It’s that time of year when college basketball takes over TV stations and, at least in my case, most of life. I topped a simple cake mix with whipped cream and Reese’s Pieces candy to create a fun basketball cake to help sustain us through the tournaments.
The college basketball tournament is a big event in our home. When I was a kid we almost always filled out brackets as a family – mom, dad and three girls. The winner got to pick where we went to dinner. So my dad pretty much lost that one every year, even if he won! My husband and I were only a few months in to our dating relationship when March hit. Imagine my surprise when he handed me a bracket to fill out! A decade later and March for us means college basketball.
Several teams we root for – University of Michigan and UNLV being our top two – are in this year’s tournament and we’re pretty excited about it! So I decided to put my kitchen skills to work to make a basketball cake to munch on during the conference tournaments last weekend.
This cake is super easy to make. Use any cake recipe or a mix and bake half of it in a round cake pan. I made cupcakes with the other half of the batter for the kids. Bake the cake according to the recipe or package directions and then allow to cool completely.
I didn’t have any white frosting so I frosted the cake with homemade whipped cream instead and it was light and delicious. Then my husband used a butter knife and etched lines in the frosting to make the circle look like a basketball.
I had my kids separate two boxes of Reese’s Pieces by color, which they loved! You just have to watch the snacking. I then filled in the lines we’d drawn on the cake with brown Reese’s Pieces.
Finally, I filled in between the brown with the orange Reese’s Pieces! Two of the candy boxes was just about exactly enough candy to cover the top of the basketball cake. If you want to do the side, you will need at least one more box. I made the cake the night before serving and, sadly, the colors on the Reese’s Pieces started to run in to the whipped cream. I’m not sure if this would happen on frosting, but to be safe, I’d suggest putting it together just before serving.
Want to have some fun during the tournament? Make sure to check out my adorable FREE basketball tournament bracket printable!