Kit Kat Birthday Cake & a RecipeGirl Cookbook Deal!
I have some fun news today! It’s my birthday! Yay! And I made a Kit Kat Cake! Yum!
And I’m super happy to be able to share with you that I’ve signed a deal with Wiley to write The Recipe Girl Cookbook! Wahoo! It will be published in Spring of 2013. I’ve been working very hard writing and testing recipes for the last couple of months for the cookbook, and I have several more months of hard work ahead of me. It’ll have the similar recipe categories that you find here on the site- both every day sorts of recipes and entertaining recipes too. The vast majority of the recipes in the cookbook though will be brand-new recipes. Only a handful of recipes that are popular favorites on the site will be included in the book. And there will also be a chapter of entertaining menus! It’s all so exciting and unreal and overwhelming and unbelievable!! I’m working with some amazing people to make this cookbook happen. Fun times are ahead 🙂
Let’s celebrate with cake!
I saw this idea on the internet somewhere… surrounding a cake with Kit Kats, presenting it with a bow and topping it with M&M’s. I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I had to give it a shot myself.
It’s really very simple to make. You’ll just need your favorite layer cake recipe (or a boxed mix), frosting, Kit Kat’s, M&M’s and ribbon.
I think you’ll be surprised just how incredibly easy it is to pull this off. Frost a layer cake just as you would normally do- first one layer, then add the second and frost all the way around. Then stick Kit Kat’s all the way around the cake- they will just stick to the frosting. Then pour M&M’s on top. That’s it!
I love how the “sea” of M&M’s makes this cake look so pretty. I can envision making this cake on all of the holidays where special-colored M&M’s are available… red, white & green for a Christmas Kit Kat Cake… pink, white and red for a Valentine’s Kit Kat Cake. The possibilities are endless!
Wrap your brightest, cutest bow around the Kit Kat’s.
It makes a fun birthday cake.
And it’s delicious too! Happy birthday to me!
When I quit teaching and debuted my recipe website back in 2006 and then added the blog in 2008, I never imagined that my life would take such a positive turn… that I would end up with a career that I love so much! I’m actually excited to wake up everyday and get to work in the kitchen, behind the camera and on the computer. I pinch myself every single day to make sure this is all real, and I’m so grateful to my readers for making all of this cooking and recipe stuff possible. And now, a cookbook??? I have so many fun, new recipes to share with you in my book. It’s tough to keep them under-wraps and not share them on the blog. I can’t wait!! XOXOXO
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 35 min
Kit Kat Cake
This recipe makes enough for three 8-inch round layers OR two 9-inch layers + 6 cupcakes.
Ingredients:
CAKE:
One 18.25-ounce box of chocolate cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)
DECOR:
Three 4.5-ounce Giant Kit Kat Bars (you'll need 36 Kit Kat sticks total)
One 12.6-ounce bag M&M's
Ribbon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans and line a cupcake pan with 6 liners (you're going to have 6 cupcakes to munch on along with your cake!)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Add remaining ingredients and beat with hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until well blended.
3. Scoop the batter into 6 cupcake liners 3/4-full. Divide the remaining batter into the prepared round pans. Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, and bake the cake rounds about 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove the cake layers to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. When the cake is cool, you're ready to assemble. Place one layer on a serving plate, and tuck strips of waxed paper underneath the sides of the cake.
5. Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Increase speed to medium, and slowly add milk and vanilla, beating until smooth. Microwave chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 30 second intervals. Gradually add melted chocolate to mixture; beat until blended and smooth.
6. Frost the 1st cake layer. Set the 2nd layer on top of the first. Frost the 2nd layer and along the sides of the cake too. Stick Kit Kat's to the sides of the cake, leaving a very small space in between each Kit Kat (1/4-inch). Wrap a bow around the cake, securing the Kit Kat's. Fill the top of the cake with M&M's. Pull out the strips of waxed paper and discard. Use any extra frosting to frost your 6 extra cupcakes.
7. If you refrigerate the cake for a couple of hours or so, it will be much easier to cut and serve. Of course, you'll need to remove the bow just before serving.
Tips:
*You can certainly use your favorite layer cake recipe for this cake. The doctored-up cake mix recipe that is included here is actually quite good!
*You can also use a yellow cake or your favorite flavor... following the same instructions here for jazzing it up.
*Technically, you can use all of the batter in two 9-inch round pans, but it might make the cake too high to work for this recipe. You don't want the cake to stand higher than the height of the Kit Kat's- or they will not be able to act as a "fence" to hold in the M&M's.
