as the first cake did not come out very high. Worked out ok, I put pudding between the layers.

    I was unable to get the red frosting as deep a color as yours even though I used an entire little jar of the Wilton coloring paste.
    My Walmart did not have the little candies. I found them at AC Moore.
    I used the butter finger bells and Reese’s pieces bells.
    I did use part of a Hershey snack bar for the label and wrote “ugly ” in white frosting.
    That made it so I didn’t need to have any red frosting reserved.
    All in all, turned out well. Thanks again for the idea.

    Reply
    • Mom Loves Baking says

      December 10, 2016 at 4:05 pm

      Hi Linda, Thank you for your comments. I’m glad the cake turned out well! 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Ugly Sweater Cake Recipe - Tasty Recipedia says:
    December 13, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    […] Source: momlovesbaking.com […]

    Reply
  2. Happy Birthday, AJ! – Your Friend The Foodie says:
    January 21, 2021 at 12:03 pm

    […] Ugly Sweater Cake from Mom Loves Baking – not a birthday cake, I know, but AJ and her husband have thrown the best Ugly Sweater Christmas parties, so it’s ok. […]

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Lise! Welcome to Mom Loves Baking where I’ve been sharing recipes I love since 2013. I hope you love them too!
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