It’s another surprise cake – or a “cake-yata” (like a piñata, but with easy slicing instead of hearty bashing).
I baked this cake as a belated birthday surprise cake for my darling, riveting, Rylee-Roo.
This year, my niece, experienced her 14th birthday in quarantine. We held a Zoom call party, but it simply wasn’t the same.
I wanted something a little more special for her.
Thus, we have vanilla cake, with vanilla butter cream frosting in lots of layers, and surprisingly stuffed with M&M candies!
Vanilla M&M Cake-Yata
Vanilla M&M Cake-Yata (Surprise Cake)
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. sea salt
1 1/4 cup buttermilk temperature preferred
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
1 lb. salted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 lbs. powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbs. vanilla extract
Filling:
2 lbs. plain M&M candies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare three deep 8″ round cake pans (or 9″) by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly greasing the sides. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using an electric mixer) cream together the butter, canola oil, and sugar until creamy and well-combined.Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in the vanilla extract.
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Using a spatula and gently hand-mixing, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined after each addition. The batter should be smooth and completely combined, but avoid over-mixing.
Evenly divide batter between the prepared cake pans, and bake for 30-35 minutes. When the cake is done, the surface should spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out mostly clean with few moist crumbs.
Allow cakes to cool in their cake pans for 10-15 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack to cool completely. Before frosting, use a biscuit cutter or juice glass to create a round cut out from two of the three layers. Set those little rounds aside for another use.
Using the stand mixer again, beat the frosting butter until soft and smooth. Add about 2 cups of powdered sugar and continue to beat until immersed. Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Using a large spatula, frost each layer evenly before filling the cake with the M&Ms and topping with the final layer (no cutout). Continue frosting until smooth.
Decorate with any remaining candy.
Make sure to have your camera on hand when slicing into the cake for the M&M candy surprise!