Source: RecipeGirl.com (idea seen somewhere on the internet...)
Updated to add… Since I posted this this AM, I found a few different versions of this cake on the internet:
Made in Mel’s Kitchen
Paige’s Pantry
The Tipsy Hostess
And it looks like the original idea came from Cake Central?
Here’s an Easter version too! So How’s it Taste
And a version with fruit on top! Cake Whiz
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Gluten- Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
I can’t wait to make this!! The only thing I’m worried about is the ribbon (I’ve always had bad luck with making them!) Any suggestions as to how to get the ribbon to turn out so pretty?
I did mine a little fancier, but all you really need to do is wrap it around and tie a bow.
i am making this today for my sons 30th birthday (the grandkids will love it), but this cake reminds me of easter picture it with the cadbury choc egg mini’s, would make a great easter desert treat!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe with everyone. : )
This cake is sooo sexy! I mean not to be informal or anything, haha. But I love to bake &+ I look forward to surprising my family with a cake like this. Thanks for posting how to do it! (:
I think the cake is wonderful and I know I will enjoy making it and EATING IT!!!!!
Congratulations on the idea I know most people will think it is out of this world
This cake looks amazingly good! Thanks for sharing the idea…I may just have found this year’s b-day splurge!
How many cups equal 1 lb of sifted powdered sugar?
4 to 4 1/4 cups = 16 ounces of powdered sugar
Made this for my granddaughters 6th birthday and she loved it, along with all the guests and family! Great cake
I can also see this made with the chocolate hard candy covered eggs for Easter!
I like this cake my mom she make this for my birthday <3 .
hi 🙂 i wanna make this cake but i am not sure about something, when you say One 18.25-ounce box of chocolate cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
does that mean i put all these ingredients even if i am using a chocolate cake mix, or is it the ingredients alone and the chocolate cake mix alone?
yes, use the chocolate cake mix as an “ingredient” (don’t pay any attention to how to make the cake on the back of the box)- just mix the cake mix with the rest of the ingreds. in the recipe and prepare as directed!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this recipe! I made this today for a friend. Absolutely adorable idea & very fun to make and share!!
I saw this cake on Tumblr!! I was wondering if there was a recipe somewhere! That’s really cool
Cake looks awesome 🙂 I’m not familiar with American candy… do you know any gluten free candy i could use instead of kitkats?
Thanks 🙂
I’m not sure… anything that is tall like what is pictured and known to be GF.
We made this cake for my mom’s birthday this past weekend but slightly differently. We made one round layer and one heart-shaped layer and kept them separate (i.e. served two cakes – each with a thin red ribbon around it). Cutting the Kit-Kat’s in half for each layer and put halved strawberries just around the inside of the Kit-Kat’s and spread the M&M’s around the outside of the cake on the large fancy plate. We made whipping cream to be served with it, but didn’t put it right on the cake. The cake looked terrific. We used dark chocolate Kit-Kat’s and dark chocolate M&M’s. The icing was fabulous. It was a real hit!
Awesome- thanks for sharing what you did with it!
Just made this for my son’s birthday, and definitely making it for the school cake sale – thank you so much; I’m a clumsy baker, so having something that looks impressive and is almost impossible to screw up is awesome!
I LOVE IT, I MADE IT WITH SMARTIES INSTEAD OF MM’S BUT IT WAS SO EASY TO MAKE! TY FOR SHARING
Just made this for my twins’ birthday but I decided to make a second cake for those that don’t like chocolate as much and used Twizzlers in place of the Kit Kat and Skittles in place of the M&M’s! My girls were thrilled!
Hello! I am also a M & M lover. What a great candy they are. Speaking of great, I love the cake! How cool…is it difficult to cut slices, do the little guys fall all over the place? This combo of M & M’s and Kit Kat is just too awesome not to try. I plan on making ths real soon.
I am having difficulty in sigining up for emails from you…any hints what I amy be doing wrong?
Thanks so much for sharing such a novel idea! ~ Holly
I like to chill the cake and then cut slices from there. Makes it easier to cut! No idea about the emails… where are you clicking to sign up?
Awesome cake! And congratzzz!!
Made this for my 5 year old (twin) nephews for their birthday party, and it was a hit! Used mini M & M’s instead, everyone loved it! Thanks!
Love this idea for a quick and easy but GREAt looking cake!!
–Would this cake recipe work the same if I used a yellow cake mix instead of choclate???
yes!
