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Are you looking for a cake that screams “candy is my favorite thing”? Look no further than this crazy, over the top Willy Wonka Birthday Cake.
Why I Think You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s fun and full of everything kids love like candy, more candy and cake!
- It’s actually quite easy to make and looks like something you’d have spent hours on.
- It’s delicious because it’s full of candy and chocolate (how can it be bad?).
This Willy Wonka cake will kick your sweet tooth into overdrive.
There is not a single possible way you can be looking at the picture of my latest Willy Wonka Cake and be grumpy. I do apologize that you can’t reach through the screen and take a bite, or sneak a candy though, because this is one fun, happy cake! It’s also the perfect cake for the big kid who hasn’t grown up yet.
Karlynn’s Tips
- I usually pre-bake the cake and freeze it, much easier to work with, especially when you have to trim it!
- Another trick here is to freeze the Kit Kat bars, because if you don’t, you leave fingerprints on the chocolate outside. It won’t affect the taste at all.
How to Make the Willy Wonka Cake
Believe it or not, this isn’t that hard to replicate but it’ll have you looking like a cake master in no time to your friends and family!
- Prepare the cake batter and bake in two 9- or 10-inch parchment-lined pans.
- Ice with my Chocolate Buttercream Icing on the top and sides of the cake.
- Surround with Kit Kat bars, tied with a ribbon, and top with hard candies.
You Can Make It The Day Before!
This is a pretty versatile cake, you can even freeze the cake, then top it with candy, then return it to the freezer, which allows you to make it early but not have the candy get squishy from being on the cake too long. I did it overnight and it defrosted perfectly the next day, with a crunchy candy topping.
Hope you love it!
Karlynn
Willy Wonka Cake
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour
- Total Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 12
- Calories
- 515
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder not Dutch processed
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk well-shaken
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 batch Chocolate Buttercream Icing
- 11-12 KitKat
- 2-3 packs assorted hard candies
Instructions
- Kick the tires and light the fires to 300 degrees.
- Get the chocolate and chop it up.
- Melt the chopped up chocolate in the hot coffee until it is completely dissolved and set aside.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients.
- Beat your eggs for 2-3 minutes, until they are thick and lemon colored.
- Time to add the oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Once those are in, add the coffee/chocolate mixture slowly.
- Then it’s time for the dry ingredients, dump them in and mix at a moderate speed until they are combined completely.
- Grease and parchment line two 9 or 10 inch pans.
- Bake at 300 degrees until done.
- When you have the two layers baked up, make a batch of my Chocolate Buttercream Icing. Put a small middle layer of icing between the cakes and put one on top of the other. You DO need to take a knife and carve the sides of this cake to make sure that they are fairly even. Otherwise, the Kitkats won’t do a good job of standing straight along the edges. When that is done, frost the sides and top. It doesn’t have to be pretty since we cover all the surfaces.
- Depending on the size of your cake, take your 11 or 12 KitKat bars and line them up on the outside of the cake. (A little trick here is to freeze the KitKat bars. If you don’t, you leave fingerprints on the chocolate outside. To avoid this, freeze them! It won’t affect the taste at all.) Now, loosely wrap a ribbon around the KitKat bars to hold everything in place.
- Tighten the ribbon until the Kitkat’s stand up straight and are tight against the cake. You can exert quite the pressure without breaking them if you have a wide ribbon.Tie it up tightly, helping push the KitKats into the icing to stick a bit better.
- Start filling up your cake top, which is the best part of this whole cake, what could be more fun than loading up a cake with candy?
- You are done! Serve when ready!
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Megan Specht says
So excited to make this for my son’s 7th birthday this weekend! Does it matter what kind of roast for the coffee?
Karlynn Johnston says
Nope, any non-flavoured coffee will do!
Theo says
Hello,
I tried this recipe several times already it turned out great, thanks…everyone loved it.
Im thinking of using the basic chocolate recipe for the Willy Wonka to create a red velvet, will this work out if I add red food colouring to it?
Thanks,
T
Gemma says
hi this recipe sounds amazing, sorry if I sound thick but I’m new to baking.. so is that 11 cups of coffee? or 2 cups of coffee? and is that 11 teaspoons of salt? am i being thick? i’m sorry if its clear and i’ve not read it properly! xx
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder not Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
Karlynn Johnston says
The slashes can be confusing, those are all one quarter, , one and a half cups, etc. So coffee is 1 and a half cups!
lucy says
hi! i wanted to make this for my classes end of the year party. how long do you bake the cake and will the coffee make the cake bitter?
Tracy says
I have made this chocolate cake recipe a handful of times. It is absolutely the best chocolate cake recipe, hands down. I will never bother with another recipe again, because this one can’t be beat. The chocolate icing is to die for as well. Thank you so much for sharing. I do find the cake a bit tricky to cook properly…sometimes successful and sometimes it dropped on me. But even though it might have dropped, the taste was just as good. Now, I’m planning to try cupcakes with this recipe. I’m wondering if I should keep the temperature at 300 degrees or raise it slightly?
Karlynn Johnston says
I would raise the temperature, give it a try! I’ve raised it before to 350 and it’s worked out!
marisolc28 says
Hi. I love this idea. I made one b4 but was from the box and bought frosting so I’m looking forward to making all this from scatch now my question is what kind of coffee can u use or does it really matter? Thanks.
ezinneeze says
Hello, please I want to make a similar cake for a number 3 and 0 pans(8 by 12inches each) how many kitkats Will I need and how many grams of candy will I need?
