Pinata Surprise Cake With M&M’s Inside

“Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.” – Julia Cameron

Who doesn’t like surprises and who doesn’t like cakes? Pinata Surprise cakes combine these two joys and are loved by one and all. I, in turn, love making them! These cakes are just so fascinating! In this post, I am going to share the entire process step-by-step in detail.

You can use a cake flavour of your choice and although it is a good idea to have a sturdy cake (like a butter cake as opposed to a light sponge), let me tell you that I have used sponge for making Pinatas too.

First you need to decide what is going to be the surprise inside the cake. The options are endless (M&M’s, Cadbury Gems, mini chocolate and candies or pretty much anything that you want to put in these like a gift, say a watch tightly and safely in a ziplock pouch and wrapped in  foil).

Of course, M&M’s and all kinds of candy remain the favorite surprise in a Pinata.

Let me start rightaway about how to make this (or any other) Pinata Cake.

So begin with making a cake and chilling it through (overnight would be best) after covering it in cling film. At the same time, decide what the surprise inside would be.

For a decently impressive Pinata Surprise cake, try to get a good height so that you get the desired impact. Anythig abive 4 inches looks impressive enough. To achieve this height, you can make at least 1 and a half recipes of any cake and frosting given on this blog.

So once you cake is chilled and your frosting is made and chilled too, the next thing is to make your soaking syrup. This is necessary if you have made a sponge cake or if you feel that the cake is dry. If the cake is moist enough, you can skip the syrup completely.

Now to the real thing!!! Oh I love this part!! Get these things together: (the quantities specified here are what I used for the cake shown here).

What You Will Need:

8 inch round Cake (1.5 recipes of Eggless Cake)

Frosting
(1.5 recipes of White Chocolate Ganache)

Soaking Syrup

The surprise (M&M’s in this case)

A 3.5 inch round cutter

A Sharp Serrated Knife

Palette Knife

How To Make It:

Slice the cake in 1.5 cm slices. If you are using 1 and a half recipes, you should easily get 5 such slices. Even if you get 4, that’s good. In this cake, I got 4.

Apply a thin layer of frosting on the cake board around the approximate size of the outer circle of the cake like in the picture below. This will make the cake stick to the cake board and give you a stable base.

Take the first slice, place it on the circle of frosting on your cake board. Use the 3.5 inch round cutter to cut out a circle in the center of the slice. Soak the slice and frost it well.

 Take the second slice of the cake and cut a hole in it too. Place it on the first frosted slice, soak it and apply frosting.

Repeat the steps of cutting circles inside the cake slices and soaking and frosting them till only one slice is left.

Important: When you have only one more cake slice left, frost inside the well formed by placing the slices on top of each other. We shall not cut a hole in this last slice as we will be using it as a lid to secure the M&M’s.

Now fill in your surprise. If its M&M’s or small candy, make sure you stuff them in well and snug.

Now place the final slice on top to cover op the well full of surprise. Frost the top and sides properly.

Frost all around as neatly as you can.

I prefer my cakes to look rustic and homely so I dont stress about getting the sharpest edges and the smoothest sides.

Your Pinata Surprise Cake is ready!! Now you can decorate the outside of it as you like. I placed more M&Ms outside, just stuck them onto the frosting (White Chocolate Buttercream).

And this, my friends, is what happens when this cake is cut into….

Here are a few more Pinata ideas for you. One of them is a Barbie Doll cake, all in chocolate flavour while the other one is a Vanilla cake with whipped cream frosting and filling.

So tell me what you filled your Pinata Surprise Cake with. Grab your prettiest apron and a whisk, put on your favorite song and start creating the magic!! Do share your experience of this post and recipe and your views and opinions! I would love to hear them!!