Complete instructions on how to make a Giant Cupcake Cake with a sprinkle piñata surprise and hard shell cupcake liner. Don’t miss this sprinkle surprise cupcake cake pan tutorial that includes a cake truffle cherry on top!
If you ever wondered how to make a giant cupcake cake, now’s your chance to see exactly how it done. What may look daunting, is surprisingly easy and perfect for your next party.
I will provide you the basic instructions on how to put together a giant cupcake cake filled with sprinkles. As well as show you how to make a giant cupcake pan liner using candy coating. Feel free to customize this cake to your liking using your favorite cake batter and colors.
Giant Cupcake Cake Pan
So it all starts with the right pan. Here is used the Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan but there are many other variations of this design now available. You could do a Giant Cupcake Silicon Mold which I’ve never tried but imagine would be great for storage purposes.
As you can see the pan is shaped with a cupcake bottom and swirled cupcake top. After doing a bunch of research on this cake, I discovered that the biggest complaint was that the bottom part of the cupcake took longer to bake than the top leaving for uneven cooking times. Luckily I figured out how to alleviate this problem.
Step 1: Make the Cake Base
To start, you want to double your recipe for basic cake batter. To keep things simple, I used my favorite box mix paired with a packet of jello pudding. This helps to yield a denser more flavorful cake, perfect for the cupcake pan.
I took a major shortcake using boxed cake mix, but if you wanted to make a homemade batter try this delicious Homemade Yellow Cake Mix recipe just be sure to double the recipe.
Firstly, I made the batter by prepping as instructed on the boxes and adding in the vanilla pudding mix. Next, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease the cupcake bottom portion of the pan using cooking spray or Wilton Cake Release.
How to adjust for varying bake times
After making this cake a couple of times, I discovered that the base portion of the cake needs about 10 minutes more baking time than the top. So to combat this I bake the bottom for 10 minutes before adding batter to the top portion. To keep the top from getting too hot and burning when I add the batter, I simple place a damp towel inside.
Fill the other side of the pan with batter, being sure to coat it well first. The official Wilton site says to use 3 ½ cups of batter, but that doesn’t seem to be enough batter to yield a full cupcake. I usually just fill until about an 1 ½ from the top.
Bake for 10 minutes, then carefully remove from oven and use tongs to remove the damp towel. If there is any water, use a dish towel to dry if out. Spray with cooking spray and pour in the batter for the top of the cupcake cake leaving about 1 ½ inches from the top. Return to oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Cool on a wire baking rack for at least 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
Step 2: Make the Giant Cupcake Liner
Initially this was the most challenging part of making the cake. However, after many tries and fails, I have discovered how to master making a candy coated giant cupcake liner.
Firstly, thoroughly wash and dry the bottom cupcake portion of cupcake pan. Next, prepare the candy coating. To do this, microwave a bag of Wilton Candy Melts according to package instructions. Pour half of the melted candy into the bottom of the cupcake bottom.
Use a silicon pastry brush to brush up the sides. Place in refrigerator for five minutes to let harden. Note that the inside of the cupcake line doesn’t have to look pretty.
If needed, reheat the remaining candy melts in the microwave. Pour the rest of the candy melts into the cupcake mold and repeat process of painting the sides. Return to refrigerator to harden completely.
Giant Cupcake Liner tip!
Here’s the tip for getting the liner out: if you are unable to easily pull the shell out of the cupcake mold, stick the pan in the freezer for a couple of minutes. You should be able to easily remove the liner without any force. The couple minutes in the freezer usually help to loosen it without pulling.
Don’t worry about the top of the cupcake liner looking jagged, it will be hidden with the top of the cupcake and frosting. Also, if the cupcake liner breaks, just crumble it up and start over. Candy melts can be melted and remelted without any issues.
Step 3: Trim the Cake and Fill
Once the cake has cooled, use a serrated knife to trim the pieces to form the cupcake shape. Flatten the top of the bottom of the cupcake. For the top of the cupcake, you can place the cake back in the pan as a holder while you trim that piece. Save the scraps if you plan on making a cherry top for the cake.
If you are filling the cake with sprinkles or candy, use a small serrated knife to cut a two inch round on the top of the cake going about 4 inches deep. Remove the center piece saving the top half for plugging the sprinkles hole.
Pour in the sprinkles, about ½ a cup should work. Alternatively, you could fill the hole with M&M’s or Reese’s Pieces.
Cover up the hole with the cake piece you cut away.
Trim the Cupcake Base
Next, you will need to trim away the sides of the cupcake base so that it can fit in the candy shell liner. If you leave it too big, you risk breaking the shell.
The best way to do this is with a serrated knife. Just trim off the sides. You don’t need to take off a lot and be sure to save any excess cake pieces.
Next, carefully place the cupcake base into the candy coated liner. Note, that it’s best to do this on your cake display stand to avoid having to move the cake later.
Moreover, there is no need to worry if the cake and liner don’t match exactly or if you have cracks in your liner. You’ll cover it all up when add the top and frosting below.
