Snickers Showstopper Cake

This Snickers cake recipe has three layers of chocolate sponge, peanut butter buttercream, hidden caramel centre, chocolate ganache and is decorated with Snickers. This cake…

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This Snickers cake recipe has three layers of chocolate sponge, peanut butter buttercream, hidden caramel centre, chocolate ganache and is decorated with Snickers.

This cake is such an absolute showstopper! I couldn’t decide whether to share the recipe of this cake or another, so I left it up to my Instagram followers and in the end, this won by an overwhelming majority, and I must admit I’m not too surprised.

There are a lot of elements to this Snickers cake, first the cakes themselves, then the peanut butter buttercream and chocolate ganache but if you haven’t made a cake like this before and are wondering if you can the answer is, of course, you can! In this step-by-step guide, you can leave how to make the most delicious Snicerks Cake. Just take it one step at a time and if you have any questions, please send me a message or an email at sarah@aspoonfulofvanilla.co.uk

Chocolate Cake

Okay, so when I am making a cake based on a sweet or chocolate, I always try my hardest to make sure all the elements in the cake match the sweet. No one wants to eat a Snickers Cake that is just a chocolate cake with some chocolate bars stuck on top right?

To make this Snickers cake first off we are going to preheat our oven and line three 8” round cake tins. I prefer to use a loose-bottomed tin as it makes it so much easier to get the cake out, once it has baked.

The basis of this chocolate cake is similar to my M&M Pinata Cake Recipe and my Chocolate Drip Cake.

To begin with, in a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar. In this recipe, I used light brown sugar as it gives the chocolate cake a hint of a caramelly taste. If you don’t like light brown sugar or just can’t find any you can swap it out with normal caster sugar instead.

Related Posts

Cookie Dough Showstopper Cake

M&M Pinata Cake

Chocolate Drip Cake

In the cake, I normally use a baking spread like Stork as I just find it makes such a lovely and glorious cake, but you could also use Unsalted Butter instead. As a rule, I always take my butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before I start baking.

Making sure all your ingredients are room temperature before you start baking ensures that the mixture doesn’t split.

After creaming together, the butter and sugar I add the remaining ingredients and mix again. I use the paddle attachment on my stand mixer but you can also use a hand whisk or a wooden spoon. You don’t need to mix the mixture for too long around a minute or so until it all starts to come together and is smooth.

Split the mixture between the three cake tins and pop them into the oven to bake.

How Do I Know When My Cakes are Baked?

So normally with cakes you know they are ready when they are golden brown in colour but with a chocolate cake, you obviously can’t see it. There are still a few different ways to check your cakes are ready.

The first is by gently pressing on the top of your cake and if it springs back when you remove your finger then it is ready.

Another way is by using a cake tester or a skewer and testing the thickest part of the cake. If the tester or skewer comes out clean, then the cake is ready if not pop it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and repeat until the cake is ready.

Cooling the Snickers Cake

Once the cakes are baked leave them to cool in the cake tin for 15-20 minutes before moving them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

A top tip is if you put the cakes onto the wire rack upside down, so dome side down. The weight of the cake will flatten the dome and you don’t need to level the cakes!

Chocolate Ganache

So there are a few different elements to decorating this Snickers cake. What I find easiest to do is to prepare everything first so when I come to decorate it everything is already ready.

To make the ganache, first, we need to warm up the double cream. Depending on where you live in the world it might not be called double cream, but you basically need the fattiest cream you can find.

Pop his into the microwave or into a saucepan over a medium heat and warm until you can see steam coming from the cream.

You don’t want it to be boiling. I did this in the microwave and found it took up to 2 and a half minutes. This will just depend on your microwave or if you are doing it in a saucepan.

Once the cream is warm pour it over your chocolate and leave for 2-3 minutes. The heat from the cream will melt the chocolate. Now you need to mix the chocolate mixture until the chocolate and cream are fully combined and smooth. If there are any lumps or pieces of un-melted chocolate pop it back into the microwave or into a saucepan and gently heat it until the chocolate has completely melted.

Now you need to pop the bowl of chocolate ganache into the fridge to set. Stir the chocolate ganache every 5 minutes or so until it starts to thicken and become a peanut butter, spreadable consistency.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

To make the buttercream add your butter to your mixer and mix for around 5 minutes until it is lovely and soft and pale. I used the beater attachment on my stand mixer but you can use a hand whisk too.

For the buttercream, you need to use Unsalted Butter if you use something like a baking spread or Stork it will just be too soft.

Once the butter is lovely and soft, add in the icing sugar and mix until it is fully combined. Add in the peanut butter and mix again. If you find the mixture is too thick add a teaspoon of milk and mix again. Repeat until the buttercream is the desired consistency. Leave to one side.

Putting it All Together

So, now that your cakes have cooled, we can start putting the cake together.

