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Sunflower Peeps Cake...Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting!



This is a different little Peeps cake for Easter made to resemble a sunflower.  I love sunflowers.  I just think they look so cheerful.  The great thing about this cake, is not just that it is cute as a button for your Easter celebration, but the cake itself is one of the most moist and delicious chocolate cakes you will ever make.  It is made with mayonnaise in place of the eggs and oil.  

Before you go all, 'ooooh that's gross' on me, think about it...mayonnaise is baically eggs and oil and a little vinegar which when combined with soda makes a chemical reaction that causes things to rise.  Are we starting to get the picture now as to why mayonnaise works and it works beautifully.

 If that is not enough to entice you to make this, it is frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Yep, that's right, I said....chocolate cream cheese frosting!   It's every bit as good as you might imagine and it spreads like a dream!  

 It also doesn't taste as much like cream cheese as plain cream cheese frosting does.  Not that I ever thought that was a bad thing, but believe it or not, some of you don't care for it!   Here is what you will need for this cake.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 cup carbonated beverage (Coke, Sprite, 7 UP)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
Garnish
Yellow Peeps Chicks (enough to go around the top edge of your cake
6 oz. chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together.  Cream sugar, mayonnaise, carbonated beverage,  and vanilla.   Add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Stir until well blended.   Prepare two round 8" or 9" pans by spraying them with nonstick baking spray with flour in it or greasing and flouring them. 

You can also ensure the cake will turn out by cutting two rounds of parchment or wax paper and placing in the bottom of your pans.  Spray paper and all with nonstick spray.   I used 8" pans to make the cake a little higher and smaller for the sunflower.  If you don't have 8" pans, you can use the 9", you will just need more Peeps to go around the top.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove and let cool for about 15 to 20 minutes before turning them out of the pan.  
Prepare the cream cheese frosting while the cakes cool completely.  Beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy.  Add the salt, cocoa, and vanilla and blend together.  Gradually add in the confectioner's sugar.  If it's too stiff add about a tablespoon of half and half.  I don't usually have to do this, but if you get too much sugar in it, you might.

                             
When your cakes have cooled, place them on your cake plate and frost. 


Press the Peeps around the edge of the cake while the frosting is fresh and still soft.  Then sprinkle the chocolate chip in the middle for the sunflower seeds.   There you have it, the Peeps Sunflower Cake! 





18 comments:

  1. So cute! Love this blog!!!

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  2. rhonda hagy millerMarch 23, 2013 at 9:22 PM

    i think I will have to try this one..maybe without the peeps..it wold still look and tast good Im sure!

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  3. Darrelyn Jean CowanMarch 23, 2013 at 11:35 PM

    This cake is so cute!! I'm looking forward to making this cake for Easter. Looking at the ingredients, I bet it will taste great! Thank you for sharing your recipes & I also love looking at the photos of classic vehicles on Facebook. It has been a joy to follow you on Facebook! I pray you have a wonderful, blessed week! Darrelyn Jean Cowan

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  4. Which carbonated drink do you recommend? I'm wondering if it affects the flavor enough to matter which one I use?

    (Btw, thanks for all your recipes. I've tried a *lot * and they all turned out so good. And I am not ordinarily a good cook...!)

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    1. Being it is going to be a chocolate cake use a dark color soda. When i make my soda cakes I use a diet soda. But regular soda would work the same.
      This is not reciepe but that's what i do when i use soda in my cakes.

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  5. Cute as can be !!!

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  6. My mom used to make chocolate mayonnaise cake when I was a child. It was mosit & delicious. I will definately be trying this recipe. She also made a chocolate saurkraut cake which was delicious. I need to find a recipe for that one too.

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    1. http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/german-chocolate-sauerkraut-cake

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  7. Okay, so now I'm doing two cakes thanks to you! This one and your Peeps Easter Cake. Oh, the nieces and nephews are going to be on a sugar high tomorrow!! I'm so glad I found your blog. LOVE all the recipes on here!

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  8. I jus made this tonight for our Easter dinner tomorrow and i am vry disappointed! The directions nvr mention the sugar i jus figured it went in cuz it was in the ingrediants and the powdered sugar mad the frosting way to runny...my peeps sild off...and in the direstions for the frosting it mentioned con suger not powdered like the ingrediants read so that could of been what caused it to b runny...idk jus vry aggrivated at the moment....no time to re do it!!!!!!!!

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  9. Olivia, you needed to read the recipe more thoroughly. It clearly tells you to add the powdered sugar, which is the same as confectioners sugar to the frosting ingredients. If it was not stiff enough, you should have added more sugar, but usually, if anything it's a little too stiff. Also, if you melted the butter instead of just softening it to room temp, it would make it too runny. You might be able to put the cake in the refrigerator and chill it and then place the Peeps back on it when it's cold.

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  10. What type flour? Cake flour, self rising, all purpose?

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  11. Do you use cake flour or plain flour.


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  12. You use all purpose flour (plain). When a recipe calls for salt, soda or baking powder the flour is all purpose unless it says self rising or cake flour.

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  13. I just made this to have with our Easter lunch tomorrow. It turned out beautifully! The samples I tried of the cake and icing were delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  14. Maybe Olivia used some type spread instead of butter!

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  15. Do I store this in the fridge?

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