Martha Washington’s Christmas Tradition Lives on in our Christmas Hedgehog Cake

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During our visit to Mount Vernon for Christmas Illuminations we saw a recreation of Martha Washington’s Christmas dessert table complete with a hedgehog cake. Our guide informed us that the all white cake was made by Martha on Christmas using almonds as the quills.

Being the adventurous baker that I am, I pointed it out to my girls and suggested WE make one for our Christmas dessert. This idea was of course met with cheers.

The hedgehog cake of Martha’s time was actually not a cake at all, but a marzipan dessert decorated with almonds to resemble a hedgehog. I knew a cake would go over better here so we borrowed the appearance only from Martha’s version.

I knew I wanted to make a chocolate buttercream for the body because that’s more realistic and I am a scientist by trade.

We were really busy over the holidays and I had made a promise to myself not to kill myself trying to do all the things. So on Christmas Eve day we went for a family hike instead of staying home to make the hedgehog cake.

So on the 6th day of Christmas my family and me, made a hedgehog cake that is truly yummy!

I stuck with my favorite vanilla cake recipe that is an alteration of this yellow cake by Martha Stewart. I also added some almond extract to compliment the quills.

Baking is one of my creative outlets and I tend to get in the zone so I didn’t take pictures of each step. The recipe is very straightforward so don’t worry!

Making the Cake

You cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. This is an important step so don’t rush it.

When you add the eggs do it one at a time so they are fully incorporated quickly. After you add the extracts combine, but do not over mix.

I never believed in whisking all dry ingredients together and adding them in sections, but it does result in a better crumb and a fluffier cake all together. So once you’ve combined your cake flour, salt and baking powder set it aside and measure your buttermilk.

I almost never have buttermilk, but I use the yogurt substitution for almost every recipe calling for buttermilk and never have a problem. You can add 3/4 cup plain yogurt to 1/4 cup of milk for every 1 cup of buttermilk the recipe calls for.

Once you understand the science of baking it’s super easy to make these substitutions. In a cake the buttermilk is used for acidity and protein so a plain whole fat yogurt mixed with milk will perform just as well.

Now you can add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Next add 3/4 cups of the buttermilk. Repeat until it is all incorporated.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 until done. Preparing pans was another fiddly thing I didn’t use to believe in, but it’s worth it because the cakes come out so easily.

Make the Buttercream

While the cake is cooling you can make the buttercream. The buttercream recipe is my tried and true. It’s been tweaked for years, but now is a reliable and easy to make buttercream.

Whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners sugar gradually. Then add the extracts and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. I have substituted whole milk in a pinch.

Once the buttercream is light and fluffy take out about 1/3 of a cup for the hedgehog face. Add the cocoa powder and combine. Add the remaining 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream for consistency and whip until combined.

Assemble Your Hedgehog

To assemble the cake you are going to cut the sides off the cake to create 3 pieces. See the picture above. The middle piece is the widest. Cut the middle piece to a point for the hedgehog face by removing two small triangles from one end.

Next stack the sides you cut off on top of the base using the chocolate butter cream between pieces. Make sure the top pieces are behind where the base tapers to a point.

To make the pieces fit trim the back flush and round. You can also trim the top pieces to make a rounded shape across the top.

To make the snout pointy trim from the top of the head down to the nose slightly. Take all the trimmed pieces and add them to the sides of the base to create a slight rounding. The overall shape is similar to a teardrop.

With all the cut sections of the cake it is a good idea to do a crumb coat if you have time. Cover the whole cake in a very thing layer of chocolate buttercream to trap in the cake crumbs. Leave in the fridge to dry for about 15-20 minutes.

When you’re ready to frost your hedgehog start with the face. If you cover the face with white butter cream first you won’t drag any chocolate into your face and it will look cleaner. Then cover the back section with chocolate buttercream.

I used one chocolate chip for the nose and 2 sprinkles for eyes, but any candy or confections you have on had will work. You can also use a tiny bit of the white buttercream and color it to pipe on a face.

When your hedgehog is ready for quills, add almond slivers in rows to cover the back. The kids helped do this and we finished in no time.

We found that adding the rounded side facing forward gave the best quills down appearance, but the sticking up style, like Martha also works.

Nut-Free Alternative

My brother in law has a nut allergy so we were immediately brainstorming nut alternatives. Remove the almond extract to make the cake and buttercream nut-free. Some alternatives for the quills are pretzels, white chocolate wafers or Pocky sticks.

**Always read labels and double check ingredients with friends and family**

If you make a Christmas Hedgehog Cake we would love to see your creations! Tag us on social media using @adventuremomsdc, upload your picture to Pinterest or drop us a comment below!