Step 4: Frost the Cupcake Cake
For this cake, you will need a generous amount of Buttercream Frosting. You could also substitute your favorite frosting, a cream cheese frosting would be great! Once the frosting is made add in your desired color and spread on the top of the base of the cupcake.
Next, carefully place the cupcake swirl on top of the base.
Next, apply the frosting. You can frost using any tip you like. I used a Wilton Open Star Piping Tip and disposable decorating bags. Use a swirling motion and make little swirls all over the cake. This is also a good time to hide any flaws on the cake liner and base.
Continue frosting entire cake using swirling motion.
To finish up the cake, decorate with sprinkles or whatever topping you want to use.
Optional: Top with a “Cherry” Truffle
To really make your Giant Cupcake Cake over the top, use the leftover cake pieces to make a cherry for the top. Firstly, take the leftover cake pieces and crumble them in a small bowl. Add enough frosting to roll mixture into a ball.
Place the truffle ball in the freezer to harden while you work on the red dip. Lastly, melt any remaining candy melts and add in a few drops of red food coloring.
Dip the cake ball in the candy melts and set aside to dry. To make the “stem” cut a piece of Tootsie Roll to desired size. Use a toothpick to make a hole in the cherry and place the tootsie piece in it.
Giant Cupcake Cake
And there you have it! Now you can make a super fun and festive Giant Cupcake Cake with just a few ingredients and a little patience. Guests will love this cake and it’s hidden sprinkle surprise!
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Moreover, be sure to check out my other super fun cake tutorials:
Giant Cupcake Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 2 boxes white cake mix (like Pillsbury)
- 1 3.4 ounce box vanilla pudding mix (like Jell-O)
- 6 large eggs
- ⅔ cup canola oil
- 2 cups water
Cupcake Candy Shell Liner
- 1 12 ounce bag Wilton’s Candy Melts
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 ½ cups butter, softened (3 sticks)
- 4 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 tablespoons milk
- food coloring
- 1 cup sprinkles or candies (for filling and decorating)
Instructions
Cake Instructions:
- To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine the Cake Batter ingredients and mix well using a handheld mixer. Spray the bottom cupcake portion of the cupcake pan with cooking spray and pour in about 3 ½ cups of batter, or until it’s about two inches from the top. Place a damp dish towel in the other side (the top of the cupcake) pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully take out damp towel, drying the pan if there is any water remaining. Spray the cupcake top of the pan with cooking spray and pour in about 2 ½ cups of batter, or until it’s about two inches from the top. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
- Once cooled, trim top and bottom of the cupcake. Reserve excess scraps. If filling with sprinkles, cut a circle in the base of the cupcake about 2 inches wide and 4 inches deep. Fill with sprinkles. Top the sprinkles hole with a piece of remaining cake that was cut away. Lastly, trim the outside of the cupcake base so that it can sit in in the cupcake liner.
Cupcake Liner Instructions:
- Clean and dry the cupcake base of the cupcake pan. Melt the entire bag of candy melts according to package instructions. Pour half of the melted candy into the base of the cupcake pan and use a silicone brush to brush up sides of cupcake wall. Place in refrigerator to harden for five minutes. Pour in remaining melted candy melts and brush up sides of shell. Refrigerate until it can be easily removed from mold. Note that if you can’t easily remove it, place in freezer for a couple of minutes just until you are able to remove the liner without cracking it. Place the trimmed cupcake base in the candy liner.
Buttercream Frosting:
- In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Mix in desired food coloring if using. Spread a thick layer of frosting on top of the base of the cupcake and then place the top of the cupcake on it. Pour the remaining frosting in a pastry bag with desired icing tip. Pipe on swirls or desired shapes to cover the cupcake top and hide any cracks in the cupcake liner. Sprinkle with additional sprinkles or toppings if desired.
Cherry Top:
- To make the cherry top, place the excess scraps of cake in a bowl and break into crumbs. Add in enough of the remaining frosting to form cake into a two inch round ball. Freeze for a couple of minutes. Microwave any remaining candy melts and add red food coloring. Dip the cake ball in the candy melts and let dry. To make the “stem” trim a piece of Tootsie Roll into a small cylinder stem shape. Use a toothpick to make a hole in the cherry and insert stem. Place on top of the cake.
Notes
Nutrition
I would like to make this with a chocolate top and vanilla bottom. Do you have recommendations for how to change the recipe for one box of cake mix–one being vanilla and the other chocolate? Thanks!
I would think you would just do a separate cake mix for the top and bottom. You’ll have extra mix leftover from the top that you could use to make cupcakes. Let me know how it turns out!
Making the cupcake liner with the candy melts was easy and looks fantastic! I never worked with it before, so I was hesitant, thinking it might be a bit too much for me, but it was super easy! I wonder how a different color would look. The white is beautiful, but now the possibilities seem endless! lol
I’m so happy to hear this worked out for you! Thanks so much for the comment!!
Hi there. For this giant cupcake am I needing 1 or 1 boxes of cake mix? And as for the pudding mix… am I just adding the dry mix or making the pudding and then adding to the cake mix??
Hi. You will need two boxes of cake mix and one box of pudding. The pudding gets added to the batter (dry – don’t actually turn it into pudding!) Be sure to take a look at the recipe card at the bottom of the post for full recipe instructions.
