Has the lead up to this cake been dramatic enough? I’m so excited to finally be able to share it with you! I don’t know what it is about Peeps, but they are the cutest things ever! I don’t like eating them AT ALL, but they are so fun to create with. I caught myself on a couple of occasions playing with them . . . “Um, what am I doing?” You can check those photos out on my Instagram account! Or don’t, it’s kind of embarrassing.
This is my first official “surprise inside” cake. I’ve done a couple of cupcakes that have hidden gems inside, but I’ve never done a cake. What I love about a surprise inside is that from the outside, you have no idea that there is something hiding underneath all the cake and icing. You can also choose to make this cake without the surprise and have it all be cake, but then you wouldn’t find all those cute Peeps faces gazing out at you on that first slice!
If you choose not to hollow out the cakes, it will definitely feed more people, so if you are looking to serve a crowd, make sure that you take into account that a lot of the cake is removed after baking. You might want to have some back up cupcakes or another small cake on hand if you have a hungry crowd.
The marshmallow buttercream that we use is absolutely delicious! It has a ton of butter in it, which makes it taste amazing, and also makes it super easy to spread. I’ve found that the higher the butter level, the easier the spread-ability of the icing! I’m also a scientist on the side, can you tell?
If you’re going to be making this cake and prefer to use box mixes, I have to tell you that I’m not sure if the box mixes will hold up in the bowl after the carving. Box mixes tend to be lighter, and weaker than cakes from scratch. I would worry that when you’re carving out the centre of the bowl cake, that you might have some problems with the sides collapsing. But, hopefully you don’t! If you try it with a box mix, and it works out, make sure you leave a comment about what you did to help it be successful!