The design was great. I made this for my birthday. It look great when it was done. The cake just seemed below par for recipe girl. I think if she changed it to a homemade recipe instead of adding sour cream to a box mix. That said I am not a sour cream fan. If you are not a huge sour cream I suggest just following the box recipe or your own homemade recipe.
You can certainly use the Kit Kat/M&M concept w/ any cake recipe- not just a boxed cake! Use your favorite homemade layer cake recipe.
wow I need one of those 😀
I’m planning on making this cake for my mother’s birthday, she will be 57 on sunday. I’m sure it will turn out awesome just like yours. Thanks for sharing this recipe & pictures with us.
É uma pena o Kit Kat ser caro aqui no Brasil, mas mesmo assim, eu vou testar (:
Will be making this Wednesday..cannot wait!! I am using Reese Pieces instead of M&M’s though…like those better!!
what a wonderful cake. It looks great and I loved it. I’ll try it as soon as possible.
Thanks so much for sharing this I’ve seen one with chocolate fingers and wanted to make it for my Niece’s third birthday next week, now I can! X
Beautiful cake.
Im so excited to make your kit kat cake. I wanted to surprise my 12 yr old niece with a special cake and this is it!!! shes a major choclate lover. thanks, Stacy
Hi there… this looks amazing! Definitely going to make it, but have a question. Just wondering what the reasoning is behind adding all the extra ingredients to the ready to make cake mix from a box, that normally only requires eggs and oil…? I am sure you have a good reason, just wondering. Thank you and thanks you so much for posting this beautiful cake!! 🙂
Well, there are cake mixes… and they definitely taste like cake mixes (and you are most welcome to use one for this recipe), and then there are “jazzed up cake mix recipes” like this one– that actually make it taste less like a cake mix and 10 times more delicious!
Making this cake tonight for my sons b-day my doughter us going to decorate it. She is 6 will be great.. cant wait to taste
I love this cake! I am going to bake it right now! thank you for this recipe!! xx
My soon to be 9 year old picked this cake out for her birhday party. We’re very excited to make this cake together. Kit Kats and M&M’s are her favorite!! Looking forward to eating the cake!!!
making this cake for my hubby sept 30 , he is going to be 69
fantastic! I will make this for my boy!!! he will be 1 next week! 🙂
I made this for my sons birthday yesterday! It was wonderful. I will make again. Thank you so much
Hi 🙂 im 13 and loooovvveeee baking! i was looking for a recipe on how to make this cake everywhere! I came across your page and it was so simple and explained it way easier than others! Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome! Have fun!
So you’re supposed to use two boxes of chocolate cake mix if you want to make two layers of 9 inch or just one box? I don’t want it to be too thick or too thin if I just use one box..
Thanks 🙂
One box of cake mix = 2 9-inch layers.
no brasil e diferente..agente coloca bis e confeti fica uma delicia
Hi! I think it’s really sweet that u answer al this comments, I’m doing this cake next week, wish me luck!
YOU. ARE. AWESOME.
Good luck!
Hi, once you make the sponges how much in advance can you assemble the cake? If you do it too quickly will the kit kats go soggy?
The Kit Kats don’t really get soggy. I’d say assembly the night before should be fine.
Hello,
I have some questions for you on this wonderful cake! I could only find cake mix boxes of 16.5oz. Should I use the extra ingredients or just make the regular box mix? I am scared that the extra two ounces that I am missing from my cake mix will affect the ingredients you have listed.
I think you’ll be fine using the slightly reduced box weight and making it as prepared.
Lori,
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Adding the extra ingredients, does this make a denser cake? What is the texture, moist?
No, I wouldn’t say more dense… light and fluffy. Moist.
This is precious! I’m going to make it for Easter and use pastel M&M’s.
Oh. My. Word!!! This is going to be PERFECT for my daughter’s 5th birthday!!! It’s in August, so I’ve saved this to my ziplist recipe box. She LOVES chocolate and her favorite candy is KitKat – second fave is M&M’s. 🙂 YEA!!
i’ve just made the cake…..added some coffee to the recipe and it tastes amazing
=D =)
is the mixture suppose to be runny?
The batter? Yes.
Hi, I have a question. Would the smaller Kit-Kats work instead, that way they don’t stick up so much at the top?? It looks like there’s too much space…
They’re just regular-sized Kit Kats… they just come in the giant package.
