When I think of New Year’s Eve, I think of champagne at midnight followed by a shower of confetti! This New Year’s Eve Pinata cake captures just that moment.
When I think of New Year’s Eve, I think of champagne toasts at midnight followed by a shower of confetti! With this New Year’s Eve Pinata Cake, I wanted to capture that exact moment when the clock strikes midnight and the rainbow of color covers the crowd.
Midnight Chocolate Cake
To create this cake, I used my standby chocolate cake recipe. It’s rich, decadent, and easy to make. It never fails and it’s the perfect chocolate cake to represent midnight on New Year’s Eve.
To further the chocolate decadence, the cake is covered in a chocolate buttercream, tinted with 
Champagne Cream Filling
No New Year’s Eve celebration is complete without a glass of bubbles! Layered between the dark chocolate cake is a silky champagne cream. Light and airy, the whipped cream is smooth with just a subtle hint of bubbles as a nod to the midnight celebration.
Funfetti Surprise
Hidden inside this shimmering gold and black cake are rainbow sprinkles. Before you finish layering the cake, you cut a 
The rainbow sprinkles are sealed into the center of the cake by the third layer. You then finish decorating the cake with the midnight chocolate frosting and golden sprinkles, with no sight of the rainbow surprise inside.
And this is what I love about piñata cakes — no one knows of the rainbow inside, they simply expect a standard layer cake. With the New Year’s Eve cake, the shower of sprinkles is even more surprising because there’s such a stark contrast between the dark, glitzy outside of the cake and the bright sprinkles revealed once cut.
When you cut into the cake at midnight and remove the first piece, the rainbow sprinkles will pour out of the cake, much like the confetti that rains down at the stroke of midnight. After a slice of this rich chocolate cake with champagne cream and rainbow sprinkle filling, your guests will be toasting to both you and the New Year to come.
- Three 6-inch chocolate cakes, recipe below
- 2 cups chocolate buttercream, tinted black, recipe below
- 1 cup champagne truffle cream, recipe below
- 1 cup assorted rainbow sprinkles
- 1 cup assorted gold sprinkles
- Place one chocolate cake on the serving tray and coat the top of it with a thick layer of champagne truffle cream.
- Take the second chocolate cake, and cut a 4-inch circle out of the center. Place this cake on top of the first.
- Pour the sprinkles into the hole created with the second cake then line the rim and top of the second cake with a thick layer of champagne truffle cream.
- Place the third cake on top of the second.
- Crumb coat the whole cake with the black chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Place the cake in the refrigerator for 30-minutes to set up.
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator and frost the entire cake with the remaining black chocolate buttercream.
- To finish the cake, decorate it with the assorted gold sprinkles.
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa sifted
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup hot water
- 2 tsp instant coffee
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup buttermilk room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Grease three 6-inch cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment then set aside.
- Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir on low to combine.
- Dissolve the coffee in the hot water then set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Temper the egg-milk mixture by slowly whisking in the hot coffee (you don't want to cook the eggs!)
- Add the coffee-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. The batter will be very thin, that's okay!
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.)
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans in oven halfway through. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- 1½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 2
- 5 and ¼ cups confectioners' sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon half & half (heavy cream or milk will work)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon black food coloring
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat the softened butter until creamy.
- Add in the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract. Mix on low to combine.
- With the mixer on low, stream in the half & half until you have a thick, chocolate buttercream.
- Add in the black food coloring and mix to fully combine.
- 1 cup champagne
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- Reduce the champagne by placing the champagne in a saucepan over low to medium-low heat, whisking occasionally until about 2 tablespoons remain (it will turn a light golden-brown color in about 20 minutes). Set aside and let cool.
- Add the heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high for 3-4 minutes until stiff peaks form.
- Add the confectioners' sugar and salt and mix again.
- Drizzle in the champagne reduction and vanilla extract and mix again.
