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A four layer chocolate cake with peach coloured vanilla buttercream and oodles of hidden Easter treats! A delicious Easter piñata cake!

Easter baking!

So, after posting several Easter recipes already this year, and many last year, I couldn’t resist posting another showstopper. My Mini Egg drip cake and Easter chocolate cake are already big cakes full of Easter goodness, but I realised I have never posted a piñata cake… so that had to happen. And it had to be full of Easter treats.

Cake

I knew from the start that I wanted to make this a chocolate cake, but not a chocolate fudge cake. I know that not everyone wants to go through the faff of making a chocolate fudge cake-like in my Easter chocolate cake, so I used a simple Chocolate Victoria sponge style sponge, but with light brown sugar as it’s my favourite for all things chocolate cake these days.

Buttercream

I thought as my Easter chocolate cake was chocolate cake on chocolate icing, and my Mini Egg drip cake is vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, that this should have vanilla frosting as well. Making it different enough to get away with posting it and all, and because I like how you can make vanilla frosting any colour you like.

Colour

I was originally going to go for a duck egg style blue or something like a purple, but I thought peach would be nice and simple. Also, I couldn’t find my other food colours… but that’s beside the point! The colouring is entirely optional though. This is the peach colouring that I use if it helps!

Tins

For the sponges, I used two of these beautiful PME cake tins – and I am obsessed with them. Because this is a four-layer cake, but baked into two sponges.. they work perfectly! I bake my sponges at 140C fan and it always give me the perfect flat sponges. 

Piping tips, tools and sprinkles!

I use this beautiful scraper for this cake, and my drip cakes, and it makes it so much easier and neater. I always use my trusty 2D closed star piping tip to decorate as well because it makes glorious little swirls, and then top it with one of my favourite sprinkles from Iced Jems!

Hidden centre

I thought Mini Eggs represent Easter really well because they’re so recognisable. I have however made these cakes several times with different insides. Maltesers, Smarties, buttons, and even gummy sweets, but I just think Easter treats look SO GOOD.

Easter chocolates

As Easter chocolates are so good these days I used a combination of literally all of the ones I could buy at the time, but it’s all optional. It’s best to use things of a similar size to these as you when you cut the cake you want to have enough for every person to eat!

Piñata cakes

I literally ADORE piñata cakes because they just look amazing. People of all ages love them as well because it’s just a simple surprise. I just love that it looks like a simple and delicious cake either way but as you cut into them you get a cascade of SO MUCH CHOCOLATE and yeah well YUMMY.

More Easter bakes

I have many more Easter recipes on my blog which are definitely worth a go! If you were looking for a big cake alternative, there is chick cupcakes, Easter blondies, an Easter tart and even meringues!  But yeah, I hope you love this recipe as much as I did, and my trusty taste testers did! Enjoy! X

Easter Piñata Cake!

A four layer chocolate cake with peach coloured vanilla buttercream and oodles of hidden Easter treats! A delicious Easter piñata cake!
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Category: Dessert
Type: Cake
Keyword: Easter
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Decorating Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 18 Slices
Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 500 g unsalted butter
  • 500 g light brown sugar
  • 425 g self raising flour
  • 75 g cocoa powder
  • 10 medium eggs

Buttercream Ingredients

  • 350 g unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 700 g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Food colouring

Piñata

  • 400 g chocolate eggs (Mini Eggs/Smartie Eggs/etc)

Decoration

  • 50 g milk chocolate
  • 50 g dark chocolate
  • 100 ml double cream
  • 100-200 g chocolate eggs (Mini Eggs/Smartie Eggs/etc)
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

For the Cake!

  • Heat the oven to 160C/140C Fan and line two DEEP 20cm/8inch cake tins with baking parchment – leave to the side.
  • In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the flour, cocoa powder and eggs and beat again briefly until combined – try not to overbeat! 
  • Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth it over – bake for 60-70 minutes (Check after 50 minutes if your oven runs hot, can take longer) until the cake is golden and when the cake springs back (the skewer should also come out clean)
  • Once baked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.

For the Decoration!

