How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake

Dessert Recipe

Gather the family and make this delicious and easy mini Christmas tree cakes recipe. It's real easy to do! Take your Christmas party to the next level!

Do you need Christmas cake ideas? Then, this fun frosting filled homemade mini Christmas tree cake recipe fits perfectly in your hand.

Of course, baking brings us all together and these homemade mini Christmas tree cakes are ideal for celebrating the holidays with family and friends.

If you’re looking for more cookie ideas, check out our round-up of easy homemade Christmas cookie recipes.

Christmas Tree Cakes - Handheld Snack Treat Desserts for Holiday Parties! #DuncanHinesHoliday

Mini holiday cakes are the next big thing.

Because eliminating dishes, mess, and bringing in the finger food lets you have your cake and eat it too, without all the forks to wash!

The best part …it’s real easy to do!

How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake Handheld Christmas Tree Cakes #DuncanHinesHoliday

For these easy to make Christmas cakes, we’re using Duncan Hines® Classic Yellow Cake Mix. Because it’s delicious, convenient, and affordable—it’s only $1.00 at Walmart! Amazing!

With just 5 ingredients or less, the Duncan Hines line of baking products really brings the family together to create memories without the stress during the holidays.

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Mini Christmas Tree Cake Recipe

Gather the family and get the kids together. Then, have a blast making Christmas tree cakes in the kitchen this holiday season.

The best cakes always start with perfectly moist batter. First, begin with a deliciously moist cake tree made from Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake Mix. Then, customize it with your favorite Duncan Hines frosting and toppings.

Ingredients for Christmas Tree Cakes

  • Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake Mix
  • 1 Cup Water
  • 3 Large Eggs
  • 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • Duncan Hines Whipped Vanilla Frosting
  • Food Coloring
  • 2 Cups White Chocolate Chips
  • 2 Tablespoons shortening
  • Edible decorations
How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Ingredients to make Christmas tree cakes #DuncanHinesHoliday

Equipment Needed

Alternatively, bake the cake in a regular pan and cut the layers in half.

Instructions

Firstly, Preheat Your Own and Mix

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Then, mix the cake mix, water, eggs, and vegetable oil according to instructions on the box.

How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Cake batter for mini Christmas tree cakes #DuncanHinesHoliday

Secondly, Prepare Your Pan

Grease the sides and bottom of your sheet pan with butter and flour lightly.

Next, lay parchment paper in the bottom of your sheet pan to help release the cake when it’s time to remove it.

Then, spread the cake mix into the pan evenly.

How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Cake batter ready to go into the oven for handheld Christmas cakes #DuncanHinesHoliday

Thirdly, Bake

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Then, cool the cake completely. Next, chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Fourthly, Mix Your Frosting

While your cake is cooling, mix the frosting with green food coloring. Start with 5-10 drops of food coloring and mix until you like the color you’re creating.

How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Making green Grinch frosting for Christmas cakes #DuncanHinesHoliday

Next, Flip the Cake and Frost

After the cake has chilled, flip it onto your working surface. Then, cut it into four equal pieces.

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Frost two of the four pieces of cake and place the other two pieces on top of the frosting – making a cake and frosting sandwich. 😋

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How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Christmas Tree Handheld Cakes #DuncanHinesHoliday

Next, Cut the Shapes

Use your cookie cutters to cut your Christmas tree cake shapes.

How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Cutting cake into Christmas tree shapes for handheld dessert. #DuncanHinesHoliday

Tip: Cut all the trees and then free them from the rest of the cake. But what about the ‘scraps’?

To utilize all of the cake, even the scraps left over from cutting the tree shapes, we made dessert cups.

Just add layers of frosting and cake into small dessert cups and top with whipped topping! Easy peasy.

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Finally, Decorate the Christmas Tree Cakes

Melt white chocolate chips and shortening on your stovetop on low heat, or in your microwave.

Then, Drizzle the white chocolate over the cakes, being careful not to create too much buildup.

Finally, quickly add sprinkles before the chocolate rehardens.

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Christmas Tree Cake Recipe

See how fun and easy these little handheld holiday cakes were to make?

We love baking at our house and this is a fun way to serve the cake at your Christmas party!

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For more holiday inspiration click HERE!

So what are you waiting for?

Make sure to hop down to your local Walmart and grab a few boxes of Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake Mix (check out the cool new packaging!) along with a few tubs of their delicious frosting!

How to Make Homemade Mini Christmas Tree Cake, Duncan Hines Cake Mix at Walmart
5 from 8 votes

Christmas Tree Cakes Handheld Dessert

Handheld Christmas tree cake bites
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Equipment

  • 10"w x 15"h x 1"d half sheet cake / "jellyroll" pan
  • Christmas Tree Cookie Cutter

Ingredients

  • 1 Box Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake Mix
  • 1 Cup Water
  • 3 Large Egg
  • 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 Tub Duncan Hines Whipped Vanilla Frosting
  • 10 Drops Food Coloring
  • 2 Cups White Chocolate Chips
  • 2 Tablespoons Shortening
  • Sprinkles and/or edible decorations

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Mix cake mix, water, eggs, and vegetable oil according to instructions on the box.
  • Grease your sheet pan with butter and flour lightly.
  • Spread the cake mix into the pan evenly.
  • Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Cool the cake completely.
  • Mix your frosting with green food coloring. Start with 5-10 drops of food coloring and mix until you like the color you’re creating.
  • Cut half the sheet cake free from the pan and set aside.
  • Frost the other half of the sheet cake with a thin, even layer of frosting. Place the sheet cake halves one on top of the other to sandwich the frosting in between.
  • Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place the cake in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, up to overnight.
  • Once the cake has chilled for a while, remove it from the refrigerator and cut out your shapes using your cookie cutters.
  • Melt chocolate chips and shortening over low heat on your stovetop, or 30-second intervals at 50% power in your microwave oven.
  • Lay the cut-out cakes on a cooling rack over your sheet pan.
  • Drizzle the white chocolate over the cakes, being careful not to create too much buildup.
  • Add sprinkles before the chocolate rehardens.
  • Decorate and serve!

Notes

Make these fun Christmas tree cake dessert for your holiday party! Get more recipes by subscribing to my blog at ScrappyGeek.com
Author: Scrappy Geek
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Christmas Tree Cake – Handheld dessert recipe. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DuncanHinesHoliday #CollectiveBias

Join the Conversation

  1. candi Warner says:

    5 stars
    Sounds DELISH…. can’t wait to make these… I love recipes like this

  2. 5 stars
    Yes Jake, quite clearly. It’s the first thing you read at the top of the page. We love Duncan Hines and are proud to partner with them for this recipe and blog post! 😋

  3. 5 stars
    100% fun and tasty! 😋

  4. 5 stars
    Glad to hear they were a hit!

  5. 5 stars
    Super fun recipe!

  6. 5 stars
    We made these for our party and everyone loved them!

  7. 5 stars
    Clearly sponsored by DH…

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