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This White Christmas Truffle Cake is a beautiful holiday dessert that consists of a fluffy sponge layer with white chocolate truffle on top. Stunning in its simplicity, this is the ultimate decadent Christmas cake recipe!
For another beautiful Christmas cake take a look at this Cranberry Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing.
I had a very specific idea of what I wanted this White Chocolate Truffle Cake to be. But when I looked at it my mind immediately turned to Charlie Brown Christmas.
Doesn’t that little Christmas tree in the middle of the vast white remind you of the favourite childhood cartoon?
For my money, this is the ultimate in Christmas desserts. Silky smooth, decadently rich and gorgeous to look at. This cake is the perfect way to take your Christmas baking to the next level!
Chocolate truffle
Chocolate truffle is a simple form of confectionary that anyone who has tasted will fall in love with. But what is it exactly?
Taken down to its most basic form, truffle is a combination of cream and high quality chocolate. Sometimes other ingredients like butter or, as in this case, mascarpone can be added to make it even richer.
It comes from those genius chocolatiers in France and was originally found in a round ball shape and coated in cocoa powder, coconut or nuts. The hand-rolled-and-coated look is similar to the truffles found buried in forests, and gives the chocolate treat its name.
Chocolate truffle is notable for being extra rich and smooth. It’s truly a melt in your mouth treat for all sorts of special occasions!
I’m a huge truffle fan, so I made another indulgent Chocolate Truffle Cake for Christmas and a beautiful Red Velvet Truffle Cake for Valentine’s Day!
White Christmas Truffle Cake
As the name suggests, this creation is part cake, part truffle, and therefore the most luxurious thing one would expect on Christmas. The cake layer has three ingredients, as does the truffle topping. Simple and elegant.
This white chocolate truffle cake is perhaps the simplest cake I’ve ever posted on Vikalinka. It took me no longer than one hour to do…including baking.
That said, it does take some skill, the right ingredients and attention to detail. Take a look at the recipe tips and notes section below, as well as the instructional video in the recipe card to help you make this cake successfully!
Ingredients
The sponge layer only has three ingredients. Eggs, sugar and flour. It’s a simple sponge that compliments a rich truffle layer very well.
The truffle layer also consists of three ingredients. White chocolate, heavy whipping cream (US) or double cream (UK) and mascarpone.
The fat content in both cream and mascarpone is responsible for the ability of this white chocolate truffle layer to set. Using lower fat dairy and chocolate chips will result in the truffle not setting.
I’ve used white chocolate to give it that winter wonderland look. It’s best to find white chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter, rather than vegetable oil. The extra cocoa butter helps it to melt better and become silky smooth.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- I live in England and what I have found through years of blogging is that dairy products differ between countries, especially mascarpone cheese. Ours comes from Italy and is made with no stabilisers and is higher in fat, so for best results buy the highest quality ingredients you can afford.
- Also the fat content of double cream in England is 48%, which is responsible for the firmness of the truffle layer.
- If you live outside of the UK, look for heavy whipping cream with the fat content between 36-40% or higher. Anything below that will not produce the same results.
- Mix the mascarpone in after the chocolate and cream mixture cools.
- Overbeating mascarpone will result in the mixture splitting.
- The chocolate has to be measured by weight using a This is an affiliate link.kitchen scale.
- Avoid chocolate chips as they don’t melt as needed for this cake. Ideally find white chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter instead of vegetable oil for a better melt.
- Watch for the consistency of the truffle layer in the extended video in the recipe card to ensure yours sets properly and is ready to wow everyone at Christmas dinner!
- Please read the recipe instructions carefully before starting on your cake. Enjoy!
Storage and leftovers
You can make it up to two days in advance and keep it in a springform pan refrigerated. Unmold the cake before serving, decorate with the sugar pearls and serve.
Leftovers should be refrigerated in a sealed container so it doesn’t absorb smells and flavours from elsewhere in the fridge.
