My nephew’s construction theme 2nd birthday cake

For my nephew’s 2nd birthday party, my sister planned him a construction theme party. I wanted to create him a one-of-a-kind cake with his chocolate mini donut stacked dirt pile cake.

John Michael is like his aunt and loves chocolate! I knew my Best Ever Chocolate cupcake recipe (featured in Whitney Miller’s New Southern Table) would be perfect for his cake. I used this recipe to make mini donut cakes.

I spooned one tablespoon of the batter in a mini donut pan greased with Baker’s Joy. I baked them on 350 degrees F for 8 minutes.

While baking the mini chocolate cake donuts, I made a ganache.

2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Place the chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Warm the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once warm, pour over the chocolate. After a couple minutes, whisk the cream and chocolate together until smooth. Chill until slightly thickened.

Place a layer of mini donut cakes on a cardboard cake round. Dip the bottom of each cake in some of the ganache and stack on top of the first layer of donut cakes.

Begin to create a third layer towards the center of the stack.

Spread some of the ganache on the cardboard around the outside of the donut stack. Lightly press Reese’s cereal into the ganache. Next, crumble some of the donut cakes and fill in the spaces.

Spoon some of the ganache down the donut stacked cake and press Reese cereal to create boulders falling down the dirt pile.

To finish the cake, dribble warmed ganache over the cake. Add chocolate rocks, gummy worms, and construction truck candles.

My nephew ate it up! The cake was a big hit 🙂