Marshmallow Peeps Cake

Peeps has instructions for this super cute Easter Basket cake at the Marshmallow Peeps website or download the PDF instructions here.

A quick and easy Shamrock Cake made from cupcakes, this is a perfect St. Patrick’s Day treat. One cake is made from four cupcakes, so one box of cake mix can make six of these cakes. Alternatively, you could make one shamrock as a centerpiece and arrange individual cupcakes around it.
You will need the following ingredients and supplies to make this cake:

• 1 Box of cake mix (and the ingredients needed to prepare it)
• 3 Cans of white frosting
• Green food coloring
• Green sugar crystals
• Wooden skewer or toothpick
• Aluminum foil or a marble*
• Baking cups*

*If you have a heart-shaped cupcake pan you won’t need these.

Prepare your cake batter according to instructions on the box.  If you don’t have a heart-shaped cupcake pan, while your oven is pre-heating tear 3 inch strips of aluminum foil and roll them into balls.If you have marbles, skip that step.  Fill your cupcakes halfway with the batter.  I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure and fill them.  Then place your aluminum foil ball or marble between the baking cup and pan.  You can get detailed instructions for this from Instructables – Make Heart Shaped Cupcakes Without a Special Pan but I’ll warn you here that the marbles will get very hot so be sure to let them cool before handling.

While your cupcakes are cooling, dye your frosting green and then refrigerate it until ready to use.

When your cupcakes are completely cooled, take them out of the baking cups.  Frost the sides of the cupcake first, this way you can hold it between your thumb and forefinger and make less of a mess.  once the sides are frosted, arrange three them on your serving board or plate to form the leaves of the shamrock.  Cut one cupcake in half to use as the stem and use the remaining half to fill in the hole that will be left in the middle.  You will probably need to shape and cut away a lot of the 4th cupcake to make the stem look right and to fit it in the middle.

Frost the entire cake and use the skewer to define space between the leaves and score lines in the leaves.  Then sprinkle green sugar crystals over the entire cake.  I was very heavy handed when it came to the sugar, but you can use less.  Then touch up any spots you need using your toothpick.

That’s it, a simple, fast and fun St. Paddy’s dessert.

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Click to Enlarge

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th and this week I’ll be sharing some ideas for tasty treats to celebrate.  Here’s a very quick and simple cake decorated with green sugar and sprinkles.

You will  need  a shamrock cookie cutter for a “stencil”.  If you can’t find find a shamrock cookie cutter, try using a heart shaped cookie cutter to create each leaf of the clover or create your own stencil from cardboard or a file folder.  If you make your own stencil you may need to coat the underside with a thin layer of vegetable shortening so it won’t stick.  Also, I used a small artist paintbrush to spread the crystals, or you could use a toothpick.  I made a 8 in. round cake, but you could stencil the clover(s) on any size or shape cake.

I thought confetti cake would be a good choice since rainbows are associated with the holiday.  I went with a white icing, green dessert crystals and shamrock sprinkles.

After icing the cake smooth I refridgerated it for 20 minutes to make sure frosting would be firm.  Then I placed the cookie cutter in the center of the cake and poured the green sugar crystals into the center.  Think less is more when you start this process because if you end up with too many crystals they will pour over when you lift your cookie cutter.

Using a clean dry paintbrush or toothpick, gently spread the crystals from the middle towards the edge of the cookie cutter.  When you lift your stencil you will have a sugary sweet shamrock!

To complete the cake I sprinkled sugar around the top edge and poured the shamrock sprinkles around the bottom edge.  To create a cleaner edge, I slid my icing spatula under the sprinkles, pressed them into the base of the cake and then brushed away the excess.

I hope you liked this easy to make cake and it inspires you to come up with your own simple cake decorating ideas!