Kermie4 says
Wow!:) I made this cake for my sons 15th birthday!:) It was soooooo good!:) Very easy to make too! I did freeze the cake as recommended, much easier to work with!!! He choose skittles for the candy in the middle!!! Also used the chocolate buttercream icing!…Super easy to make!!! Cake was a big hit!!! Thanks for the recipes!:)
Canberra7 says
Thanks for replying 🙂
Canberra7 says
Hi there… Love your website! I’m going to attempt to make the Willy Wonka cake for my son’s 7th birthday next week 🙂 How long approximately does the cake take to bake??… I’m an inexperienced baker!!
thekitchenmagpie says
Canberra7 Check the cake at 30 minutes, a knife inserted in the center should come out clean and the top should spring back when pressed on.
Canberra7 says
Hi there. The cake was a big hit at my son’s birthday yesterday! The kids loved it & there were lots of compliments from the adults who had a piece….Thank you for the great idea & recipe!
Gordon Perks says
Just think of the sugar rush for the kids. They will be hopping until their next birthday.
Shubhi Sinha says
It’s my parents’ 20th anniversary tomorrow! Think baking this would be appropriate? 😉
OutbackMum says
Hi, I am in a remote area in Australia and as such, there is only so much I am able to buy up here. I am about to do a 160km round trip tomorrow as my sons 6th birthday party is Sunday and we need to get everything tomorrow. Does your cake recipe make enough fo the 2 cakes that are iced together?
thekitchenmagpie says
OutbackMum Yes, it’s a very large cake batter recipe! Good luck, I’m sure he’ll love it!
OutbackMum says
thekitchenmagpie OutbackMum I would like to thank you for several reasons. Firstly, you actually replied to my question and I was able to get everything i needed. I didn’t think you would as this recipe was posted a couple of years ago. Secondly, I made the cake and chocolate butter cream icing (sorry – frosting) exact to recipe and they were perfect. I had to “Australianise” it as I could not get Wiily Wonka candy at short notice but subsituted M’nM’s and Freckles to top the cake (Kit Kats are everywhere). 13 6yr olds loved it and 12 adults did too (only as we were serving cake at party pick up time). The only issue was it was 41 degrees C here and I think that converts to about 105 degrees F so slight melting when cutting cake. Thirdly, I have since looked at more of your recipes and I think I will be doing a lot more baking. And, last but not least, I had to pass your recipe, website, blog on to 8 other parents today and they are excited as I am. Thankyou so much for what you do.
thekitchenmagpie says
I’m so glad it worked out for you! I do try to answer all the questions I get on here because I know that everyone is just looking for honest help! I only wish it was 41 C here…I’ll trade you for my -10 and snow! Thanks so much for the lovely words and passing on my site, I always appreciate it!
Tashorchant says
How long should I freeze the Kit kats for? Thank you 🙂
Misha says
Oh dear…
Cynthia Wilkie says
How long do you bake the cake for at 300 degrees?? Would you use a dark colored pan or light? Thanks!! My son loves WIlly Wonka and Kit Kat…he’s going to love this cake for his 7th birthday!!
George Bojlevski says
your the best. awesome image. save time. where did you buy willy lollied?
Joette Worden-Foster says
My niece is the lead in the willy wonka play…I can’t wait to make this for her.
Luci Olthof says
Please do!!! :P. Luv ya
Senda Germanotta says
OH MY GOD.
I must do this someday.
Gina Szymczak Hall says
That is one cool idea…..love it!
Beth Baldwin says
How do you cut it? LOL
Christina Billasano says
great idea!
Melanie says
This is awesome! I know just the person to make this for, a real candy lover.
DebTheLocavore says
My 25yr old husband just said that he wants this for his next birthday 🙂
Karlynn says
The guy I made it for must be close to 40 😉 It’s such a fun cake and easy as heck to make!
Kendra says
Very cool cake! I think I may have to make this for Rand’s birthday.. unless of course you are taking orders…
Karlynn says
It’s soo easy to make Kendra! Send me pics too and hug the birthday boy from us!
Carol says
I super love this cake!!!!!
it’s like a dream come true cake! 🙂
Karlynn says
Aw thanks! It’s such a fun cake to make as well. Easy and forgiving of mistakes.
Shae says
Love the look of this cake!! My son will love this for his birthday. When you cut the cake with the candies fall off the cake or will they stick to the icing. I am worried that once you start cutting the cake it will become a big mess.
Karlynn says
If you do a thick layer of icing on the top and press in as many as possible, it will help hold them in place. They DO fall off as you cut, but you just place them on top of the plate/cake and truly, no one minds 😉
Stuart Rubenstein says
Thanks for sharing such a cool recipe like this!! My wife loves your blog and recipe.
Stuart
Brandon says
This is such a great idea, I have to try it sometime soon! I might try to substitute the candy pieces on top for Whoppers however, I don’t care much for those candies you have chosen (although they look cool!). @BMBills6:twitter
Lael says
That is the COOLEST CAKE EVER!
It looks fancy smancy(those kit kats are so elegant,oddly enough) but the colours
are so fun!