Just before we do, pop the caramel into a piping bag and pop it into the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it and leave it to one side.

Crumb Coat

Place your first cake on the cake board and spread over a layer of peanut butter buttercream. If you find it easier to get an even layer of buttercream then you can pop the buttercream into a large piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe it on and then smooth it out. To smooth I use a small palette knife.

Once you have smoothed your buttercream drizzle over some caramel and then add your next cake on top.

Repeat until all your cakes are stacked. Now we are going to crumb coat the cake. Using a large palette knife spread the buttercream around the edges of your cake and fill in any gaps. You don’t need to do a thick layer of buttercream. This is just our crumb coat to make sure we seal in all the crumbs.

Once you have covered the sides of the cake put a thin layer of the buttercream onto the top of the cake and smooth. Using your cake smoother go around the sides of the cake and smooth your crumb coat. If any excess buttercream comes off just pop this into a bowl.

Smooth the edges of the cake using your small palette knife.

Once you have crumb coated the cake pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes until the buttercream sets.

Decorating the Cake

Once your crumb coat is set using your palette knife or piping bag, smooth the remaining buttercream onto the cake. For this step, I prefer putting all the buttercream onto the top of the cake and then smoothing it down and around the sides.

Your cake at this point will be looking pretty messy but don’t worry. Now with your smoother smooth the buttercream around the edges of the cake. If there are any gaps just fill these in and if any buttercream comes off on your smoother just pop this back into the bowl.

Once the sides of your cake are smooth using either a small cake smoother or your palette knife smooth the edges of the cake.

Pop the cake back into the fridge to let the buttercream set. Against this should take around 30 minutes.

Adding the Ganache

Once your buttercream has set using a small palette knife get a little of the ganache on the end and smooth it into the bottom of the cake. This doesn’t need to be neat or completely straight I actually love the messier look. Once you have added the ganache all the way around the bottom of the cake using your cake smoother, go around and smooth the ganache.

With any remaining ganache spread this onto the top of the cake and pop it back into the fridge until it sets.

Decoration on top

While you are waiting on the ganache to set cut your Snickers bars up and crush your peanuts.

I cut my Snickers bars into three but you can make them any size you prefer.

For the peanuts pop them into a food processor and pulse them a few times. I didn’t want to blitz them to crumbs completely as I wanted to have chunkier pieces of peanuts. If you don’t have a food processor don’t worry pop the peanuts into a food-safe bag and bash them with a rolling pin.

With your left-over buttercream pop, them into a piping bag with a piping tip. I used my favourite Wilton 1M Piping Tip, but you can use any.

Once your ganache has set, pipe some swirls onto the top of your cake. Sprinkle over the peanuts and finish off with the Snickers Bars.

Equipment

Scales

Measuring Spoons

Mixing Bowl

Spatula

Cake Tins

Cake Tester

Piping Tip

Piping Bags

Turn Table

Cake Smoother

Angled Palette Knife

*I earn a small amount of money if you buy any of these products. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting A Spoonful of Vanilla.

Alternatives

You could add some crushed peanuts in between each layer of cake along with the caramel if you wanted.

Or you could leave out the peanuts and add Mars Bars to make this into a Mars Bar Cake. Instead of Peanut Butter Buttercream, you could replace the Peanut Butter with Caramel (a thick caramel-like Carnations)

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Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Snickers Showstopper Cake

This cake has three layers of chocolate sponge, peanut butter buttercream, hidden caramel centre, chocolate ganache and is decorated with Snickers.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time45 minutes
Decorating Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time3 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 16 Servings
Author: Sarah Mark

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 475 g Unsalted Butter or Stork
  • 475 g Light Brown Sugar
  • 425 g Self-Raising Flour
  • 50 g Cocoa Powder
  • 9 Large Eggs
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 50 ml Whole Milk

For the Chocolate Ganache

  • 200 ml Double Cream
  • 200 g Dark Chocolate

For the Peanut Butter Buttercream

  • 750 g Icing Sugar
  • 300 g Unsalted Butter
  • 200 g Peanut Butter
  • 3-4 tbsp Whole Milk

For the Decoration

  • 200 g Caramel
  • 100 g Peanuts
  • 123 g Snickers (3 Whole Bars)

Instructions

To Make the Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 170C (150C Fan). Line three 8” cake tins with greaseproof paper and leave to one side.
  • In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
  • Add in the flour, cocoa powder, eggs, baking powder, vanilla extract, and milk. Whisk until all combined.
  • Pour the mixture into the individual cake tins and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. You will know they are ready when they are springy to touch.
  • Leave them to cool in the cake tin for 15-20 minutes and then remove and put them on a wire rack to cool fully.

