Piñata cake with Smarties

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 12 eggs
• 480 g sugar
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar
• 360 g wheat flour type 405
• 250 g butter
• 200 g condensed milk (caramel condensed milk, dark milkmaid, Dovgan or similar)
• 300 g cream
• 750 g milk chocolate
• 100 g desiccated coconut
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 points Smarties or similar chocolate chips

Instructions

Working time approx. 3 hours; Rest period approx. 1 day; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 day 3 hours 40 minutes

Layer cake filled with sweets, for about 8 pieces of cake

I prepare the ganache the evening before as follows: Melt chopped chocolate in the microwave on the defrost setting for a few minutes until about half the chocolate is liquid. Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan and pour it directly over the chocolate. After about 5 minutes, whisk the mixture vigorously until the cream and chocolate form a homogenous mixture. Cover the ganache thoroughly with plastic wrap and store it at room temperature until the next day. For the sponge cake, beat the eggs, 480g sugar, and vanilla sugar with a hand mixer at full speed for about 10 minutes; the mixture should then have tripled in size. Then lightly fold in the flour with a whisk. Halve the mixture and spread it into two 20cm diameter cake rings. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (top/bottom heat) for about 30-40 minutes. If the batch is too large, simply halve the recipe and make two more. For the buttercream, cream the very soft butter in a food processor on high speed for about 6-8 minutes until smooth and velvety. Now add the caramelized milk and stir briefly until the mixture is homogeneous. A few drops of caramel or vanilla flavoring can be added to taste. For the garnish, mix the coconut flakes with 2 tablespoons of sugar and place in a non-stick pan. Gently toast the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar caramelizes slightly and clings to the coconut flakes. The mixture should not clump, otherwise it was not stirred enough and/or the temperature was too high. Let cool and set aside. Assemble the cake: Use a long serrated knife to cut a straight edge off the two sponge cake layers and divide the layers in half to create four individual layers. For two layers, cut a hole about 10 cm wide in the center of each layer (use a cookie cutter or cut out with a knife along the shape of a cup or similar). The sweets will later be placed in this hollow space. Now the layers are stacked and placed on top of each other with a thin layer of buttercream. Start with a solid layer, then add the two with holes. The resulting hollow is then filled to the brim with chocolate drops or other sweets. It is important that the filling really reaches the brim so that the top layer does not sag. Now spread a thin layer of buttercream along the edge of the top perforated layer and place the last solid layer on top. Then the cake is covered all around with ganache and smoothed with a palette knife or pastry scraper. If the room-temperature ganache is too hard, simply warm it in the microwave for a few seconds – but only for a few seconds! If it is too soft, put it in the fridge for a bit. It has the perfect consistency when it spreads like room-temperature Nutella; you just have to experiment a bit. Finally, the cake is completely covered with caramelized desiccated coconut, and the piñata cake is ready. This is just a basic recipe; you can use other fillings, for example, or cover the cake entirely with colorful chocolate chips instead of coconut flakes. A real hit at any child’s birthday party!