Candy! Candy! Candy!

I don’t know about you, but even in this strange Covid-19 post Halloween world, I find myself drowning in candy. If you’re like most people, your kids either managed to collect candy from multiple sources, or you bought it in the store yourself. Either way, if you have too much to even consider eating it all, you might try one of these ideas. Be as creative as you want and use as much candy as you can spare!

Turning candy into candy packed cake is always a fun activity. This is also a great way to turn an excess of flavored hard candies or Smarties into a crunchy, gooey, yummy after dinner treat!

Ingredients:

1-2 Boxes of your favorite cake mix.

Plenty of your favorite flavor of icing.

2-4 cups of crushed hard candies. (Smartie sized)

1/2 cup candy bits for icing.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to the temperature recommended on the cake box and prepare cake batter according to directions. Don’t forget to add the extras for high altitude! We don’t want flattened candy cake. (although it’s still tasty)

Use a food processor to crush the candy. If you don’t have a food processor, you might enjoy using a rubber mallet and some wax paper. A rolling pin works well for this too. Just put the candy into a packet made with the wax paper and smack it around until you have bits and dust. A perfect way to get some of that quarantine aggression out in a constructive way!

Choose your pan and prepare it according to the box directions. Put half the cake batter into the pan. Sprinkle the candy bits onto the batter. Use a butter knife to swirl the candy into fun patterns. Then add the rest of the batter to the pan.

Bake the cake as directed on the box. While the cake is baking, mix a quarter cup of candy bits into the icing. When the cake comes out of the oven, make sure you let it cool, but not all the way. Ice the cake and let the icing melt just enough to make it squishy. Sprinkle the rest of the candy on top. You can eat it while it is still warm or wait until later. Either way, it’s going to be a hit!

Layer desserts are a great way to get rid of extra everything. Pudding. Whipping cream. Chocolate sauce. Cake. You name it and you can pile it into the bowl, glass, or hurricane and make it look scrumptiously edible.

For this, I suggest seeing what you have leftover in the pantry after the long lockdown food hoard. Extra pudding mix? Whip it up and get it ready! That box of cake mix or muffin mix that got lost? Whip it up and get it ready! The following items work well for layers. You can make them or arrange them however you like.

Layers:

Pudding – Any flavor, any variety, as much as you want to make.

Cake – Yellow cake makes a surprisingly good contrast to all of the chocolate puddings, candies, and the whipped cream. But you can use any variety you’d like. It’s surprising how good a nice spice cake can be in a layer dessert, or strawberry, or even chocolate muffins! This can be a fantastic way to get rid of leftover cookies, cupcakes from the store, or other forgotten treats too. Just peel the paper off and stuff them in.

Whipped cream – Cool Whip or a spray can or even whipped heavy cream works well. Make sure you save a bit for the top.

Candy – This is where the chocolate and caramel snack bars or minis really shine. Either cut them, put them through the food processor, or (in the case of Butterfingers) whack them with a mallet or a book or something to get smaller pieces. You can even put a bag or two of M&M type candies into this. Gummies are fine. Even Sour Patch Kids.

The Bowl:

I prefer to use a glass hurricane bowl for this dessert, but you can use whatever you have on hand. A big mixing bowl or even a deep baking dish if you only want two or three layers. You can make this as elaborate and huge as you’d like or you can keep it smaller for a quick treat in individual mugs.

The Process:

The trick here is not to get too hung up on neatness. Cake makes a good bottom layer. And the cake doesn’t have to be intact either. Just place each layer using either your clean hands, a spatula, or a spoon. Layers should be no more than an inch or two thick for large serving bowls and maybe only a smear in a small glass or baking pan. You want just enough to make it visible from the outside if you have a see through bowl, but not too much that you can’t get lots of layers in before you run out of room. And don’t forget to put a layer of pudding or whipping cream between the cake and candy for maximum gooey goodness!

Bon Appetit!

Enjoy your recycled candy treats! And if you think about it, snap a quick pic with your phone and post it in the comments of my post on Facebook! I’d love to see just how creative you can get with leftover candy, cake, and some creamy pudding!