To Make the Ganache

  • Pour the Cream into a heatproof bowl and heat in the microwave until you can see steam rising from it. You don't want it to be boiling. If you don't have a microwave then you can heat the cream in a saucepan over a low heat.
  • Add your chocolate to a large bowl and pour the cream over. Leave to sit for 5 minutes.
  • Stir the chocolate ganache until it is smooth. If there are any chocolate lumps that haven't melted pop it back into the microwave for 10 second bursts stirring in between each burst until it is completley smooth. Or put the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over a low heat stirring contintuously until the chocolate has melted.
  • Cover the chocolate ganache with cling film and pop it into the fridge to set.
  • Stir the chocolate ganache every 5 minutes or so until it is a spreadable consistency.

To Make the Buttercream

  • Once your cakes have cooled make the buttercream.
  • In a bowl mix together the Icing Sugar, Butter and Peanut Butter until combined. The mixture will be quite thick
  • If the buttercream is too thick add a tablespoon of milk and mix again. Repeat until the buttercream is the perfect consistency.

To Decorate

  • Add your caramel to a small piping bag and heat in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften. Leave to one side.
  • Place your first cake on your serving plate and spread the buttercream on top. Smooth using a spatula, don’t worry is any of the buttercream splodges out the side. Drizzle over the caramel. Repeat until your cake is stacked.
  • Smooth the buttercream around the sides of the cake and into any gaps. Smooth using a cake smoother. Don't worry if you can still see the cake through the buttercream this is just our crumb coat.
  • Pop the cake into the fridge for 30 minutes or so until the buttercream has set.
  • Once the buttercream has set remove the cake from the fridge and spread the remaining buttercream onto the top of the cake. Using a palette knife smooth the buttercream onto the top of the cake and around the sides.
  • Using your smoother, smooth around the sides, if there are any gaps fill these with the buttercream and continue to smooth around the sides until the cake is smooth. You will most likely take some of the buttercream off the cake if you do pop this back into your bowl.
  • Smooth the top of your cake using your angled palette knife.
  • Put the cake back into the fridge for 30 minutes for the buttercream to set.
  • Any left over buttercream pop this into a piping bag and leave to one side.
  • Once the buttercream has set remove the cake and chocolate ganache from the fridge. Using a small palette knife, get a little of the ganache on the end of your palette knife and smooth this onto the bottom of the cake.
  • Work your way around the entire cake using small amounts of ganache at a time.
  • Now get your cake smoother and smooth the ganache, just like you do for buttercream, if there is any excess ganache pop this back into the bowl
  • Any leftover ganache spread this onto the top of the cake.
  • Put the cake back into the fridge for 20-30 minutes or until the chocolate ganache has set.

The Finishing Touches

  • Once the chocolate ganache has set pipe the leftover buttercream onto the top of the cake.
  • In a food processor, pulse the peanuts until they are small chunks. Sprinkle these over the top of the cake.
  • Finish by cutting your Snickers Bars and popping them on top.

If you do have any questions about this Snickers Showstopper Cake or any other recipes on my blog you can contact me either by sending me a DM on social media or an email. You can find all my details on the right-hand side of this page. 

34 comments

  1. Oh my goodness Sarah! This cake looks divine! 🤤 I’m a sucker for anything peanut butter and chocolate. That’s just a classic taste combination, right? Peanut butter all by itself is a serious weakness of mine!

    When I look at this cake in your photos, it’s gorgeous. To be honest, it looks intimidating to make! But I adore how you’ve broken down every step of the way. It makes me feel like I could actually make it! Not all bakers can teach like you do.

    I love your tip about allowing the natural weight of the cake to flatten the dome. That’s brilliant. Thank you for sharing!

    You’ve made me drool on my keyboard this morning, ha ha! Thanks a lot! I’ll be pinning & sharing so others can come enjoy. Blessings to you & yours!

  2. 5 stars

    Rosie

  3. 5 stars

  4. Wow! This makes my mouth water! The combination of flavors sounds amazing. I can see why your Instagram followers chose this one. I haven’t made a ganache before so It’s nice that you included some tips for making it. 🙂

  5. Wow. This is simply stunning! I’m obsessed. You are so talented. This sounds and looks absolutely amazing, I’ll have to add it to my list of things to bake. Thank you for sharing Xo

    Elle – ellegracedeveson.com

  6. Wow! I mean I don’t like snickers but I could use Mars bars instead.
    This looks so pretty but also super delicious.

    Thank you for sharing.
    Lauren – bournemouthgirl.com

  7. 5 stars

  8. Oh wow! This looks so yummy – I usually turn my nose up at Snickers but I kinda really need a slice of this right now! Will be saving this recipe!

  9. OK so this looks incredible. I think you’ll be the only place that I go to for baking. I adore all your recipes! This snickers cakes looks so good. I can’t wait to have an excuse to make this fabulous cake!

  10. Wow- this is definitely a showstopper! I could eat my screen right now, it looks so good! I love all the elements of it, with the peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache and the snickers on top. So gorgeous and so delicious!

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