More Christmas dessert recipes
- Christmas Cranberry Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing
- Frostbitten Raspberry Cake
- Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake
- Raffaello Cheesecake
White Christmas Truffle Cake
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Kitchen scale
- This is an affiliate link.Pyrex mixing bowls
- This is an affiliate link.Hand mixer
- This is an affiliate link.Springform pan
Ingredients
For the cake layer
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup/65 g sugar
- 1/3 cup/45 g flour
- 1 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla extract
For the truffle topping
- 1 1/4 cups/ 300 ml double cream/heavy cream, I used 48% fat double cream
- 12 oz/350 g white chocolate, chopped, not chocolate chips (measured by weight)
- 9 oz/250 g mascarpone or cream cheese, full fat only
Instructions
For the cake layer
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Butter and dust with flour an 8″/20 cm round springform pan.
- Beat room temperature eggs, vanilla and sugar in a medium bowl for about 3-5 minutes with an electric mixer until white, foamy and triple in volume.
- Fold sifted flour in 3 additions with a spatula, be careful not to deflate the cake batter. If after the addition of the flour the volume goes down significantly, the cake will not rise properly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. The baked sponge should have risen to at least double the height of the unbaked batter. Cool on a wire rack.
For the truffle topping
- Bring the heavy cream in a saucepan to a boil. Pour the hot cream over chopped white chocolate and stir with a whisk until the chocolate in melted and completely incorporated into the cream. Let the mixture come to a room temperature. (I chill mine outside for 20-30 minutes.)
- Add mascarpone and whip with a hand mixer until smooth. If using cream cheese instead of mascarpone, whip the cheese until light and fluffy before adding cream and chocolate mixture and blending the ingredients together. Do not pre-whip mascarpone or it might separate from over-beating. Mix mascarpone and the cream/chocolate mixture together with a hand blender until combined, approximately 2 minutes. (The consistency of the truffle layer should be similar to thick sour cream.)
- Line the sides of a springform pan with parchment paper. Put the sponge layer back in the springform pan.
- Pour the truffle mixture on top of the cake in the springform pan and level it with an offset spatula. Chill in the refrigerator for at least for 2 hours or better overnight.
- Run a knife along the sides of the cake to release it from the pan, then carefully unmold it and move to a cake stand. Decorate with sugar pearls and greenery.
Video
Notes
- Dairy products vary between countries, especially mascarpone cheese. For best results, buy the highest quality ingredients you can afford.
- I live in the UK where the fat content of double cream in England is 48%,. This is responsible for the firmness of the truffle layer. If you live outside of the UK, look for heavy whipping cream with the fat content between 36-40% or higher. Anything with fat content below this level will not produce the same results.
- Mix the mascarpone in only after the cream and chocolate mixture cools.
- Over-beating the mascarpone will result in the mixture splitting.
- The chocolate has to be measured by weight. Use a kitchen scale for this.
- Don’t use chocolate chips as they will not melt as needed for this cake. Find white chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter instead of vegetable oil for a better melt.
- The extended video in the recipe card will show the consistency of the truffle layer. Watch for this to ensure yours sets properly.
- Please read the recipe instructions carefully before starting on your cake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thanks for sharing! I love how simple the ingredients list is too!
This looks so good! What an elegant and delicious dessert for Christmas! It can be decorated or garnished in so many ways too!
I made this for Christmas and got raving praise. And yes, if you live in the US it’s worth sourcing the double cream. Fresh Market carries it if you live in the Southern US. I’d like to make it for Valentines Day and dye it pink. Do you think the red food coloring will impact the sponge layer? I know it can be termperamental.
I am so happy you like this cake, Vicky. I love it so much I actually created a https://vikalinka.com/be-my-valentine-red-velvet-truffle-cake/ of it. The bottom is red velvet cake but if you just want to tint this sponge cake pink, you can. It won’t affect it but I would use a gel/paste colouring over the liquid one.
After reading through the comments I decided to use two jars of Devon Double Cream which we can get here in Vancouver as it has a higher fat content than whipping cream. I used Callebaut white chocolate and full fat cream cheese rather than risk our domestic mascarpone (the imported Italian mascarpone is four times the price). I used a stand mixer with the whisk attachment for the cake layer and the regular beater for the filling. The result was amazing! The cake was a light chiffon layer and the cream cheese layer had the texture of a Lindt Lindor truffle – smooth and buttery. I think my springform pan was a fraction too large as the cream cheese layer wasn’t as deep as in the photos but no one seemed to notice – they were too busy complementing me 😉
Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
Thank you so much for such thoughtful feedback, Karyn! You were clever to use such high quality ingredients because they make this cake!
