Mac and Cheese Cake

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Yield: 8 to 10 servings
  • Total: 3 hr
  • Active: 40 min
Mac and cheese purists, look away: This version is made out of cake and candy! To create it, we baked and frosted a bowl-shaped cake, then piped orange candy melts and piled them on top to look like macaroni.
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Ingredients

Cooking spray

1 15- to 16-ounce box yellow cake mix (plus required ingredients)

1 cup orange candy melts

1 cup yellow candy melts 

2 16-ounce tubs white frosting

Orange and yellow gel food coloring

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 2 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl with cooking spray. Make the cake mix as directed; pour the batter into the bowl.
  2. Bake the cake in the bowl until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool slightly, then remove from the bowl to a rack to cool completely. 
  3. Meanwhile, make the macaroni: Melt the orange and yellow candy melts together in the microwave, stirring. Let cool slightly. 
  4. Transfer the melted candy to a piping bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Pipe 50 to 60 elbows onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let set, about 20 minutes.
  5. Put the bowl cake right-side up. Use a small knife to score a rim around the top of the cake, about 1/2 inch in from the edge. Carve out a little of the cake inside the rim to create a bowl. 
  6. Flip the bowl upside down onto a separate parchment-lined baking sheet and cover the sides with frosting, leaving the middle bare. (You'll flip it and this will become the bottom.) Freeze until firm, about 1 hour. 
  7. Flip the bowl cake right-side up. Cover the rim with more frosting, reserving about 3/4 cup.  
  8. Tint the reserved frosting orange using orange and yellow food coloring. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with the 1/4-inch round tip. Pipe squiggles of frosting inside the rim of the cake. 
  9. Remove the candy macaroni from the baking sheet and arrange on top of the cake.

Let's Get Cooking!

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