  • In a stand mixer, beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth and loose and then beat in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time until its fully combined. 
  • Add in the food colouring and vanilla - Keep beating the buttercream for 5-6 minutes on a medium speed so it starts to get fluffier and lighter. If too thick, add one tablespoon of boiling water at a time until its smooth enough. 
  • Once the cake is cooled, I level them off so that they are flat, and then divide the cakes into two – so I end up with 4 layers. On three of the four layers, cut out a hole using a 6 or 7cm cutter in the middle of the cake. 
  • With the first layer of the cake, spread some of the buttercream onto the top of the first layer (basically on the sponge you can see, not where the hole is). Only use about 1-2 tbsp of buttercream per layer so that you have enough to decorate with!
  • Add the second layer on and repeat, and the third layer and repeat. Once you've used the three layers with the holes, fill in the hole with the chocolate egg sweets. I used a mixture of all different Easter chocolate eggs. Make sure it's quite compact but don't go crazy!
  • Add the fourth (And complete) layer on top so the hidden sweets are covered and sealed in. Buttercream round the edges and sides so the cake is covered - I went for the naked effect so scraped it away so part sponge, part buttercream was the outside. 
  • Let the cake sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to firm up.
  • Add your milk and dark chocolate to a bowl, and pour over the cream.
  • Heat until melted - I microwave the mix for 30 seconds, and stir well. Then I heat for 10-second bursts until smooth!
  • Pipe around the edge of the cake, and cover the top! Let the cake sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to firm up again.
  • Pipe on any leftover buttercream, and decorate with some extra chocolate eggs and some sprinkles! 

Notes

  • As its for Easter, I made my buttercream a peachy colour, but you could easily dye the frosting a pale shade of pink, blue, etc – add in a little of whatever colouring as you’re whipping the frosting up!
  • I bake the cake at 140C in my oven as its a deeper cake, and it makes it bake flat. It also tends to stay moister. If you’re in a rush you can bake it at the usual temperatures, but adjust the baking time accordingly.
  • This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days, at room temperature.
  • Nibble on the offcuts of the 3/4 layers whilst decorating - best fuel for decorating. 
  • You can use whatever chocolatey filling you like, even just regular stuff not even Easter treats!
  • This recipe was updated March 2020
    • The original cake recipe used 450g butter and sugar, 325g flour, 75g cocoa powder and 7-8 large eggs. 
    • The original didn't feature a drip, but everything else is the same. 

ENJOY!

Find my other Cake & Easter Recipes on my Recipes Page!

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J x

© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.

52 Comments

  1. Rebekah on March 12, 2024 at 5:21 pm

    If I bake this is in 4 separate sandwich tins, how long would I bake it for please?

  2. Catherine Bourke on April 3, 2023 at 2:22 pm

    my cake fell apart when I cut the Centre out is there a way that this doesn’t happen

    • Jane's Patisserie on April 5, 2023 at 12:59 pm

      Hiya! You could try a smaller cutter, chilling the sponges before cutting and be delicate when removing part of the sponge. Hope this helps! x



  3. Baishakhi on May 13, 2022 at 10:01 am

    Great recipe. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

  4. JO DAVIES on November 29, 2021 at 9:37 am

    Could I do the sponges ahead of time & freeze?

  5. Rosie on June 9, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    5 stars
    Can’t wait to try this out! I’m making a version on this cake for my son’s birthday, but my tins are 20cm (8 inches) wide and 6.5cm deep. Is that too shallow for this recipe and would you recommend I bake 4 separate layers instead?

    • Jane's Patisserie on June 10, 2021 at 12:36 pm

      Hey, yeah I would bake four separate layers xx



  6. Jodie on April 4, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane!!

    I made this yesterday for Easter!
    I made the butter cream yellow for Easter and it looked great and tasted amazing!! Thank you so much I love your recipes!! X

  7. Sienna Dhaliwal on March 17, 2021 at 2:10 pm

    Hi I really want to make this cake but vanilla and in 6″ tins which aren’t very deep. How much of the recipe would I need to make a decent sized cake and how many tins would I use?

    • Jane's Patisserie on March 17, 2021 at 9:25 pm

      I’m unsure on how many tins, but typically a 6″ version would be about 2/3 of the recipe x



  8. Zohra on February 26, 2021 at 5:28 pm

    Hi Jane,

    Love the sound of this recipe and might try it out! 🙂

    What measurements would you say for a 6 inch cake?

