Surprise Cake
45 Minutes Prep
2 Hours
25 Minutes Total
12 Slices Servings
The Easter bunny is hunting high and low for sweet treats with this fun and easy-to-make chocolate cake. Little does he know that the cake just needs to be sliced to reveal the hidden goodies inside!
Ingredient List
- 120ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
- 1 box Betty Crocker™ Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- 3 medium eggs
- 230ml water
For the filling and icing
- 2 tubs Betty Crocker™ Vanilla Buttercream Style Icing
- Pink food colouring paste or gel
- 120g pastel-coloured sweets, such as micro sugar-coated chocolate eggs and chocolate beans
For the decoration
- 20g desiccated coconut
- Green food colouring paste or gel
- 1 jumbo white marshmallow, cut in half diagonally with scissors
- 1 teaspoon pink glimmer sugar
- 80g mixed mini and micro sugar-coated chocolate eggs
- Few small edible sugar flowers
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted oven)/Gas Mark 4. Grease 3 x 18cm round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper.
- Make up the cake mix as directed on the box with the oil, eggs and water. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a round bladed knife inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely (about 30 minutes).
- Place the icing in a large bowl and beat in enough pink food colouring paste or gel to give a pale pink colour. Using a 7.5cm cookie cutter, stamp out a circle from the centre of 1 cake layer (see Tips).
- Place 1 whole cake on a serving board or plate and spread with 125g of the icing, leaving a 7.5cm circle in the centre of the cake free of icing. Top with the cut-out layer of cake and fill the hole with the micro sugar-coated eggs and chocolate beans. Spread another 125g of icing around the edge of the second layer of cake, then top with the final cake layer.
- Use a palette knife to spread another 150g of the icing in a thin layer over the sides and top of the cake to seal in the crumbs. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, then spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake in an even layer, smoothing with a palette knife.
- Place the coconut in a small freezer bag with a little green food colouring paste or gel and rub between your fingertips until the coconut is evenly coloured. Sprinkle the cut side of each marshmallow half with the pink glimmer sugar to resemble 2 bunny ears.
- Sprinkle the green coconut over the top of the cake to resemble grass. Top with the bunny ears (see Tips) and scatter the sugar-coated eggs and sugar flowers on top of the grass, pressing down gently.
Tips
- If you don’t have a 7.5cm cookie cutter, use the red lid from one of the tubs of Betty Crocker™ Icing as a guide – place it in the centre of the cake layer and run a sharp knife vertically around the edge of the lid to remove the circle.
- This cake is best served no longer than a day after making as the sugar-coated sweets hidden inside will lose their crispness and colour if left for longer. However, the cake layers can be frozen for up to 1 month.
- To secure the bunny ears on top of the cake, use cocktail sticks.
