Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake
This Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake is an easy, fun, and festive way to celebrate the holidays! I use organic Giggles and activated charcoal to make a naturally colored holiday cake (no artificial colors needed!).
If you are looking for more festive holiday treats, try Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies, Tree Sugar Cookies Without Artificial Colors, Maple Caramel Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie Bars, Gingerbread Caramel Sauce, or Chocolate Peppermint Christmas Tree Cupcakes.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake
- Ready In: 45 minutes
- Makes: 9 servings
- Main Ingredients: butter, light brown sugar, molasses, cake flour
- Flavor Profile: cozy gingerbread with tangy cream cheese frosting
- Dietary Info: gluten free swap available
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why You’ll Love It: naturally colored Christmas lights snack cake
Summarize & Save This Content On
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No Artificial Colors: This Christmas Lights Snack Cake is free of artificial colors as I use Giggles in place of the traditional M&M's. If you prefer a chocolate candy on top, try Unreal Milk Chocolate Gems as these are free of artificial colors and non GMO. But, their colors are a bit more pastel, so I don't like them as much for this cake as the Giggles have traditional red and green for Christmas.
- Easy and Festive: I love holiday recipes that are both easy and festive and this checks both boxes! Kids can even help decorate this naturally colored Christmas cake.
- Simple: This snack cake is a simple one layer cake that is no fuss. I use a 9×9-inch baking pan, but an 8-inch also works. I make this square, but you can also use a 9-inch or 8-inch round pan too.
I am so excited to share this Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake with you guys today! This cake is so damn cute! And this is a Christmas Lights Cake with no artificial colors, so it’s one you can all get behind.
I made this naturally colored Christmas cake using one of our favorite candies — Giggles. And if you don’t know what Giggles are, they are basically organic Skittles. But they taste a million times better than Skittles — and the green one is not lime, it’s green apple!
In this naturally colored Christmas cake, I use Giggles turned on their sides to mimic Christmas lights. While most people use M&Ms, this option is much better as Giggles are made with organic ingredients and plant based dyes.
If you love holiday decorating, but don't love harmful ingredients, check out some of my other festive desserts! Easy Christmas Present Brownies, Whimsical North Pole Cupcakes, Christmas Eve Cake, Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel Bark, or Festive Gingerbread Snack Cake Without Frosting are all festive treats you'll love!
Ingredients
- Light Brown Sugar: Homemade Light Brown Sugar is what I always use. You can use store bought as well.
- Molasses: You'll need organic blackstrap molasses for this cake. Check out the post Difference In Molasses and Blackstrap Molasses for more info on the different types of molasses.
- Heavy Cream: I use heavy whipping cream in the cream cheese frosting to make it extra fluffy, but you can also use milk.
- Cake Flour: I like to use my Homemade Organic Cake Flour, but store bought also works.
- Spices: I use my holy trio for gingerbread, which is cinnamon, ginger and cloves. You can also use Homemade Gingerbread Spice Mix in place of all three spices (or your favorite store bought gingerbread mix too).
- Giggles: I use YumEarth Organic Giggles in place of M&M's.
- Activated Charcoal: This Food Grade Activated Charcoal is perfect for making the black string of lights. If you don't have this, you can use black cocoa powder, Dutch cocoa powder or even blue or green spirulina for a colored strand.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker's Tips for Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- You can make this larger by doubling the recipe and using a 9×13-inch pan for a larger sheet cake. Just be sure to bake this a little longer (about 30 to 40 mintues).
- If you want to use chocolate candies for the lights instead, you can. I recommend UnReal Milk Chocolate Gems for naturally colored “M&Ms”.
- Make sure to store extra cake in an airtight container in the fridge. This cake has to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting.
- You can use this decorating technique on any sheet cake that you like. Try it on top of Peppermint Bark Snack Cake or Eggnog Sheet Cake for other holiday flavors if you want something different than gingerbread.
- Gluten Free — Replace the cake flour with 212 grams (1 ⅓ cups) gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
How to Make a Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper. To make the batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, brown sugar, cane sugar, molasses, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on low until combined and the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, cake flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, baking powder, and sea salt in that order.
- Mix on low until combined. With the mixer on still mixing, slowly add in the heavy whipping cream. Continue to mix until you have a smooth cake batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the cake pan. (If you're baking at high altitude, be sure to check the Notes at the bottom of the recipe for high altitude baking instructions).