    Zohra x

    • Jane's Patisserie on February 28, 2021 at 11:38 am

      I usually say 2/3 of the recipe x



  9. Emma on February 21, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    How come u don’t use the choc fudge cake recipe for all the choccy cakes? It’s super tasty. Is this sponge sturdier? 🤔

    • Jane's Patisserie on February 22, 2021 at 10:33 am

      Yeah that sponge isn’t sturdy at all – this is much easier! But also, its just a different recipe..



  10. Amy Ellis on January 25, 2021 at 9:29 am

    5 stars
    Hi,

    Love the look of this recipe! Hoping to make it with m and m’s for my brothers birthday.. If wanting to use white chocolate drip instead, how many grams of white chocolate and cream would you recommend in this case?

    Thank you so much!

    • Jane's Patisserie on January 27, 2021 at 8:14 pm

      Ahh yay! For white chocolate you use a 3:1 ratio of chocolate to cream x



  11. Kirsty on December 7, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    Hi jane, I’m wanting to make the vanilla version of this for my daughters birthday but shes wanting it rainbow coloured. Do I need to do anything differently or can I just add the food colouring gel straight to the mixture? Thanks

    • Jane's Patisserie on December 7, 2020 at 7:55 pm

      You can just colour it – but you must use good quality colours such as sugar flair, progel, wilton etc! x



  12. Ms Shivani Katan Shah on December 5, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    Hiya. I’m making this, this afternoon but have 23cm tins. how can I calculate the ingredients please? Thanks so much x

    • Jane's Patisserie on December 6, 2020 at 9:52 am

      I would add about 1/3 more ingredients if you wanted it about the same size – or, you can split the mixture between two 9″ tins x



  13. Rachael Humphrey on September 13, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    Hi Jane

    How do I substitute the ingredients for this to add the malt powder for a malteser version pińata cake please?

    Love your recipes!!

    Thank you x

  14. Lily on August 17, 2020 at 5:46 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane,
    So I made this cake in July, and followed a comment about how to change it to a vanilla sponge and it was delicious! I would like to make it again, as a vanilla sponge, but I was wondering how I would change it to 3 layers instead of 4?
    Thank you!

    • Jane's Patisserie on August 17, 2020 at 8:02 pm

      Hey! Ahh yay! So I would use a 400g mix (400 butter/sugar/flour/8 eggs + vanilla) and bake for about 30 minutes in three 8″ tins xx



    • Lily on August 17, 2020 at 8:28 pm

      Thank you very much! xx



  15. Ian on July 8, 2020 at 3:22 pm

    Hi Jane, I am wanting to make this cake looking at the ingredients for both the Maltesers cake and the Easter piñata cake. I have two of the 8” deep tins but on the Malteser cake you use three small tins. I only have the deep tins. Can I just bake the malteser cake in the deep tins or do I need to increase the recipe to the amount of ingredients as per the Easter piñata cake. Would I just use 500g butter, 500g sugar, 12eggs , 474 s.r flour, 75 cocoa powder and then the 100g malt powder. I am wanting to fill the middle with sweet treats. Thanks in advance Ian

    • Jane's Patisserie on July 8, 2020 at 6:32 pm

      Hiya! Yes I would follow the recipe you have said in the comment (but 10 eggs not 12) – and bake like this recipe!



  16. Amy Dillon on April 13, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    Hi, how tall is this in cm? Would this work if I halved the recipe to only have 2 layers or is it better at your height?
    Thanks

    • Jane's Patisserie on April 14, 2020 at 9:09 am

      Most of my 4 layer cakes are 7″ tall – so about 17.5cm! For a pińata cake it’s definitely better as taller so you get more sweets, but you can easily halve it if you won’t eat this amount of cake!



  17. Clara on April 7, 2020 at 6:30 pm

    Hi Jane, I am making this recipe in a couple of days (if I can get all the ingredients) but cannot see where you put the double cream into the recipe. Is it an essential ingredient or just an optional ingredient. Thank you xx

    • Jane's Patisserie on April 7, 2020 at 6:56 pm

      It’s for the ganache! Your pour the cream over the chocolates! x



  18. Simone on April 7, 2020 at 10:21 am

    Help! I am currently making this right now, it says add the baking powder but there is no baking powder on the ingredients! How much do I need?!

    • Jane's Patisserie on April 7, 2020 at 6:59 pm

      Sorry – that was on the earlier version of the recipe. You don’t need it, but you can add 1tsp if you want!



