Surprise! There’s candy inside this chocolate peanut butter surprise cake. Fill the cake with your choice of candies or treats!

One of my childhood friends is having a baby!!! Even though I’m 30, when I look at my friends and I, I still see us as little kids running around playing tag and hide and seek. It’s hard to believe that we’re not children anymore.
I have been entrusted to make the gender reader cake. Although my friend’s party isn’t for a couple of weeks, I like to be prepared. I never make a cake without testing it out first.
Plus, Alex has been badgering me for another chocolate peanut butter dessert. I used the chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting from Alex’s baseball cap birthday cake.
Table of Contents
How to assemble surprise cake
This recipe makes four 6-inch cake rounds. I only used three of the cake rounds to build this cake.
- Slice each cake into 2 or 3 layers, depending on your preference. Save 3 layers.
- Punch 3-inch rounds in the center of the remaining layers. (Snack on the punched out rounds, or use them to build a tiny snack cake!)
- Use two of the reserved cake layers for the bottom of the cake. It’s best to two layers so you have a strong base.
- Stack the cut layers on top. Frost and assemble cake as normal.
- Fill the cavity with candies of your choice. Place remaining reserved cake layer on top. Coat and frost cake as usual.
I used these pumpkin spice latte M&M’s.
Cake Crumb Topping
I used the remaining cake round to make oven dried cake crumbs as shown above. They’re like little crunchy cookie bits.
Simply crumble the cake into small chunks and bake them in a 350 degree F oven until they are nice and crispy. They add a nice change of texture to an otherwise soft dessert.
While these cakes are really fun and exciting to cut into, keep in that this cake doesn’t serve a lot of people.
You’ll end with oddly shaped slices. (Delicious! but oddly shaped) These cakes are perfect for special occasions like baby gender reveal parties and engagements.
Other Filling Ideas
This surprise cake is great for candy lovers. A variety of different sweet will work as fillings:
- gummy worms
- Reese’s pieces
- Rolos
- sour candies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1 ½ cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temp
- 2 ¼ cup whole milk, room temp
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup smooth peanut butter*
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour four 6- inch cake rounds (3-inch deep). Line with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. Make sure there are no cocoa powder lumps. If desired, sift ingredients together. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat until lightened in color and fluffy in texture. Scrape down bowl as necessary.
- Add eggs one at a time, ensuring each egg is incorporated before adding the next one. Scrape bowl as necessary to ensure even mixing.
- Add vanilla extract to milk.
- Add ⅓ of dry flour mixture to mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until almost combined. Follow with ½ of milk mixture. Repeat and end with last 1/3 of flour mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined and there are no streaks of flour left.
- Divide batter evenly between four 8-inch cake rounds. (If you only have two cake rounds, divide by two and split cake layers after baking.) Use a mini offset spatula to even out the cake batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cakes are done and toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool for 5-10 minutes before unmolding. Let cake cool to room temperature on wire rack.
Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and peanut butter until smooth and combined. Slowly add sifted powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add cream and mix until desired consistency is achieved.
Assembly:
- This recipe makes four 6-inch cake rounds. I only used three cake rounds to build the cake shown in photos above. Slice each cake into 2 or 3 layers, depending on your preference. Save 3 layers and set aside. Punch 3-inch rounds in the center of the remaining layers. (Snack on punch out rounds, or use them to build a tiny snack cake.)
- Use two of the reserved cake layers to serve as the bottom of the cake. Frost and stack cake as normal using the cut cake layers. Fill the cavity with candies of your choice. Place the remaining reserved layer on top. Coat and frost cake as usual.
- If desired, use the unused cake round to make "dried cake crumbs." Crumble cake into small chunks. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until cake crumbs are dried and crispy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is just the coolest! Thanks for the tutorial, so much fun and so festive for the fall season!
I’d love a surprise like that cutting into a cake!