Best cake ever. So easy to make. A little sweet, ill try to make some adjustments with mascarpone and heavy cream.do u moisten ur sponge cake?Btw love ur website.
Thank you, Olga. I usually drizzle simple syrup with various flavourings on my sponge cakes but I didn’t with this one although it’s not a bad idea!
I made it and it was decadent and wonderful! I live in the states and it turned out perfect. I used high fat mascarpone, Lindt white chocolate and high fat heavy cream. I served it for dessert on Christmas and everyone loved it! Thank you so much and I will be making it for years to come!
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing, Kristen
This was good. I’m in the US and didn’t have the same issues as other US readers.. I think the short list of ingredients makes this seem simple – but that’s a bit deceiving. It’s a little tricky. The truffle layer turned out fine – set with no problems.. The sponge layer was a little more dense than I think was intended. (I think it was the folding in of the flour – is where I went wrong). Overall, it was still good. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, the folding is where you have to be very light-handed, Joy. I am sure the sponge will be much lighter the next time.
I made the sponge layer three times, and I think the third time is as they say a charm. Here is the advice I would give to those who typically use a cake mix for everything they make. First, it is important that you beat the ingredients for the sponge on the highest speed to get the foamy consistency you are looking for. Next, you should sift the flour into the mixture to avoid getting flour lumps in the sponge. I hope I have better luck with the chiffon layer because I won’t have time to do it but once. Any tips for a beginner are welcome! I really look forward to trying this!
Great tips, Lori. I myself couldn’t agree more. Whipping the eggs until they triple in volume is crucial. Then the second hurdle is not to deflate the volume by adding the flour. So pleased you mastered this cake! It’s a great base for hundreds of layer cake variations!
Hello,
So I made this tonight and mine did not set up at all. It was a soupy mess. I mixed the eggs the specified amount of time and added my flour in three portions. My sponge was flat and did not rise. I mixed my cream cheese to light and fluffy (so I thought). When I combined the cream and chocolate mixture it did not thicken at all. Any tips or advice
Hello,
My question may have also posted elsewhere. Sorry for the duplicate post. Anyways, I am having a hard time finding double cream or heavy cream. It seems all I can find is whipping cream which is 35% fat. I’m in Canada. Any ideas on what to do? I was reading the comments and am worried that the cake won’t set properly. Also, when you say white chocolate bars are you referring to bakers chocolate?
Thanks
Hi Tanya, it’s fine to use whipping cream, plenty of other people have. Just make sure you follow the instructions properly and whip the cream and white chocolate until it thickens as the video at the top of the post shows. I recommend using a good quality chocolate bar like Lindt or anything similar as your truffle layer will taste exactly as the chocolate you use. I tend to avoid bakers chocolate.
Thanks so much for your reply. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
I made the cake for Christmas and it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it. To compensate for not having double cream, I added more marscapone cheese. I want to say that I used about 500g or so. I eyeballed it until the mixture peaked. It worked perfectly and the cake kept its form. Will definitely make it again.
Thanks again.
Sounds amazing and way to be resourceful, Tanya!
In Western Canada our whipping cream, 32% fat goes through standard pasteurization methods. I have noticed in the US that most of the cream is “ultra pasteurized to greatly extend the “freshness” to 60 days; however, this could change the properties of the product. Perhaps this is causing so many problems for Americans trying your recipe. Here is a link with more info.
http://archive.jsonline.com/features/food/why-do-some-recipes-call-for-heavy-cream-not-ultra-pasteurized-b9981042z1-227440501.html
That is very interesting, Diane. Thank you for sharing!
Quick question – do you use cold or room temperature mascarpone/cream cheese?
I use cold mascarpone. If using cream cheese it could be room temperature.
I live in Michigan and I’ve made this cake twice I used ultra pasteurized heavy whipping cream that I purchased at Kroger I also used white chocolate bars, and marscapone cheese. It turned out beautiful and tasted great thank you for the recipe
My pleasure, Chris!!