Lana's piñata cake

Since I put some love & effort into the cake - I figured it deserved a post dedicated to it!  I of course got the idea off of pinterest & the funny thing is that I got the idea from a cake that was just a round cake (sphere), hollowed out & then with candy inside when you cut into it.  I did a quick search for piñata cake & came up with this one that used a chocolate shell on the outside that would hide the cake & candy inside.

First we started out with a chocolate cake with purple frosting & some sprinkles - no need for perfection since it'll just be covered up!  I let the icing "air dry" for a bit before the next step.

Then we topped the cake with a pile of candy - wax bottles, gummy worms (great "dams" to keep the candy on the cake"), gumballs, fish that tasted like sweet tarts & candy that looked like rocks).

Then for the shell!  The youtube video said to grease the bowl (preferably metal) & she used olive oil.  I thought that sounded odd so used Crisco.  Well... the chocolate shell wouldn't come out of the bowl, so I got to try it a second time - that time I used olive oil & low & behold - it worked!  (you freeze the bowl before every step & layer of chocolate).

Here is the chocolate shell over the cake!  This is what Lana saw when she came home from school - wanted her to not now what the cake looked like inside until she broke it open at the party!

Of course she was THRILLED with her cake & everyone was pretty impressed.