I live in a house with four little girls. Four little crazy, creative, fun, annoyingly cute girls. In fact, as I write this, Charli is walking around sweeping the floor with the broom. Pretty sure she’s actually making a bigger mess, but whatever, she’s concentrating so hard right now on her task, why would I want to disturb that? The other three are cleaning their room with capes tied around their necks, because even Captain America has to keep his home clean, am I right?? They are my little superheroes and so I made them the best damn pinata cake ever. Fo realz. Dessert is life.
This cake was a lot of fun to make and assemble, and honestly, it’s far easier than it looks. I definitely recommend using more than two layers to make this cake, because you need the room to hollow out; using only two layers weakens the integrity of the cake and could cause it to collapse. For my cake, I used four 6-inch rounds and hollowed out three layers, leaving the fourth layer whole to place on top.
The recipe for this cake may seem a little bit crazy, but it’s one I’ve worked on for a very long time and among my favorites. White cake can be finicky, dry out easily, or become dense, so follow the directions and you will have success for sure! Then you just let it cool down completely, cut out the centers, frost, layer, fill with M&M’s, crumb coat, frost and voila! Ha ha ha, that sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? I promise it’s worth it, especially to see the look on someone’s face when you cut it open and let the contents spill out!
I went with the patriotic theme inspired by the new Captain America movie that was released on DVD on September 9th, and my mini-superheroes, of course. Notice the red, white and blue, yes? Too much fun, I swear. I separated my frosting into three bowls and colored two of them to create the ombre effect and then used a slanted spatula to smooth it out and blend the edges. You want to be sure and not press down too hard when smoothing, or you’ll end up taking all the frosting off.
Serve this cake to your favorite superhero, it’s so worth it!
Ingredients
- 4 Large Egg Whites at room temperature
- 2 Whole Eggs
- 1 C Whole Milk at room temperature
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 3 C Cake Flour sifted
- 2 ½ C Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- ¾ tsp Salt
- 1 ½ Sticks Unsalted Butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 6-inch round cake pans with nonstick baking spray or coat well with shortening and flour, removing all excess flour.
- Cream together butter until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed. Slowly add sugar one cup at a time, making sure to fully incorporate each cup before adding the next.
- Add the egg whites, mixing thoroughly, then add the whole eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the milk and vanilla into a measuring cup and gently stir together.
- Begin adding the dry ingredients to the sugar/butter mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Gently stir all ingredients until well combined. Stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, making sure all ingredients are incorporated.
- Evenly distribute cake batter between cake pans and place pans into the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and allow to cool slightly in the cake pans for about 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
- Frost cake as desired.
Share your photo and tag @asimplepantry or #asimplepantry!
Now head on over to Heroes Eat M&M’s site to grab yourself a coupon for $5 off the new Captain America movie, then hit up Walmart to collect the ingredients for this awesome pinata cake and make it for all the superheroes in your life!
Mabelle@ Ma Bella Vita says
This is super creative and it looks absolutely delicious! Not sure if I’d have the patience to make it but it looks soooo worth it.
Monica @HappyandBlessedHome.com says
That looks amazing! Pinned – popping over from SoFab and your girl are too precious!
Monica
Heaven says
I never would have dreamed up a cake this cool. So very awesome. Pinned!
Heather says
hi! Can u tell me about how many M&Ms you used in this cake? Thanks!
Judy says
Love this cake. Made it with my grandsons, twice. It is very tasty but it fell. I thought maybe I forgot something so made it again. Fell again. We are high altitude (over 5000 ft). Do you have an adjustment for that?
Karly says
Hi Judy!
Oh the joys of high-altitude baking, huh?
I would recommend increasing the oven temp by 15-25 degrees, reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup, reduce baking powder by a heaping 1/4 tsp., and add about 4 extra Tbsp. of milk. That should help even it out I think, for your altitude. Other possible tweaks include adding 3 Tbsp. flour, or an extra egg, but those should only be tried if the above tips fail in producing a cake that doesn’t fall. Let me know if you find success!
Amy says
So pretty! I’m basically a huge failure when it comes to frosting cakes. I do so well at so many things. Who would have known cakes would be my thing… #client
Kyla @HouseOfHipsters says
This is quite possibly the coolest cake I’ve ever seen! Found you on the Hope Studio link up party!
Jill says
What a great idea for a fun cake!
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
Laura@Baking in Pyjamas says
Wow, cake just got a whole lot better! Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!
carolyn | homework says
Wow. Wow. Wow!! Thank you so much for sharing on The Inspiration Board at homework. I loved your project and featured you today!
Have a wonderful weekend!
carolyn ~ homework
Jolena @TheRubyKitchen says
I made a cake in this style for a friends gender reveal. So much fun! I LOVE the gradient frosting!
Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs says
Love this! Our kids all have “hero” names – and they want a pinata for their bday party (but I’m only up for a pinata cake not actually sticks flying in kids faces). Pinning this!
kristine foley says
Hope mine turns out! Can’t wait to make it for Mia’s birthday next month! Thanks so much!
terry rodriguez says
Picture shows 4 layers of cake but at the beginning of recipe it says three????
Karly says
Good catch! Yes! I actually made two batches for this cake, six layers, so I slapped the two extra layers together for a mini cake to feed the kids while I worked on the pinata cake (to keep them from begging me incessantly, ha). Traditionally, this recipe is for two 8-inch pans.
Mindy says
This is totally amazing. I could seriously never make something like this and you make it look so easy. Haha!
Kelly says
This is the best! So freaking fun! Can’t wait to try it!
Sarah Halstead says
How fun. Super cute!
Melissa @ This Girl's Life Blog says
What a fun cake! My daughter would probably get a kick out of having one of these.
amber.m says
And now I just really really want some damn cake!
Jamie says
I am soooo doing this one day for a kids party! Thank you for the tutorial as well!
Meg says
This is amazing! My uncle is obsessed with m&ms, I’m totally making this for his next birthday lol
Claire @ A Little Claireification says
How stinking fun is this?? You are Super Mom!! Pinned!
Paige says
You are so freaking awesome!
kendall says
uumm… can you come over and make this cake for Levi’s bday next month? Please and thank you.
Ange says
THE BEST CAKE I HAVE EVER SEEN!