21 decorating ideas for your homemade Christmas cake
From classic stars to snow-dusted scenes, find inspiration with our adorable ideas, perfect for turning your Christmas cake into a masterpiece!
Nothing marks the start of Christmas preparations quite like a freshly-baked Christmas cake. Whether you're a dab-hand with icing, looking for a more intricate design, or after something traditional; our Christmas cake decoration ideas are guaranteed to steal the show this festive season.
If you're looking for plain and simple guidance on how to ice a Christmas cake with marzipan and royal icing, then we recommend reading our step-by-step guide first.
One of our favourite Christmas cake decoration themes is this magical forest Christmas cake. If perfectly applied royal icing isn't your thing, this easy Christmas cake decoration uses peaks of royal icing to look like snow drifts, which couldn’t be easier to apply, as messy leaves more room for error. The trees themselves are easily piped onto baking parchment and left to set before assembling.
But if you want to have the traditional smooth white icing look, this simple iced Christmas cake is our easiest decoration. It’s covered with royal icing stars dusted in edible gold lustre. We used our spiced orange Christmas cake recipe as the base for this decoration – which requires just 15min prep time.
Another one of our favourite Christmas cake decoration ideas is our Alpine Christmas cake scene. Cutting a large slice from the cake and adding it on top, then covering it in royal icing is how we created the snowy mountain peak for the miniature gingerbread houses to perch on. Trust us, it’s much simpler than it sounds and we have a step-by-step video to guide you through the process.
But whatever Christmas cake decoration idea you choose, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The enjoyment is in the making and, of course, the eating! Merry Christmas...🎄
Midnight Lights
This easy, stylish decoration is quick to achieve, and you can adapt the sugarpaste colour and sprinkles to your taste. Once iced, the decorating takes just minutes.
Recipe: Midnight Lights
Untangle the lights!
Have fun moulding these chilly-weather creatures with their messy box of lights. You don’t have to make all the elements, just pick your favourites and let the scene unfold.
Recipe: Untangle the lights!
Frosty Robin Christmas Cake Decoration
Complete with cute sleeping robbins, this Christmas cake looks impressive but is easy to make with our step-by-step instructions.
Recipe: Frosty Robin Cake
Alpine Christmas Cake Decoration
This year’s Christmas cake takes its cue from a magical snowy mountain scene. Follow our easy step-by-step guide and impress family and friends with this pretty Alpine cake, complete with miniature gingerbread houses.
Recipe: Alpine Christmas Cake Decoration
Christmas Cake with 'Frosticle' Icing
Make your Christmas cake look like its been hit by a chilly blizzard with marbled marzipan icing and sparkling frozen snowflakes
Magical Forest Christmas Cake Decoration
Fun to make and easy to adapt. Make sure to use royal icing sugar as it sets firmer and is easier to pipe than regular icing sugar.
Silent Night Christmas Cake Decoration
Our wintry decorations can be easily adapted to make the scene of your dreams.
Recipe: Silent night Christmas cake
Snowstorm Christmas Cake Decoration
Make these Christmas cake decorations as complex or simple as you fancy - that's the beauty of a snowflake, no two are ever the same!
Recipe: Snowstorm cake
Pinecone Wreath Christmas Cake Decoration
A simple and elegant way to decorate your Christmas cake - we've even added our amaretti biscuits for extra festive flair and flavour.
Recipe: Pinecone Wreath Christmas Cake
Gingerbread Latte Loaf Cake
Keep it simple with cute pre-made gingerbread men on top of this ginger latte traybake. A great family-friendly bake for little ones to get involved with.
Recipe: Gingerbread latte loaf cake
Simple Iced Christmas Cake Decoration
This timeless design is easy to adapt to your own style; use silver spray or different shaped cutters, if you like.
Recipe: Simple iced Christmas cake
Golden Wreath Christmas Cake Decoration
This versatile wreath decoration can be lifted off the cake and used time and time again.
Recipe: Golden wreath
Iced Christmas Cake Decoration
With a delicate dusting of gold, this cake is simple, elegant and great for gifting friends this festive season.
Recipe: Iced Christmas cake
Snowflake Sensation Christmas Cake Decoration
Using ready-dyed icing makes this striking decoration really quick and easy to do. Or follow our simple instructions to mix the exact colour you want.
Recipe: Snowflake sensation
Penguins and a Polar Bear Christmas Cake Decoration
Moulding your own Christmas characters is much easier than you might think, and kids will love to get involved.
Recipe: Penguins and a polar bear
Frozen Christmas Tree Cake Decoration
This stunning cake makes an impressive centrepiece. A perfect activity for a cold Winter’s day!
Recipe: Frozen Christmas tree cake
Simple Christmas Cake Decoration
A classic for a season, we've kept the decor sophisticated with detailed pleated marzipan and glitter baubles.
Recipe: Simple Christmas cake
Step by Step Christmas Cake Decoration
It evokes such feelings of warmth and satisfaction when humble ingredients like dried fruit and spices are transformed into the perfect Christmas cake.
Recipe: Step by Step Christmas Cake
Winter Wonderland Christmas Cake decoration
Adorn a smart white Christmas cake with delicate mint icicles - this show-stopping decoration is easier to achieve than it appears.
Recipe: Winter Wonderland Christmas Cake
Easy-to-Decorate Classic Christmas Cake Decoration
This Christmas cake recipe will be the grand finale of your Christmas day.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
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