Easter Peeps Cake

If you're not an expert baker or cake decorator (and I certainly am not either), you might think fancy cakes are impossible to make.  Here's one I created and it wasn't hard at all.  It's all about the color.



Here's what you need:

2 cake mixes (I used chocolate but you can use white or yellow)
Ingredients required by the cake mixes
3 tubs of white or cream cheese frosting (I like to have too much frosting instead of not enough)
Food coloring
Robin eggs candy
M& Ms in pastels
Peeps
Optional coconut
9" round cake pans (you could probably use 8" too)

Prepare the cake mixes as directed on the box.  Instead of filling the cake pans, only fill them half way. Bake, but watch those cakes - it won't take as long as the box says to bake because you only have half the depth.  In the alternative to baking half the depth, you can bake a full size round and slice it long ways when it's frozen.  I am way too uncoordinated to try that!  You will need 4 thin round layers of cake.

If you used the method of baking thinner rounds, wait until your cake has cooled before removing it from the round pans.  Wrap each round in plastic wrap and freeze (or at least make very cold).  This will help you manipulate and decorate the cake easier.

Next, divide the 3 tubs of frosting evenly into four glass bowls.  Now it's time to start experimenting with color.  If you are not used to working with food coloring, I suggest you read the package to get an idea of the ratios of the respective colors.  However, be VERY careful in following the box instructions for how much dye to use for icing - they really tend to overdo the number of drops needed!  Keep the same ratio of the colors to be mixed, just don't use as much.  It's no fun to have your guests sitting there with dyed lips and tongues - yuck!

I managed to get pink, yellow, purple and blue with my dyes.  From there it was pretty easy.  I iced each layer with a different color, including between the layers.  Once my little rainbow was finished, I lined the outside with Peeps.  If you have trouble getting them to stay, use a little more frosting on the Peep.  I finished it off with robin's eggs, M&Ms and any other candy in pastel colors.  I ran out of time, but I wanted to dye a little coconut green (use only a drop of green food coloring and mix with coconut in a Ziploc bag) to make some grass for my eggs.

If you don't like all the color on the outside of the cake, you can do the same thing inside the cake by coloring the batter of a white cake.

So colorful, so springtime and so much fun!

Happy Easter!

cindy