How to Make a Stuffed Piñata Cake

There's nothing that makes a party quite like a cake filled with candy — and it's easier to make than you think.

By: Food Network Kitchen

Related To:

The Best Surprise Inside

What's the best thing you could find after slicing into a dessert? More dessert, of course! Colorful candy spills out of our pastel piñata cake in piles, delighting all party guests. Get the detailed recipe for the cake here, and use these step-by-step photos as extra guidance.

Photography by Matt Armendariz

Get the Recipe: Stuffed Pinata Cake

Mix the Batter

We chose a classic vanilla cake as a crowd-pleasing blank slate for all that candy. Follow the specific instructions for the cake in the recipe here. You'll likely recognize them: Combine the wet ingredients, cream the butter and sugar, mix the dry ingredients, then beat everything together.

Bake the Cake

Once your batter is mixed, divide it evenly between two 9-inch round cake pans (which have been buttered and lined with parchment). Bake at 350 degrees F, until the cake bounces back when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in the cake pans on a rack.

Whip Up the Frosting

Sugar, lemon juice, salt and egg whites get whisked together over boiling water until the sugar dissolves. Then the mixture morphs into frosting in a stand mixer as you slowly add butter. Get the detailed instructions in the recipe.

Make Space for the Candy

Cut a 4-inch circle out of the center of each cake, and reserve the small cutout cake rounds — you'll need them later.

Assemble and Fill

Put one of the cake rings on a cake stand or serving platter and frost with about 1 cup of frosting. Put the other cake ring on top and push down slightly. Fill the hole with 2 cups of candy — there should still be a little room left at the top of the hole.

Cover the Candy

Cut one of the reserved cake rounds in half horizontally to make 2 thinner rounds. Use one to fill the hole on top of the cake.

Finish Frosting

Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.

Dye and Start Decorating

To make the multicolored topping, divide shredded coconut into a few resealable plastic bags, and shake with a few drops of food coloring (find the specific ratios for each color in the recipe).

Then, cut a strip of parchment about 30 inches long and 3 inches wide. Wrap the parchment around the cake like a collar, leaving 1 inch of frosting exposed around the bottom perimeter of the cake. Pack some of the blue coconut onto the exposed frosting to make your first strip of color. Lift the collar up another 1 inch and do the same with the orange coconut. Remove the collar and fill the remaining inch of frosting with the yellow coconut.

Add More Color

For the top, make 1-inch-wide rings, starting on the outside and working your way in, with the purple, pink, blue and orange coconut until the top is completely covered.

Finish Up

Once you add the last bit of coconut, all that's left is to cut the cake and watch the room fill with wide grins! Let the cake sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour before serving for the best slicing.

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