I had just enough time to make one more cake before Easter this year, and I wanted it to be epic. Nothing screams “EASTER” more than peeps, so they were in main inspiration for this cake! I used a pastel color theme to match with the peeps, and made a really fun checkerboard pattern on the inside. My favorite vanilla layer cake recipe works great for this, and I used 8 inch pans with 6″, 4″, and 2″ circle cutters. You can watch the full tutorial of this cake here. The recipes I used can be found below:

My Favorite Vanilla Layer Cake Recipe (divided into four parts, colored pastel shades of blue, purple, pink, and yellow with gel food coloring)

The Best Vanilla American Buttercream

White Chocolate Ganache (colored pastel blue, purple, pink, and yellow with gel food coloring)

Tools:

• 8 inch cake pans
• 6 inch, 4 inch, and 2 inch circle cutters (or cutters that can cut cake rings of equal width)
• Wilton 1M piping tip
• piping bags
• Peeps
• whopper chocolate eggs

Begin by baking cake layers. I usually do this the night before, as baking an entire cake from scratch in one day can be a bit much. While my cake layers bake, I make my buttercream. As long as the buttercream is stored properly, it can sit out overnight at room temperature (just be sure to re-stir it before frosting the cake the following day). The ganache can be made in advance as well, but needs to be stored in the fridge overnight (you can see a full tutorial on how to make colored drips here). To use it the following day, simply heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds – 1 minute, until the bottle is slightly warm to the touch, and is fluid enough to make drops.

Once the cake layers are baked and fully chilled, level cake layers to a uniformed height (roughly 1 inch) using a serrated knife. Remove parchment paper, and use circle cutters to cut the cake into four rings (technically three, since the center ends up being a circle :P). Gently separate the rings from one another, and lay them out on counter. Following a set color patter (I went blue, pink, purple yellow), rearrange the rings into four complete cake layers.

Once all layers are recombined, stack and frost layers with buttercream. Apply a thin crumb coat, and chill the cake in freezer for 5 minutes. Once the crumb coat is firm to the touch, apply, a second, thicker coat of frosting. Smooth with a bench scrapper. If you want to see a full tutorial for how I get smooth sides on my cakes, you can click here. Place cake in freezer for 15 minutes. Once the cake is fully chilled, use a squirt bottle to add the ganache drips. You can learn all the tips and tricks I use to add drips to a cake here.

Place leftover frosting into a piping bag with a Wilton 1M tip, and pipe large swirls in a ring around the top of the cake. Be sure to leave at least 1.5 inches of room between the edge of the cake and the swirls, so that the peeps will fit!  Next, place a peep on top of each swirl, and nestle whopper eggs between the swirls. And that’s it! Then all that’s left to do is cut into the cake, to see that beautiful checkerboard pattern 🙂