- To make the icing: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and then speed mixer up to high and mix for 1 minute, or until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle and mix again until light and fluffy.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of icing in a separate bowl and add the activated charcoal to it. Mix together to combine until you have a black icing. Transfer to a piping bag with Ateco tip #6 (or you can use a piping bag or zip bag with no tip at all, just cut a very small hole).
- Frost the cake with the white icing and spread evenly.
- To decorate: Pipe a string of swirls and loops (get creative and freeform!) on the entire cake. Using the Giggles, place Giggles into the cake on the black lights string.
- Place the Giggles on their sides so they look like lights, do not place them flat as then they will look too round and they won’t look like lights.
- Continue until you have lights everywhere you want!
Looking for my tee shirt? Shop the Butter College Tee Shirt.
Recipe FAQ's
Yes, if you don’t have food grade activated charcoal, you can use cocoa to color the Christmas lights string. It will just be a brown instead of black. You could also use green or blue spirulina for a colored strand.
If you want a larger cake, such as a 9×13-inch pan you can double this cake recipe and then bake it in a 9×13-inch pan. You’ll have to bake it longer, about 35 to 40 minutes at sea level and 30 to 35 minutes at high altitude.
Yes, because this has a cream cheese icing this cake should be stored in the fridge.
Yes! You can make this cake ahead of time. This cake can be made a day in advance if you are making it for a holiday party or dinner. You can bake, frost, and decorate this cake the day before. Just be sure to store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it. I would also recommend taking it out of the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes prior to serving so it comes to room temperature.
More Holiday Dessert Recipes
We Love Organic Feedback!
Thanks a waffle lot for stopping by 🧇 If you loved this recipe, sprinkle some love by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review — it really helps me organically reach dog loving foodies like you! I personally read and appreciate every message!
Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and join John John and me in the kitchen for step by step recipe videos! And subscribe to our newsletter for new and seasonal recipes!
Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer
- 9×9-inch Baking Pan
- Piping Bag
- Ateco Tip #6
Ingredients
Batter
- 113 grams salted butter (softened)
- 113 grams light brown sugar (packed)
- 57 grams cane sugar
- 85 grams blackstrap molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 212 grams cake flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream (room temperature)
Icing
- 57 grams salted butter (softened)
- 57 grams cream cheese
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 284 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 2 teaspoons food grade activated charcoal
- YumEarth Organic Giggles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- To make the batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, brown sugar, cane sugar, molasses, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, cake flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, baking powder, and sea salt in that order. Mix on low until combined. With the mixer on still mixing, slowly add in the heavy whipping cream. Continue to mix until you have a smooth cake batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the cake pan.
- To make the icing: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and then speed mixer up to high and mix for 1 minute, or until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle and mix again until light and fluffy.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons of icing in a separate bowl and add the activated charcoal to it. Mix together to combine until you have a black icing. Transfer to a piping bag with Ateco tip #6 (or you can use a piping bag or zip bag with no tip at all, just cut a very small hole).
- Frost the cake with the white icing and spread evenly.
- To decorate: Pipe a string of swirls and loops (get creative and freeform!) on the entire cake.
- Using the Giggles, place Giggles into the cake on the black lights string. Place the Giggles on their sides so they look like lights, do not place them flat as then they will look too round and they won’t look like lights.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- You can make this larger by doubling the recipe and using a 9×13-inch pan for a larger sheet cake. Just be sure to bake this a little longer (about 30 to 40 mintues).
- If you want to use chocolate candies for the lights instead, you can. I recommend UnReal Milk Chocolate Gems for naturally colored “M&Ms”.
- Make sure to store extra cake in an airtight container in the fridge. This cake has to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting.
- You can use this decorating technique on any sheet cake that you like. Try it on top of Peppermint Bark Snack Cake or Eggnog Sheet Cake for other holiday flavors if you want something different than gingerbread.
- Gluten Free — Replace the cake flour with 212 grams (1 ⅓ cups) gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Nutrition
The Bake Shop
Visit The Bake Shop for foodie inspired tees, sweatshirts, and accessories. Find my favorite kitchen tools (with discounts!) in the Kitchen Shop. And shop our collection of food inspired dog accessories too!
Love this festive and delicious cake, it’s also so fun to decorate!