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Peppermint Bundt Cake

Last Updated On: November 29, 2023 | Published: November 28, 2023 by Melissa Diamond | 4 Comments
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This delicious Peppermint Bundt Cake is so moist, flavorful, and is perfect for the holidays!

The recipe is based in part on our white velvet cake, and has a soft, fine crumb and added richness from the cream cheese in the cake batter.

Sliced Peppermint Bundt Cake on a pedestal with chocolate glaze.

We added swirls of red to the cake batter to represent the light peppermint flavor of this cake, and topped it off with a rich chocolate glaze and sprinkling of crushed candy canes. You will love this festive, flavorful cake!

Why we Love It

There are so many reasons to love this Peppermint Bundt Cake! Here are just a few:

  • Moist and Soft with a fine crumb
  • Delicious peppermint flavor
  • Easy Glaze
  • Beautiful when sliced!
  • Bundt Cakes are not only delicious, but so quick and easy to decorate!

A Look at our Ingredients

Here's a quick look at the ingredients for our Peppermint Bundt Cake! You can find the full listing in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Peppermint Bundt Cake Ingredients.

Cake Flour is a popular choice for cake recipes because of its lower protein content. It results in less gluten formation, which makes for a softer, more tender cake.

Cream Cheese is a popular ingredient in several of our recipes! It adds richness and gives the cake a wonderful texture. (We recommend full fat cream cheese)

Unsalted Butter is our preference because it allows us to know exactly how much salt we are adding to the cake. (Some brands of salted butter contain more salt than others.)

Egg Whites make for a delicate crumb and also a lighter shade. As you can see from our photo, carton egg whites are fine! See instructions on the back of the box for the proper amount per egg white.

Buttermilk is a popular addition to many of our cake recipes! The boost of acidity softens the strands of gluten, which makes for a more tender cake. We recommend full fat.

How to Make Peppermint Bundt Cake

You can find the full, printable Peppermint Bundt Cake recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a bundt pan or tube pan.
  • Separate your eggs, saving only the 6 egg whites needed for this recipe. Set them in a bowl to the side. (If using carton egg whites instead, pour the appropriate amount of egg whites into measuring cup and set aside.)
Carton Egg whites poured into a measuring cup.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
Dry ingredients in a mixing bowl with whisk.
  • In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Set aside.
Wet ingredients for peppermint bundt cake.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
  • Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
Mixture of butter, cream cheese, and sugar in mixing bowl.
  • Mixing on low speed, add the 6 egg whites one at a time (it's fine to estimate), mixing 3-5 seconds to incorporate after each addition.
Batter mixture after adding egg whites.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet).
Batter for Peppermint Bundt Cake.
  • Mix the batter just until well combined.
  • Reserve 1 ½ cups of batter and place in a small bowl. Tint this batter red.
Reserved batter, tinted red in a small bowl.

Marbling the Batter

  • Add the batter to the prepared bundt pans. I alternated between white batter and red batter. I had three "layers" of white batter and two of red. Layer however you like, this is a forgiving process.
  • Tap the pan on the counter to level out the batter and then run a knife through the batter a few times to swirl the colors together.
Marbling the cake batter in the pan with a knife.
  • Bake at 325 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. The cake should spring back when the top is lightly touched. Baking times may vary. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before turning out.
Peppermint Bundt Cake, cooling in pan on a wire rack.

For the Chocolate Glaze

We love the combination of chocolate and peppermint! We decided to add a simple chocolate glaze to the top of this cake for flavor and to dress it up a bit! (An alternate would be the peppermint glaze used in our Red Velvet Marble Cake.)

The chocolate ganache glaze is prepared by combining chocolate and heavy cream (or whipping cream) in a microwave safe bowl. (We used Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips.)

Heat in small increments until the chocolate has almost completely melted. Then, stir until smooth. The glaze will thicken as it cools. Allow to cool to desired amount for spreading or drizzling over the cake. Then, top with crushed candy canes!

Sliced Peppermint Bundt Cake with red swirls. Topped with chocolate glaze and crushed candy canes.

Recipe FAQs

Yes! Just as with most of our cake recipes (from Lemonade Cake to Chocolate Bundt Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake and more), this cake freezes beautifully.

After turning out the cake, allow to cool until slightly warm (or room temperature). Wrap in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil and freeze. The cake will stay fresh for up to three months!

The day before you need the cake, move it from the freezer to the refrigerator, still wrapped. The next morning, move it to the kitchen counter and bring to room temperature. You can unwrap once condensation is no longer forming on the foil. Decorate as usual.

The cake can sit out at room temperature for 1-2 days in an airtight container or under a cake dome. Beyond that, move to the refrigerator for freshness for a day or two more. (Pound cakes never last long at our house!)