What a cute cake. Love it. Check out this kit kat cake I made for my son’s third Birthday.
http://ronata.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/keess-3rd-birthday-cake/
hi. i wanted to asked how many table spoons are there in 3 ounce of creem cheese?
Google: “conversion ounces to tablespoons” and I suppose that might give you an answer. I don’t know how to convert off the top of my head. Good luck!
hi. i wanted to asked how many table spoons/cups are there in 3 ounce of creem cheese?
i got the !5.25 oz cake mix of betty crocker. would it make any difference? or should i jut bake two 9 inch cakes and not the cupcakes? 18.25 isnt available. thanks
You should be okay with two 9-inch layers… if the batter looks like too much, just leave a little bit out.
thankyou for posting this recipe. everyone loved it. i have a question. for how long long can you freeze this batter?
Loved it! I made a birthday cake inspired by your post – see it here http://eatmystyleb.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/kit-kat-m-birthday-cake.html. My boyfriend loved it.
Nice!
what is the size of the pan used???
It calls for two 9-inch round pans in the recipe.
my question is why do you put the waxed paper down. Thanks
You don’t have to… but it makes frosting the cake neater (you can just pull away the waxed paper after frosting and you won’t get any of the frosting on the bottom of the platter.
i forgot to add milk in the frosting and its already on the cake. its getting hard. any suggestion what should i do? i have some frosting left. maybe i should add another layer? please reply asap my guests are coming in a few hours. thankyou
Sorry for the delay in response- I was away on vacation! What did you end up doing? Adding another layer sounds like it might have worked…
Where can i buy All-purpose flour? can’t seem to find it.
Do you live outside the US? In that case, it’s just regular old flour. In the US, regular flour is sold as all-purpose flour.
Can i make a kitkat cake using a cake that can be bought at a cake shop?
I haven’t done so, but I’m assuming it would be fine.
Loved this! made this for my brothers bday and it was a great success!
yay!
Oh my goodniss!!! This cake was a huge life saver!! You really know how to make a cake!! I love this recipe and oh how easy it was to make!! I loved it. So did my kids!!
This looks so good!! You must love baking! I am so trying this, it looks so easy!
Thx for the ideas
I just wanted to say, i love this! It was my last minute idea and my kids loved it!
Have many calories does it have?
No idea.
Can u please find out how many calories because I need to know for a competition
boxed cake(betty crocker devil food pudding in the mix) is 15.25 oz do I still use the same measurement of ingredients?
You can follow the same instructions with that box.
i love this site I made one of your cakes and it turned out great.
Hello…..
The cake looks lovely, planning to make it this weekend, but have a question- what do you mean by “One 18.25-ounce box of chocolate cake mix” from where can i get it and which brand is recomended. M in the UAE……..
Are you in the US? Any brand of cake mix will do. If you do not have access to cake mix, you can make any two layer cake recipe and then frost and place the Kit Kats around.
Hi I want to make this cake but I cant find sour cream. Can you tell me a subsitute for it? 🙂
Creme Fraiche.
why are we adding flower the the cake mix?
It’s a doctored up cake mix recipe (the extra ingredients make it taste much better than a boxed mix)… if you prefer to just make a boxed mix and follow the directions on the box, that’s okay too.
Hi, Lori I was wanting to ask you if it was hard to make this cake , i am taking a foods class and we only have 45 mins to make something and I really wanted to make this .. Do you think that maybe I should make the cake before and then decorate it when I get to class
If you brought the cake part in already baked, it’s super easy to assemble and decorate after that. Great idea!
how much is 1 pound powdered sugar, in grams 1/2 cup salted butter
I don’t know, but Googling that sort of thing will fetch you an answer.
Is it ok to use milk chocolate for the icing instead?
Looks great! Can’t wait!
Use any icing you’d like!
Thank you for this idea and recipe. We needed to make something special for my sister who is the designated “cake-baker” for all celebrations in our large family. With the help of my 3 daughters we made this cake and truly surprised my sister who was expecting a cake from Costco!!!!! It not only looked impressive, it was delicious too!
Great to hear!
I’ve been scoping out this cake idea for a while and i’ve decided to make it for my sons first birthday at the park!! Just one question- where can i find “giant kitkat bars”?… (i know ur not refering to kitkat chunky)
i live in Toronto, Canada and i don’t think i’ve ever seen anything other than the reg kitkat, chunky , mini bite size and ofcourse kitkat bites. any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
You don’t actually need “giant Kit Kats,” but rather the jumbo sized bar that has a lot of Kit Kats attached to it.