I was reading the comments, and in the COMMENTS, you say 1 box of cake mix is enough, then later you say 2 boxes of cake mixes are needed, then later in the comments, you again say 1 box of cake mix is enough. It would be super nice if you would delete the comments for either the “1” box, or the “2” boxes, and keep the correct one. Thank you so much for this recipe & instructions.
I am sorry for the confusion. I must have been referring to the boxes of jello pudding needed. The recipe in the post is the correct way to make this cake. I hope you love it!
Great instructions and tips, thanks for sharing! Just looking at these photos makes me hungry!
What is the pudding for? I see it in the ingredients list, but don’t see where you add it in the directions. I only see to prepare the cake batter. Am I missing it?
If you look at the recipe card, you’ll see that you need to add the pudding to the cake batter. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
When you cut into the cupcake how do you avoid the chocolate liner to break?
Use a warm knife to cut the cake and thus melt the chocolate liner as you cut it. You can warm the knife using tap water, just be sure to dry it off before cutting. Also, if the knife it sharp enough, I should just slice right though the chocolate liner. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
I just made this for a birthday and it turned out great! I used mini m&m’s for the filling and cream cheese frosting. It was a BIG hit! Will definitely be making this more often! Thank you for such a fun and beautiful birthday cake and the well written directions!
I’m so happy you loved this recipe! Love the idea of filling with mini M&M’s – I’ll have to try that next time 🙂
I was wondering if I could use your chocolate toffee caramel cake recipe for this and put the last layer opposite so the buttercream is on the outside instead?
I think that would work. Sounds delicious!!
Hi Angela. I made this amazing cupcake today (1st time) for a Bride and Groom at their wedding I catered. I was a little apprehensive to try this for a catering event, but it all worked out! I followed your instructions and everything turned out perfect!! Thank you so much for the very explicit details and instructions as to how to make this the best cupcake. Your explanation and visuals regarding cutting the top/bottom/sides of each piece along with the clear instructions on how to make the mold. The Bride and Groom LOVED their giant cupcake!!
Myra
Thanks so much for the comment… this made my day! Love that this turned out so well for you 🙂
Thank u for the awesome recipe….to make the cake one pack of cake mix is enough ? Also do I need to add pudding mix to batter or just use the batter itself ?
Thanks for the nice comment! One pack of cake mix enough and add the pudding mix to the batter. There is a recipe card at the bottom of the blog post with instructions. Enjoy!
Your step by step guide was so helpful! I researched other blogs for the same giant cupcake recipe but found yours easy to follow with very helpful tips. I did a trial run tonight and it turned out great. Thank you!!
I am so happy this worked out for you! Thanks for the great comment 🙂
Hi there! So to fill both sides of the cupcake cake pan, it’s 2 boxes of cake mix and one box of instant pudding?
One box of cake mix is sufficient for this recipe
Your recipe card says to use two boxes of cake mix, not one. So which is it? I’m assuming since you’re using six eggs in the batter that it would be two boxes? Is that right?
You will need two boxes of cake mix for this recipe.
I just read many comments concerning Wilton Candy melts having a chemical taste since they changed their original recipe. Could I melt white chocolate to make the cupcake wrapper?
I have never had good luck with using white chocolate for molding. Personally, I don’t notice a chemical taste with the candy melts. You could maybe add a drop of almond or vanilla extract if you are worried about the flavor.
I couldn’t print the directions 🥺
The print option is on the top right of the recipe card under the photo. Let me know if you are still having problems.
I assume the vanilla pudding is instant and not cook and serve? Your picture label is blurry but i think that box is instant? Also, I am making 6 of these for a graduation party and there will not be enough fridge room to take them all. Will the candy liner get moist/melty in the heat? can I make them a day ahead and let them sit in a cool room? It supposed to be 80 the day of the party (day after tomorrow- I need some help quick!) and I am frosting them that morning. I do not have big enough airtight containers, so they are being transported in cake boxes. I am glad I saw this, as I will definitely follow your suggestion on the 2 part baking of top and bottom.
Hi! The pudding is instant… sorry for the confusion. You can make the candy liners ahead and let them sit in a cool area. Candy melts hold their shape very well so long as they don’t get too warm. Let me know how the cakes turn out for you. Enjoy!
I used the outside of the pan to make the shell and that way you don’t have to cut down the cake
That’s an excellent idea! I’ll have to try it
Do you spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray before making the cupcake liner?
No, I did not. You shouldn’t have to spray it if you’re using the nonstick pan. Also, after you apply the melting chocolate and then refrigerate it, the cupcake liner should come out easily. You can also try freezing it for a couple of minutes if you are having a hard time removing it. Let me know how this turns out for you!
Do you think you could do this with muffin mix? My son wants a “giant muffin” for his bday
Absolutely that would work! They say that a muffin is just a cupcake without the frosting 🙂 Let me know how it turns out.
What size box of pudding?
The standard 3.4 ounce box works. Let me know how this cake turns out for you!
This is awesome!!
Thanks! It’s such a fun cake to make!