Create a festive Ugly Sweater Cake decorated with colorful frosting, sprinkles, and holiday designs. Perfect for holiday parties, dessert tables, and fun seasonal baking.
The Ugly Sweater Cake is a fun and festive holiday dessert that’s perfect for parties and family gatherings. Brightly decorated with colorful frosting, sprinkles, and playful holiday designs, this cake captures the cheerful spirit of the season.
Easy to make and customizable, it’s a delightful centerpiece for any holiday dessert table. Inspired by the classic tacky Christmas sweaters we all know and love, this cake is decorated with bold frosting designs, sprinkles, and playful patterns.
Another easy cake for the holidays is this Christmas Jello Poke Cake.
What's in this post: Ugly Sweater Cake
Why We Love This
- Festive Fun: Colorful frosting and playful decorations bring holiday cheer to any table.
- Customizable Designs: Create your own unique patterns, colors, and “ugly sweater” looks.
- Kid-Friendly Baking: Decorating is easy and fun for kids and adults alike.
- Perfect for Parties: Makes a festive centerpiece for holiday gatherings and dessert tables.
- Delicious and Soft: Moist cake with creamy frosting makes every bite irresistible.
Ingredients
Cake
- Boxed white cake mix – A simple base that’s easy to bake and decorate.
Frosting
- Unsalted butter (room temperature) – Gives your frosting a creamy, rich texture.
- Powdered sugar – Essential for making smooth, sweet buttercream.
- Clear vanilla extract – Helps keep your frosting bright white while adding flavor.
- Red food coloring – For bold holiday color accents.
- Green food coloring – Another classic Christmas color to bring your sweater to life.
Decorations
- Small peppermint candies – Great for buttons or trim.
- M&Ms – Add pops of color and texture.
- Miniature candy canes – Perfect for edging or playful shapes.
- Christmas sprinkles – Instantly festive and fun.
- Gumdrop candies – Use for lights or bold patterns.
- Pull N Peel Twizzlers – Great for borders, stripes, or sweater “stitching.”
- Mini marshmallows – Add a cozy touch or create fluffy designs.
- Mike and Ike candies – Fun for lights or colorful accents.
Jump to recipe and find the complete list of ingredients at the bottom of the post.
Variations
- Store bought frosting. If you don’t want to make homemade icing, substitute store bought instead.
- Cake Flavor. You can use any flavor you love. Some ideas to try include yellow cake, red velvet, chocolate cake and more.
Step By Step Instructions
Step 1. First, bake the cake according to the box instructions. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and remove from the baking pan. Place cake on a platter.
Step 2. While the cake is cooling, cream butter until it’s light and fluffy with an electric mixer.
Step 3. Slowly mix the powdered sugar into the butter mixture using low speed. Do this gradually and then stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Combine until smooth.
Step 4. Separate the frosting with a spoon. Save about ¼ of the icing from the large bowl in a separate bowl. Dye the remaining frosting green with the food coloring.
Then separate the frosting removed from the bowl into 2 smaller bowls. Dye one bowl red and leave the other one white.
Step 5. Carefully spread the green frosting on the top and the sides of the cake. It should be completely covered.
Step 6. Use a piping bag with a star tip and fill with the white frosting. Then pipe a V-neck shape at the top of the cake and a thick line down the center of the cake.
Step 7. Add a line of red frosting down the center.
Step 8. Finally, use the candies and Christmas sprinkles to decorate each section of the sweater differently. This makes the cake unique.
Pro Tips
- Use a rectangular cake pan: A 9×13-inch pan gives you the perfect “sweater shape” and a flat surface for decorating.
- Cool cake completely: Make sure your cake is fully cooled before frosting to prevent melting or sliding decorations.
- Level the cake if needed: For a smoother decorating surface, use a serrated knife to gently level the top of the cake.
- Tint small batches of frosting: Separate your frosting into bowls and color only what you need to avoid waste.
- Plan your design first: Sketch your sweater idea or decide on a color theme before decorating. It helps avoid last-minute changes.
- Use piping bags or Ziploc bags: Fill them with colored frosting and snip the tip for easy decorating without fancy tools.
- Keep decorations handy: Set out all candies, sprinkles, and toppings before you start for a stress-free decorating session.
- Work in sections: Frost and decorate one area at a time to keep everything neat and manageable.
- Let it chill: Refrigerate the cake after decorating to help the frosting set and keep everything in place.
Storage
Room temperature: If unfrosted or frosted with a butter-based frosting and not decorated with perishable items, the cake can be stored covered at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Refrigerate for freshness: If decorated with candy, buttercream, or cream cheese frosting, store the cake in the refrigerator in an airtight container or loosely covered with plastic wrap. Let it come to room temperature before serving for the best texture and flavor.
Avoid moisture buildup: To prevent candy decorations from getting sticky, place a piece of paper towel loosely over the cake before covering it with plastic wrap or foil.
Freeze for later: You can freeze the unfrosted cake layers by wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap and foil. Freeze for up to 2 months, then thaw at room temperature before decorating.
More Cute Christmas Desserts
- Christmas Dirt Cups Recipe
- Christmas Ice Cream Cake
- Festive Christmas Cake Pops
- Christmas Sprinkle Cookies
- Christmas Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Give this fun and festive Ugly Sweater Cake a try. It’s sure to bring smiles! Don’t forget to come back and leave a comment and star rating to let us know how it turned out!
Ugly Sweater Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 box White Cake Mix
- Ingredients to make the cake based on the package instructions.
For the Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter room temperature
- 5 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla Extract
- 3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
- Red Gel Food Coloring
- Green Gel Food Coloring
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Bake the cake based on the package instructions in a 9X13 baking pan.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.
- Place a cake board or cutting board on top of the pan and carefully invert the cake onto the board.
- Let the cake cool completely before topping with the frosting.
For the Frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until it’s creamy, light and fluffy with an electric mixer.
- Gradually mix the powdered sugar into the butter mixture ½ cup at a time. Make sure that the powdered sugar is completely mixed in before adding more.
- Turn the mixer speed to low and add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract. Beat for approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute until the frosting is a good consistency.
- Remove approximately ¼ of the icing from the large bowl. Dye the remaining frosting green with the food coloring.
- Separate the frosting removed from the bowl into 2 smaller bowls. Dye one bowl red and leave the other one white.
- Spread the green frosting onto the top and the sides of the cake until fully covered.
- Place the white frosting in a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Then pipe a V-neck shape at the top of the cake and a thick line down the center of the cake.
- Use the red frosting to pipe 2 horizontal lines on both sides of the thick white line in the center of the cake.
- Use the candies and Christmas sprinkles to decorate each section of the sweater differently to make the cake wacky and unique.
- Then the cake is ready to slice, serve and enjoy!