This is amazing this was my dads birthday present this year!! Thank you and keep up the great recipes! 🙂
This cake was a huge hit! It was easy to make with easy directions and turned out wonderful. I took a twist and make a bunt cake and used some of the cupcakes to make a buttercream/cake filling in the middle. I loved the part about making cupcakes! That make me literally laugh out loud.
Thanks for the recipe!!
I made this cake last weekend for my daughter’s 5th birthday and it was a huge success! Everyone absolutely loved the look of it. The only difference we had was that we only used orange M&M’s in the center (my daughter will only eat those). Just wanted to say thanks for making here bday extra special.
That’s cute that she will only eat the orange ones… how on earth did that come about? 🙂
Can this cake be made with TimTams instead of Kit Kat bars? 🙂 Your opinion
I’m afraid I do not know what Tim Tams are!
this was so insanely good tasting. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Hey
I have just finished making this cake for my girlfriend and I litterally cannot thank you enough this litterally is the icing on the cake for her birthday along with her presents , I shall definitely be making this again ! Now just gotta see how it tastes ;)!
Charlie
Wow thank, my friend was thinking of doing something creative for her mothers birthday so I suggested this, it was very helpful and colorful and just great!:)
Just made this for my brother’s 12th birthday tomorrow and looks fabulous! I can’t wait to eat it!
Hi! I’ve got your chocolate cake recipe baking right now! I wanted to know if I could substitute a yellow cake mix for the chocolate? Thanks!
sure!
Nice cake, but I’ve seen this cake in a bakery. Looks good but it would send someone into a diabetic coma.Too bad it can’t be sugar free.
A moderately sized slice of this cake is not going to send anyone into a diabetic coma. Moderation is key.
Where did you get giant kitkat bars from can’t find them any where
Phoned Nestle and say they don’t do them
Thankyou Sue Beckham
The Kit Kat bar itself isn’t any larger, but it’s a giant/King size package.
I made this with a twist. I used box cake without the added steps then did the Kit-Kat around it added the ribbon. Then it took a little bit of a twist. I added
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/make-candy-treasure-box/
https://blog.etsy.com/en/files/2013/06/etsy-how-to-sprinklebakes-jewel-treasure-chest-large.jpg
The treasure chest from this site. to the top of the cake. then added candy around the base of the chest and added crumbled cake inside the chest and then poured whoppers added chocolate coins added candy necklaces, put in m&m candies then added those to the outside of the cake as well. I then poured sixlets around for a shinny candy.
I was making this for an auction and it sold well. the whole thing was worth it. And so simple to make. I will definitely do this again for someone.
cute idea!
Hi i think that the cake looks amazing ad tastes delicious, but what can i use instead of sour cream?
maybe Greek yogurt?
I would love to make this for my partners birthday!
Do you think pods on top would be way too much? One of his favourites however I wouldn’t want to take away anything from this delicious looking cake!!?
I’m not sure what “pods” are, so I don’t know!
So, I’m not much of a baker so i have what might be silly questions. First, I didn’t see any 18.25 oz. cake mixes…the standard size seemed to be 15.25. Should I compensate in some way? Also, do you make the cake mix as it states on the box or just use the mix dry and add your “extra” ingredients?
You can use the smaller mix- they changed the size of it somewhere along the way, but the smaller size works just the same. Use it as a dry mix and just add the other ingredients in the recipe.
Hi, just made this for my daughters birthday. It was absolutely lovely, I’ll defiantly be making it again.
Do you think this would work with a cheesecake??
No idea- I have not tried that yet!
Thanks for the easy to follow instructions Lori. I attempted to make my first cake, ever, for my girlfriend’s birthday. It came out very nice and I couldn’t have done it without your recipe! I’m going to try another for the Holday’s with the mint M&M’s. Why can’t something this good be lower in calories haha..
Very thankful~
Bo Devlin
happy for your success!
Hi, curious if using boxed mix do i use 2 boxes or make one and pour in two round pans ? Or possible 1 in one pan and half in the other ?
Just follow instructions as they are written… one mix is divided between the two round pans 🙂
Lori now that they changed the size of the cake mixes, will this still work?
opps sorry say that you just answered that!
Hi!! Congratulations on your book!! I had a quick question is it possible to manually blend these ingredients rather than a mixer?
That should probably be just fine.
Made this Cake for my son’s 30th Birthday and was delighted to hear what every mother loves ” Mom, this is the best cake you ever made”. You can be sure I will make it again!!
so happy to hear that!