If you do refrigerate, the cake should be warmed to room temperature before serving. Cakes have the best flavor and texture at room temperature.

Buttermilk adds acidity to the cake batter which softens the strands of gluten, resulting in a softer, more tender cake.

Many of our favorite cakes call for buttermilk, including our Vanilla Buttermilk Cake and Buttermilk Pound Cake recipes.

The peppermint flavor is unmistakeable without being overpowering. Our original peppermint layer cake recipe calls for 1 ½ teaspoons of peppermint extract--but for this recipe, we bumped it to 2 teaspoons since we do not have the benefit of peppermint frosting between cake layers.

Cream cheese is a "surprise ingredient" in many of our cake recipes. We often refer to these as velvet cake recipes because of their velvety soft texture.

Cream cheese adds richness as well as a small boost of acidity which helps to soften the strands of gluten in the cake batter (resulting in a more tender cake).

Some of our most popular cakes that contain cream cheese are our Lemon Velvet Cake, Vanilla Velvet Cake, and Strawberry Cake, but there are many more! You can find them in our roundup of velvet cake recipes!

More Christmas Cake Recipes

Here are a few more Christmas cake recipes that belong on your "must bake" list! Some of our favorites are red velvet cake, white chocolate peppermint cake, carrot cake, and gingerbread cake.

Make sure to check out our full collection of cake recipes! You'll find delicious cake recipes from scratch as well as cake mix recipes.

If you are interested in Cake Decorating ideas, we have hundreds of free video tutorials to share with you for all sorts of occasions! You'll find birthday cake ideas, Christmas cake designs, elegant cakes, and more!

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Sliced Peppermint Bundt Cake with red swirls. Topped with chocolate glaze and crushed candy canes.

Peppermint Bundt Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist Peppermint Bundt Cake with swirls of red and a rich chocolate glaze is the perfect holiday dessert!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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Ingredients

  • 8 oz package cream cheese, softened (226g)
  • 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (168g)(Should be cool enough to hold its shape but soft enough to easily dent when pressed.)
  • 2 cups sugar (400g)
  • 6 egg whites room temperature (If using carton egg whites, see back of carton for details on amount per egg white)
  • 3 cups cake flour- see Notes for substitution (342g)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder (8g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 1¼ cup buttermilk - See Notes for substitution (296g)
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil (we used canola oil) (64g)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract (6g) (If a lighter shade of crumb is important to you, you can use clear imitation vanilla extract.)
  • 2 teaspoons Peppermint Extract (8g)
  • Red Coloring Gel to tint 1 ½ cups of reserved batter liquid red food color is fine also

For the Chocolate Glaze

  • 4 oz dark or semi sweet chocolate (we used chocolate chips)
  • 2 oz heavy cream or whipping cream

Decoration

  • *Crushed Candy Canes Optional- We sprinkled them on top of the cake.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a bundt pan or tube pan. (We used a 15 cup pan with a baking capacity of 12 cups.) See notes.
  • Go ahead and separate your eggs, saving only the 6 egg whites needed for this recipe. Set them in a bowl to the side. (If using carton egg whites instead, pour the appropriate amount of egg whites into measuring cup and set aside.)
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
  • In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
  • Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
  • Mixing on low speed, add the 6 egg whites one at a time (it's fine to estimate), mixing 3-5 seconds to incorporate after each addition.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet).
  • Mix the batter just until well combined- be careful not to over-mix.
  • Reserve 1 ½ cups of batter and place in a small bowl. Tint this batter red.

For the Marbling Step

  • Add the batter to the prepared bundt pan. I alternated between white batter and red batter. I had three "layers" of white batter and two of red. Layer however you like, this is a forgiving process.
  • Tap the pan on the counter to level out the batter and then run a knife through the batter a few times to swirl the colors together.
  • Bake at 325 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. The cake should spring back when the top is lightly touched. Baking times may vary. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before turning out.
  • This recipe makes 7 ½ cups of batter.

For the Chocolate Glaze

  • Combine the 4 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate and 2 oz. heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave in small increments. (Start with 30 seconds and follow up with 10 second increments as needed until the chocolate is almost melted. Then, stir until smooth.)
  • The chocolate will thicken as it cools. Once the cake has cooled and the desired consistency for the glaze is reached, spoon, spread, or drizzle over the top of the cake and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Notes

Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
Substitution for Buttermilk: Add 1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup. Add milk to the 1 cup mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
Bundt Pan: This recipe makes about 7.5 cups of batter. Our pan has a baking capacity of 12 cups and measures about 10 inches. If you are working with a smaller pan, it will take longer to bake. Be careful not to overfill. (General rule of thumb: don't fill pan past ¾ full. There should be no less that 1.25 inches from the top of the batter to the top edge of the pan.)
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