Anyone who knows my brother well, knows he loves these little guys:

There’s actually a “sweet tooth” gene that predisposes individuals for a likeness of sweets (read about it here), and my brother and I have both most certainly inherited the dominant form of this gene. Scott goes crazy for any kind of candy, but much to the distaste of his dental school-attending sister, he goes for this sticky, chewy, sugary variety of candy the most. Chocolate is a better choice for teeth, but I can rarely persuade him against Skittles. So, for his bowling birthday party I made a Skittle Cake.

Not only did I make it look like a skittle (yellow, of course!), but it was also filled with skittles. I know, I know, the combination doesn’t sound exactly mouth-watering, but I knew Scott and his friends would be really excited about it. Now clearly you can’t bake skittles inside a cake or else they’ll melt into a gooey mess, so I invested in one of these cake pans that allows you to bake 2 layers of cake and then fill the inside with whatever you choose. I’m really excited to use them for an ice cream cake, but Scotty and his skittles were my first priority.

This was one of my first times using fondant, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I’m not crazy about the taste, but I knew using fondant would make it look even more like a slick skittle. I also haven’t mastered the art of piping icing yet, so using fondant for the “s” definitely saved me some trouble.

For the adults at the party who might not be into the idea of a chewy candy surprise inside their cake, I also made some colorful, skittle-inspired cupcakes. Mmmm taste the rainbow…

These cupcake liners I used are great — they’re really opaque so they don’t lose their color after the cupcakes are done baking. The Layer Cake shop sells them, as well as tons of other super cute baking items. What a festive spread it turned out to be:

The party was really fun, this is the 3rd year in a row he’s celebrated his birthday at this particular bowling alley, but since I’ve been in North Carolina the past 4 years, this was my first one. For those of you who don’t know, Scott is intellectually disabled, so bowling is a perfect activity that him and his friends can easily enjoy and kick butt at. It was great to see his excitement, meet a few of his newer classmates, and I was glad to help out.

What a happy boy…

I don’t blame him; he had all of his friends, his sister, his parents, 2 of his aunts, pizza, presents, and a cake filled with skittles — what more could a boy ask for!

I was in charge of cutting the cake, but I did manage to snap one shot of the inside of the cake amidst the screaming teenagers waiting for their slice.

Look at all those skittles in their cute cavity inside the cake! I had iced the insides of the cavities to hold some of the skittles in their place. A lot of them fell out as I was cutting the cake, but it added a dramatic effect, and I simply scooped them up onto the kids’ plates so they didn’t miss out.

I opted for a cupcake myself, but judging by the little remnants left over, and the symphony of hugs and “thank you”‘s, I’m pretty sure the cake was a hit with the kiddos.

If you know a kid who loves skittles, this is the recipe for you! If not, fill it with anything you want — m&m’s, reese’s pieces, cookie dough bites, etc. — and decorate the top accordingly.

Skittles Cake

1 box funfetti cake mix
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 package fondant
1 large bag of skittles
Wilton Fancifill Cake Pan
Food coloring

– Prepare the cake batter according to the instructions on the box
– Split the batter evenly between the 2 fancifill pans
– Bake for the same time as you would 2 8″ round pans
– Let the cakes cool completely
– Frost the sides and inside of both layers
– Fill the bottom cake layer with a mound of skittles and carefully align the top cake layer over the skittles
– Frost the top of the cake
– Dye the fondant yellow and roll it out into a thin sheet using a rolling pin (this takes some serious muscles). Make sure to leave some white fondant aside for the s on top!
– Drape the rolled fondant over the cake and use a sharp knife to precisely cut around the bottom of the cake
– Roll out the leftover white fondant and cut out your best “s”. Attach this to the top of the yellow fondant with some leftover frosting.

For the cupcakes, I just made another box of funfetti cake, frosted them with more cream cheese frosting (can you tell that I love that stuff yet?) using a pastry bag with a thick tip, and decorated with coordinating sprinkles and skittles.

Enjoy!