Hangin' with My Peeps

This fun cake made use of items that I have in my pantry all the time, plus the added bonus of being able to justify buying extra half-price Easter candy.  I LOVE Peeps.  Nothing says Easter like a sugar-coated chicken!  That is, besides the the joy of  worshiping my risen Savior.  This Peeps Sunflower Cake came from Carolina Country magazine and just screams beautiful weather.  

You will need:

2 boxes of cake mix

2 cans of chocolate frosting

4 packs of Peeps (20 in total)

chocolate chips

I made 2 - 10 inch cakes (I used coconut, but you can use any flavor that goes well with chocolate) and followed the directions on the box.  There are a few tips that may help when trying to make cake decorating a little easier.  Cutting the top off of your cake makes stacking them much easier.  You can use a knife, but if you are like me and not very good a judging what is level, you can find this great little tool that looks like a glorified coat hanger.  The thin wire just cuts through the cake, leaving you with a nice flat cake top.  My other tip is to freeze your cake before icing it (make sure you put waxed paper in between the layers before freezing or you may need a crowbar to get them apart).  The crumbs are a little easier to handle when the cake is firmer.

The next step with the Peeps Sunflower Cake is to ice it, just like you would any 2 layer cake, using 2 cans of chocolate frosting.  Once the cake is frosted, now comes the fun part. Take something small and round (like an apple corer) and gently mark a light circle in the center of the cake - this will help with the chocolate chip step.  I didn't do this and my chocolate chips are a little off center.  Next, leaving the Peeps connected in the row of 5, curve them slightly to go around the edge of the cake.  Now begin putting the chips around the circle that you made in the center of the cake, and bring them out to the edge of the Peeps.  A nice touch might be to use mini chocolate chips in the first few circles in the center, then move to regular size chips.  I didn't have any minis, but I think that would have been more realistic looking.  Voila - you now have a yummy sunflower that takes as good as it looks!  

If you need any Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker cake mix coupons, check out Your Coupon Cafe.

Enjoy!