| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr 10 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 25 min |
| Yield: | 14 to 16 servings |
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, for the pans
- All-purpose flour, for the pans
- 2 18.25-ounce boxes yellow cake mix, plus required ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon yellow food coloring
- Yellow sanding sugar, for coating
- Small chocolate disks (such as melting wafers)
Instructions
- Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan plus a 1-quart and 2 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl. Make both cake mixes; divide the batter among the pan and bowls. Bake at 350 degrees F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes for the pan and small bowl, and 50 minutes for the large bowl.
- Let the cakes cool 15 minutes in the pan and bowls, then unmold onto racks to cool completely. Trim the flat sides of the bowl cakes with a serrated knife to make level. Using a chef’s knife, cut the 4 corners off the rectangular cake, as shown; set aside 3 of the cake triangles for the tail and beak.
- Put the flat cake on a cake board or platter; use toothpicks to attach 2 cake triangles to a short end for the tail. Position the large bowl cake on the flat cake as shown, then top with the small bowl cake; insert a skewer through the cakes to secure. Trim another cake triangle to make a beak; attach to the small bowl cake with toothpicks.
- Make the frosting: Heat the sugar with the cream of tartar, salt and 2/3 cup water in a saucepan, stirring, until dissolved. Beat the egg whites with a mixer until frothy. Slowly beat in the hot sugar mixture, then increase the mixer speed and beat until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts and the food coloring.
- Cover the cake with a thick layer of the yellow frosting, using the frosting to sculpt a rounded chick shape. With the edge of an offset spatula, use some frosting to extend the beak and tail.
- Coat the cake with yellow sanding sugar. Refrigerate, uncovered, 15 minutes. Press the chocolate disks into the frosting for eyes. Remove the skewer and toothpicks as you cut the cake.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 14 servings |
| Calories | 382 |
| Total Fat | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 84 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 55 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 3 mg |
| Sodium | 550 mg |
Reviews
As soon as I saw this I KNEW I had to make it. My middle school son and I made two- one pink and one yellow. To save time, we made one with canned frosting and one with the recipe. The recipe frosting was BY FAR much better. Not sure why some people couldn’t get the egg whites to whip- eggs can be tempermental at times. My son’s teacher was so surprise to see this on her desk one morning- it was perfect for their celebration of hatching baby chicks! The hardest part for me was getting the sugar under the peeps chin without making a huge mess!
Tried this today. Fun, but hard. The frosting was the hardest part for me. It takes more than the 7 minutes as it says. More like 20, to get the thickness so it wouldn’t run down cake. Also agree with the shaping of the peep. It’s not very clear. So mine turned out looking like a peep with a hunchback. Fun for the kids and all. But seriously doubt I would do it again anytime soon.
This cake tasted great and looked great. The kids loved it, and I actually ate quite a bit of it. The frosting was delicious and more appealing to me than a typical buttercream.
It was great fun to make and to have at Easter, I found the sanding sugar at Williams and Sonoma, didn’t need too many toothpicks. The frosting was yummy and it sett up just like a real Peep!
My 8-yr old daughter and I had a ball making this Peep cake. We used a super-moist lemon cake mix and used 1/2 c fresh lemon juice in place of some of the water to make it extra “lemony” which it was! Yes, like other reviewers, we used a lot of toothpicks and dyed regular sugar yellow for lack of sanding sugar, but the delight on the kids’ faces at our family gathering was priceless and worth every not-perfect-moment with this cake. Thank you!
Saw this cake recipe in the Food Network magazine and gave it a go today. As previous reviews said, definitely need lots of toothpicks to support the tail and the beak pieces. I was not a fan of the icing in this recipe though. Cake is in the fridge tonight, hopefully it will taste better tomorrow. I used yellow crystal sugar for the ‘sanding’–though this did little to improve the icing! Although icing wasn’t good, giving it three stars because I liked the unique concept, and it was fun for Easter weekend.
I made this peep cake today, the day before Easter. Totally fun and easy, it actually has peep resemblance! Instead of chocolate wafers, we used Hershey Kisses and it worked fine. To attach the “beak” we needed LOTS of toothpicks (and the tail. Can’t wait to eat it tomorrow!
I decided to use a chocolate fudge cake recipe with vanilla buttercream icing. I don’t know if the different kind of cake made a difference but it flattened out while cooling and I ended up with a genie lamp rather than a peep. So I made a little more batter and baked it in as round a bowl I could find. That added an extra layer. That being said, I still don’t see how they got from step 5 to the shape of step 6. It more or less came out in the end but not as sharp and curved as the picture. I’m not going to down-rate this recipe since I did my own thing, but I loved the idea.
Oh and if you have trouble finding sanding sugar, I finally found it at a craft store (I.e. Michaels, Hobby Lobby.
I don’t think this really needs a “recipe” but an idea refresher is nice. Just made one with my Granddaughter with a cake mix and a basic butter cream icing. Then just peep it anyway you want. It is adorable, kid friendly from start to finish, and as she said ” It’s tasty!”
This was so fun to make, me and my mom did it together and it was sooo good.