  19. Gabrielle on January 3, 2019 at 8:55 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane, I would like to bake this tomorrow but would like to do a vanilla sponge, would I just take out the cocoa powder out or would i need to replace it with something else?? thank you XX

    • Jane's Patisserie on January 3, 2019 at 9:17 pm

      Up the flour to 450g, and don’t use the baking powder! xx



  20. Amanda W. on July 11, 2018 at 9:59 am

    5 stars
    Hi Jane, i’m planning to bake this on Thursday, and i wish to check how do you cut out a hole in the middle – Do you cut one layer and trace the other 2 layers? if you don’t mind sharing, which round cookie cutter did you use? i was trying to find a deep cookie cutter that would allow me to trace and cut two layers which could reach the bottom layer when i cut down. Thanks for your help.

    • Jane's Patisserie on July 11, 2018 at 10:09 am

      Hiya! I just cut one layer at a time. I guess where I’m cutting as the cake isn’t too big so its easier to find the middle. However you could easily measure it if you preferred. It’s probably best to just use a round cookie cutter and cut one layer at a time, and then any round cutter should be deep enough.



    • Amanda W. on July 12, 2018 at 1:15 pm

      5 stars
      Thank you Jane. If I were to bake them in 4 seperate tins, do you reckon 140c fan forced, would need about 40 mins to get a flat cake? Thanks



    • Jane's Patisserie on July 12, 2018 at 7:25 pm

      Probably yes! I haven’t done it in 4 tins, so I’m not 100% sure.. but keep an eye on them!



  21. Maria on May 15, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    5 stars
    I’ve loved it so much I’m making it again for Thursday for an after SATs party!! Last time I used mini eggs.Should I use them again or are there any alternative sweets? Also (sorry about all the questions ) the raspberry buttercream was a bit too thin. Is there anything I can do to change this?
    It was amazing anyway though.😊 Thank you so much!!!!

    • Jane's Patisserie on May 15, 2018 at 8:17 pm

      You can use any sweets you like! And I’m not sure about the buttercream as I don’t know what recipe you used.



  22. Maria on May 14, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    5 stars
    I made it with raspberry buttercream instead. It was amazing !! 😉

  23. Susan Parkes on May 13, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    5 stars
    This cake looks amazing, I love the look of it and was going to use for a cake filled with M+Ms for my nephews communion, I was thinking of making a 10 inch tall cake so would you know how I could increase ingredients to do this? Some fantastic inspiration on your blog, my nephew literally loved every one of your cakes!! So hard to choose <3

    • Jane's Patisserie on May 13, 2018 at 7:32 pm

      10″ Tall is VERY tall for a cake.. this is already 6″ and its quite hefty! Therefore, you could add on another layer or two to get that high! However, you’ll need to make sure the buttercream is quite stiff so its doesn’t slide through height!



  24. Julia on March 30, 2018 at 9:38 am

    Cake looks amazing so I’m sorry to ask this but really don’t want to mess it up. Do I definitely only need 6 eggs with 450g of each dry ingredient? I would have Expected to use at least 8? Thanks

    • Jane's Patisserie on March 30, 2018 at 9:54 am

      If you use medium eggs then about 8 is good, but you can use 7 Large ones if you prefer? The ones I use came to a weight of around 420g so I only use 6 Large ones at the time x



  25. Bea on March 23, 2018 at 9:47 am

    5 stars
    I pinned this for right now. I’m thinking I might could make 4 of the 6 inch cake tins. I think you cut your 2 ( 8 inch) on half right? To make 4 layers? I love the peach color. Especially with the chocolate cake. It looks beautiful 🌷

    • Jane's Patisserie on March 24, 2018 at 4:34 pm

      Yeah I made two 8″ cakes, and split them in two. If you used the same quantities the cake will be verrrryyy tall! And thank you! X



  26. Emily on March 22, 2018 at 3:15 pm

    What type of tins do you use for this? I normally would use 4 sandwich one but find I can’t get an even bake and I want a level cake

    • Jane's Patisserie on March 22, 2018 at 3:36 pm

      I use cheap deep tins from Asda and they do the trick! Sometimes using deeper cakes and baking at a low temperature for longer is the best thing to level a cake out whilst baking!



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