So my son, Ethan turned 5, last Thursday, and I made him this birthday cake – a double layer kit kat cake with M&M’s. It so happens that my baby boy has got a sweet tooth! Well, I’m not really surprised, guess where it comes from? 😀 But the good thing is that I have the amount of candy intake in the house under control. And he knows his limits too. I don’t believe in depriving a child completely of candies. They need to have a little treat once in a while and so do we 🙂
I’ve come across this M&M cake on Pinterest every now and then in my feed. But really hadn’t thought much about it. I thought it was impressive, and looked pretty fun to make one. Heck, even I wouldn’t mind a cake like that for my birthday! Last year, we were in India, where Ethan’s birthday was celebrated. My parents wanted to throw a party for him since that was the first time he visited their house in Goa. It ended up being quite a celebration with most of my family members attending it. Last year, I simply had his birthday cake made to order, based on one of his favorite cartoon series, Blaze and the monster machines.
But this year, since he turned 5, I wanted to make him a cake, something that he would adore and get excited about. And I couldn’t have thought about a better cake than this Kit Kat m&m cake. The best part about making a Kit Kat cake chocolate cake is that it is so easy, looks amazing and needs no skills at all. Don’t believe me? Try making it and you will see, no kidding! And especially if you are frosting or icing challenged, like me, I’m not sure such a term even exist, but you know what I mean, right? Then you definitely have more reason to try this Kit Kat cake. I insist!
Kit Kat cake ingredients
This easy Kit Kat cake requires pretty basic ingredients.
Cake mix or the usual flour, sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, etc you require to make a cake from scratch Homemade or Store-bought chocolate frosting or any other frosting of your choice. Kit Kat bars and loads of m&m candies.
Wondering how many kit kat bars for this cake are needed? I’ve used about 39 to be precise, which was enough to cover my 8-inch, two-layered kit kat cake. You would need more or less depending upon how big or small your cake is, if its a 2 tier kit kat cake, or a square kit kat cake, etc. Make sure that the height of the cake is less than the height of the kit kat bars.
You will need 3 components to make this Candy cake
This KitKat wrapped cake comes together in 3 easy steps
The cake base The frosting Layering, frosting, and adding the final finishing touches…. the absolute fun part!
Let’s talk about the cake base for a minute, shall we? I’ve used my go-to chocolate cake recipe for this base, which is also known as crazy cake or wacky cake or Depression cake. I think it is the ultimate, fuss-free chocolate cake, made without any dairy or eggs, none of which I have a problem with, but I just love how decadent and moist this cake always turns out! You just need one bowl to make this amazingly delicious and moist chocolate cake, fewer things to clean 😀 Bonus! Now that we have our base sorted, let’s move on to the frosting. You can use store-bought frosting if you wish, but if you take the trouble of making a cake from scratch, then I’d also recommend you try making frosting from scratch. It is so easy, and you will love the homemade stuff. I’ve already shared an in-depth post on my favorite chocolate frosting, which you will find here.
How does this cake taste?
This candy cake is basically a chocolate cake with KitKat border, it tastes just like a regular chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. The Kit Kat’s and M&M’s definitely add an interesting texture. But I almost got a sugar rush from finishing one slice. So, although, I’ve given the serving size of 8 people, I think you can easily increase it to 12 people.
Some fun variations of this cake for every occasion
Kit Kat cake with strawberries: Replace the m&m’s with strawberries or chocolate-covered strawberries. KitKat Malteser cake: Replace the m&m’s with maltesers. White kit kat cake: Simple use white chocolate Kit Kar bars and a vanilla cake along with frosting of your choice. KitKat skittles cake: Replace the m&m’s with skittles or smarties for a smarties cake. KitKat Reese’s cake: Replace the m&m’s with Reese’s peanut butter cups, also use peanut chocolate butter frosting. Perfect for a peanut butter fan! Kit Kat red velvet cake: Simple use your favorite red velvet cake as the base, or use my tried and tested eggless red velvet cake recipe. Twix m&m cake: Replace the Kit Kat bars with Twix bars. Some seasonal cake ideas you can make using this Kit Kat chocolate cake – Halloween kit kat cake, kit kat easter basket cake, Christmas Kit Kat Cake, etc. Simply fill the cake with candy-themed decor. Or include your child’s favorite cartoon character like Peppa Pig, minions, paw patrol, etc made with fondant on the top of the cake.
How to make Kit Kat cake from scratch – Step by step instructions
Step 1: For the chocolate cake base
p.s. I’m resharing stepwise pictorials for reference from the crazy chocolate cake recipe I’ve shared before.
Step 2: For the chocolate frosting
Recipe here. This recipe will yield will about 2 cups of frosting, scale the recipe by 1.5 times to cover the entire, 8-inch two-layer cake.
Step 3: Assembling the cake
Once the cake has completely cooled down, scrape off the dome shape of the cake with the help of a long serrated knife to have a flat top. Also, transfer some cream to a piping bag and snip off the edge of the piping bag before you begin piping, to pipe out the layers in between. I do this so that the cream layer looks even all over. You may simply transfer the cream with the help of a spatula if that is convenient for you.
Put a little chocolate frosting on the serving platter or cake stand.
Transfer the first layer to the stand. Brush it with generously with sugar syrup.
Pipe out the chocolate frosting in circular motions starting from the outer circumference towards the center. Smooth out the frosting with an offset spatula.
Repeat the same with the second layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake well. It does not have to be perfect, so you really don’t need to smooth it out.
Line the Kit Kat bars vertically by sticking them to the sides of the cake, it should stick pretty well to the frosting. If not, apply some frosting on the back of the kit kat bar and stick it. Wrap a bow around the Kit Kat’s to secure them in place.
Fill the top of the cake with M&M’s. This cake will stay well for up to 3 days at room temperature or cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Have a break have a KitKat cake slice 😀
Notes
★ Did you enjoy this DIY Kit Kat cake from scratch tutorial, I would love to hear from you! If you try this recipe, I’d appreciate it if you could rate and leave a review below in the comments. Your reviews help others know the recipe better too. Feel free to share your feedback and suggestions at [email protected]. Thanks so much 🙂 You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter
