Bundle Up for an Ember Days of Advent

Today is the 2nd Ember Days of Advent. Historically speaking, Ember Days were observed with fasting and abstinence. Since these days of old are no longer celebrated within the Universal Church, here in America it’s purely a personal choice.

We choose to acknowledge the important of giving thanks to the Lord above for the seasons and the abundance harvest bestowed upon us. This has nothing to do with money, prestige, station in life. God loves us all. He wants good things for His children. Good things are not of this world. All that is of this world will eventually fade away. All that is of the Lord is for ever and always. That is reason enough to give thanks.

I know we’ve shared this fun recipe before; way back in 2019. Since today is a Friday (as in a day of Abstinence for Traditional Catholics) and the 3rd Friday in December (Ugly Sweater Day) to share this fun cake again seemed perfect.

Ugly Sweater Cake
The Cake
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 cups Water
6 Eggs
2 boxes French Vanilla White Cake Mix
Kelly Green Food Coloring as needed
Red No Taste Food Coloring as needed

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 13-inch by 15-inch baking pan with Wilton’s Cake Release, or light grease and flour the pan. Set aside until ready to use.

Melt butter in the microwave in a bowl or glass measuring cup. Set aside for a few minutes for the butter to cool slightly.

In a mixing bowl, beat vegetable oil, butter and water until blended. Add eggs, one at a time and incorporate into liquid.

Add cake mix, beat 30 seconds on low, then slowly increase speed and beat 2 minutes on medium, until well blended.

Divide the batter in thirds and place in separate bowls. Tint one bowl red, the other green, leaving the third bowl vanilla-white. Pour all of the vanilla batter into prepared cake pan, smooth out.

Using a spoon, drop tinted batter throughout pan. With a knife, swirl tinted batter to create red and green “marbling” throughout cake.

Place cake in oven and bake until just done, about 30-40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes and continue to cook until cake is just cooked, checking every few minutes to avoid over-cooking.

Remove cake from oven, cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan, invert onto large cutting board, then invert again onto cake board so that cake is right-side up. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

The Frosting
1/2 cup Solid Butter-Flavored Vegetable Shortening
1 1/2 cup Butter, softened
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
8 cups Powdered Sugar
6 tablespoons Heavy Cream (approximately)
Red No Taste Food Coloring as needed
Green Food Coloring as needed

Cream vegetable shortening and butter in a mixing bowl. Add Vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, sift powdered sugar. Add sugar a little at a time to the creamed butter mixture, allowing sugar to blend completely between additions. Whip, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, until all the sugar has been added. Frosting will appear dry and stiff.

Add cream, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Remove about 1 1/2 cups of frosting and set aside. Tint remaining frosting a deep red. Using an offset spatula, spread the red frosting over the cooled cake into an even and smooth finish.

With the reserved frosting, pipe the white frosting onto the cake to create the neckline and down the middle of the sweater. Use the chocolate chips to create the buttons down the front of the sweater.

Tint any remaining frosting green for more piping as desired. It’s time to decorate.

Ugly Sweater Decorations
6 Chocolate Chips for buttons
6 Christmas Themed Marshmallows Peeps
12 Christmas Sugar Decorations (ornaments, gingerbread people, little candy canes)
16 Christmas Sugar Lights
Christmas Chocolates wrapped in Holiday Foil (optional)

Use Marshmallow Peeps to create a border at the bottom of the cake. The assorted sugar decorations can then adorn the sweater as desired. Play around, have fun.

Note: To get the decorations to hold in place on the cake, lightly brush the underside with a little clear corn syrup.

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O Key of David,
opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!