Five days until Christmas and I am SO ready to pull out Santa’s delicious Danish cookies with the pretty red and green sugar coating and the extra delicious gingersnaps rolled in powdered sugar and that are oh-so-perfect when dipped in milk…

But since those are Santa’s and I don’t want them all eaten before Christmas eve. My kids would be devastated. So I’ll wait. But only if there’s cake involved. But not just any cake, it has to be a Christmas Sparkle Cake. I found the idea through one of my favorite food bloggers and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since!

I used boxed white cake for this recipe. Normally I like to make it from scratch but this was so much easier and I have zero regrets. But I did add vanilla and almond extract to the batter, like the author of the recipe suggests and you really need that almond in there. Almond is such an under-loved flavor that really needs a bigger spotlight. I also made my own cream cheese frosting recipe which definitely elevated the flavor.

My favorite part of this cake is the sugared decor! It seriously elevates this cake to unprecedented levels of glamour, fancifulness, and most importantly, indulgence!

I could not find cranberries at my grocery store so I used raspberries instead but instead of letting them simmer in the simply syrup like you would the cranberries, I simply rolled them in sugar and they were stunning.

Also, I didn’t have any fresh rosemary on hand so I actually clipped a piece of juniper from wild juniper bush that was growing by my house and it turned out so very pretty. I did let it soak in simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, simmer on the stovetop until sugar is dissolved). Then I tossed it in some sugar.

Also, because I wanted the cakes divided into lots of miniature cakes to deliver as gifts I baked them in my glass Pyrex containers that I use as Tupperware to store food in the fridge. They actually worked better than my actual cake pans! I may just start using those instead for small cakes from now on. Minimalism for the win!!

Finally, take some of the sugar from the bowl that was used to roll the sugar and sprinkle it all over the cake. it looks just like a winter landscape that dissolves quite deliciously on the tongue!