Once you’ve trimmed up the tree, you can have fun adding a string of lights to this pretty Christmas lights cake. A wonderful dessert you can serve after your holiday dinner, this twinkling cake is sure to bring the beauty of the season to your holiday table.

Christmas Lights Cake

Once you’ve trimmed up the tree, you can have fun adding a string of lights to this pretty Christmas lights cake. A wonderful dessert you can serve after your holiday dinner, this twinkling cake is sure to bring the beauty of the season to your holiday table.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 4

Total Time 15

Course Dessert

Equipment

Ingredients

Royal Icing Lightbulb Decorations

Cake & Frosting

Favorite cake mix or recipe (we suggest this Perfect Basic Yellow Cake, Classic White Cake or this Chocolate-Chocolate Cake)
White Decorator Icing
Rose Icing Color
Metallic Cake Paint
White Sparkling Sugar

Instructions

Step 1: Prepare Royal Icing

We’ll start off with the fun part, making decorations! These lightbulb decorations will need time to dry, so be sure to do this step at least one day in advance.
Using meringue powder, prepare a batch of royal icing to thin/flooding consistency. Use icing colors to tint icing as follows:
- 1/3 cup Navy Blue icing (combine Sky Blue and Violet icing colors)
- 1/3 cup Bright Red icing (combine Christmas Red and Lemon Yellow icing colors)
- 1/3 cup Lime Green icing (combine Lemon Yellow and a touch of Kelly Green icing colors)
- 1/3 cup Teal icing (combine Sky Blue and Kelly Green icing colors)
- 1/3 cup Bright Orange icing (combine Orange and a touch of Lemon and Red-Red icing colors)
- 1/3 cup Ivory icing
Reserve remaining icing white.

Step 2: Pipe Lightbulb Decorations

Cover a cake board with parchment paper. Prepare one decorating bag with tip 1 and white icing.
Prepare six decorating bags with tip 3 and fill separately with Navy Blue, Bright Red, Lime Green, Teal, Bright Orange and Ivory icing.
Working with one color at a time, pipe 24 puddle dots on the parchment paper-covered board, about 3/8 in. wide. Then, use a toothpick to pull one edge of the dot to create a lightbulb shape.
Immediately use the white icing in the tip 1 bag to pipe a small dot of white on the side of each lightbulb, creating a highlight. Use a toothpick to elongate the white dot down the side of the lightbulb.
Use the white icing to also pipe a little dot at the top of the lightbulb (opposite the point).
Repeat with all 6 icing colors for a total of 144 bulbs (24of each color). Let your icing bulbs dry at room temperature overnight.

Step 3: Bake and Stack Your Cake

Follow the instructions on your recipe to make four 6 x 2 in. cake layers.
Once cooled, trim and stack your cake layers using white buttercream frosting. Your cake should be about 7 in. high.

Step 4: Ice and Decorate!

Using Rose and Kelly Green icing colors, tint 3 cups buttercream Pale Pink, then ice your cake smooth with the Pale Pink frosting.
Prepare a decorating bag with tip 2 and white buttercream. Pipe 4 scalloped lines around your cake. There should be about 1 ¾ in. between each row.
To get even scallops, use a toothpick to lightly divide the top of your cake into 12 sections. Once your scalloped lines have been piped, you can use a spatula to smooth out the top of your cake again.
Using a decorating brush and gold metallic cake paint, paint the dot at the top of all the lightbulbs gold. Let the paint dry for about 5minutes.
Once the paint has dried, attach the lightbulbs to the scalloped lines.
Finally, add a border of swirls around the top of your cake by preparing a bag with tip 1M and white buttercream. For a little sparkle, top the swirls with sparkling sugars.

Notes

Helpful Hints:

To save even more time, make your lightbulb decorations weeks or even months in advance. Once dried, store your lightbulbs in a cardboard cake box at room temperature until you’re ready to use them.
Do not refrigerate or freeze your decorations, as the moisture could cause your decorations to bleed or melt. They will stay fresh for up to 6 months stored at room temperature!

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How to Make String of Christmas Lights Cake