Tada!! Here’s an outlandishly cool Kit-kat pigs in mud cake — swimming in a tub of chocolate mud! Oh, my, what a great birthday cake! All that chocolate!!! I am breaking all ‘let’s eat healthy and lose weight’- rules and am posting the recipe for this delicious cake!
image credit: facebook.com/taartvanfiona ; upgraded by FineCraftGuild
I guess, in the continued celebration of my Dutch heritage**, here is another Dutch bit of splendour! In putting this post together, I personally translated several different Dutch* recipes, and completed it with conversions of gram to oz, F to C, etc. Pfft. Am tired now. But, we now have a complete set of usable instructions on how to make this fantastic Pigs in Mud chocolate cake.
I broke it down into two different recipes.
- The first recipe for the cake filling. It is a wonderful world-wide classic. My family has made this kind of cake filling for decades and it makes the perfect base for this Kit-kat & chocolate covered Pigs-in-Mud cake.
** Truth: This basic cake is actually not exclusively Dutch. The Italians love this cake and eat it all the time, but they call this type of cake ‘Pan di Spagna’ (Spanish bread). See how international this recipe is.
- The second recipe teaches you how to transform this basic cake filling and make it into a fabulous birthday cake. It shows you how to make the chocolate cover and the fondant pigs.
Tip: please do not copy/paste these recipes and post them on your blog. It’s bad karma. Instead, refer to this page here. Thank you so much.
Cake Filling Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 125 gr sugar (125 g or lil’ bit over 1/2 cup)
- 125 gr cake flour *125 gr or just under 1.5 cup)
A note on Cake Flour
Cake flour is an American flour, It’s a finely milled flour with very low protein (usually 8-10% protein levels) and is typically used for cakes. Cake flour is also bleached. This causes the flour molecules to repel liquid, bind fats more efficiently and stabilize the gas bubbles produced by the raising agents. Theses factors helps a cake to rises more and to have a fluffy, tender texture. This is particularly true for cakes that have a high proportion of sugar in the recipe. Regular cake flour has no raising agents (i.e. not self-raising), although there are some brands that have created “self-raising” cake flour.
So, short and sweet: you can just use plain flour instead of cake flour in Australia, because bleached flour is banned in Australia and Europe (because bleaching is not healthy). Or, if you want to go the extra mile: I have heard that you can reduce the protein content of your regular flour by taking 2 tablespoons of flour out of each cup of plain flour and replacing them with 2 tablespoons of cornflour.
Kit kat Cake Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. (How many degrees F is 200 Celsius ? 390 F)
- Prep a cake form
by lining it with butter and dust it with some flour. (20 cm or almost 8”) - Tip: ensure your cake-making tools like your scale and mixing bowl are super clean and non-greasy. Otherwise your egg mixture will never properly rise, no matter how long you mix it!
by lining it with butter and dust it with some flour. (20 cm or almost 8”)Step-by-step Instructions for Cake Filling
- Mix the sugar and the eggs till your mixture is airy and white. This will take some time.
- Sift the flour and gently fold it into your egg mixture.
- Pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin and bake the cake filling for about 30 min. It’s ready when the top of the cake is spongy.
- Sprinkle some sugar onto the cake and let it cool down on a tea towel.
Preparation for Pigs in Mud Kit Kat Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- A basic cake (as above)
- Two large bars of milk chocolate (200g or 7 oz.)
- Whip cream (or double cream) (350 ml; 1.5 cup).
- Filling for our your cake, such as whipped up whip cream, prepared butter cream, marmalade.
- Three 5-packs Kit kat
- Pack of 250 g of light pink marzipan (250 g or 8.75 oz). Or use
Wilton Icing Colors 1 Oz: Rose and Niederegger White Marzipan Loaf. You’ll also need a large knife to cut the cake into layers, a tooth pick to make pig eyes, a ribbon to hold the Kit Kats together and a cake presentation tray.
image credit: Fiona, upgraded by FineCraftGuild
Step-by-Step Cake Making Instructions
- Prepare the pigs ahead of time. Roll the marzipan with your hands to create the shapes. The various shapes that you’ll need are displayed in the image.
- Poor the whip cream straight from the package into a pan and heat it on low heat, and stir it from time to time, till just before it boils. (Pay attention here because otherwise you’ll end up with a mess!) Turn off the heat. Meanwhile, break the chocolate bars into small pieces and add the chocolate to the cream while the heat is off. Stir till you have a smooth texture. Let it cool and thicken, which may take a little while. (TIP: when people tell you they are making ‘Chocolate Ganache’, this is what they are doing. So, now you have a chocolate ganache recipe too, whenever you need one….)
- Meanwhile, break the Kit Kat bars into individual chocolate sticks, and set aside.
- Cut your cake base into two layers and fill it with your filling of choice.
- When your chocolate mixture is thickened sufficiently so that it is still spreadable but holds some form, you can begin spreading the mixture onto the sides of the cake with the back of a knife. Tip: Make it easy for yourself and ensure that your cake base is on a foundation which can be rotated easily, like a cutting board, tray or large plate. This will help you in spreading the chocolate onto the sides of the cake.
- When your cake is completely covered with chocolate, stick the Kit Kat bars onto the lined cake sides, going all around the cake. Give them a slight angle so that they somewhat lean on the top –side of the cake to prevent them from falling off while you are doing your work. When done, immediately add the ribbon so that the chocolate sticks all stay up nice and straight.
- Pour the remainder of the chocolate mixture over your cake. At this point the mixture should be already quite firm but still fluid. Be patient and wait till it’s thickened enough. If your mixtures is too thin, it may seep in between your Kit kat bars.
- Place your marzipan pigs into the chocolate while it is still soft and place your cake in the fridge for 1 hour.
- When cooled, place cake onto a pretty presentation tray and serve.
Tip: if you are lucky enough to live in the Netherlands, you could order a cake by Fiona. On her Facebook page you can see lots of original birthday cakes and cakes for special events. All beautifully executed. Many are whimsical, although dare I say, this pigs in mud Kit kat chocolate cake is the true winner! Which kid / adult would not be happy getting this Kit kat pig cake for his/her birthday??!
Looking for complementary party food? Try these healthy snacks : homemade fruit popsicles for the kids and caffe latte popsicles for the grownups.
::
Demo of Making this Cake, by a Small Girl!
OK. She has the help of a very capable mom, but it shows how inspired kids can be and help out making this ever-so-fun cake:
Alternative Kit-kat Cake Designs
If this pigs-in-mud kit kat cake decoration still looks like too much of a challenge, do not despair. Here is a much simpler version of a kit kat cake: an M&M kit kat cake! My new friend in London who just made this great birthday kit kat cake told me it took her just 30 minutes to put this one together (after she made the basic cake, of course). Yes, she is really gifted, but even if it took you 45 minutes to an hour to decorate the cake, it would still be worth it.
Ever seen a close-up of an M&M kit kat cake? Oh may….
And, if you have this M&M kit kat cake down-pat, then have a try at an M&M rainbow cake.
NEW: Olaf Kit Kat Birthday Cake with Video Tutorial
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