My Favorite Birthday Cake Alternative

My easy and gourmet cake batter rice krispie treats are bursting with colorful personality and flavor. They have everything you love about classic rice krispie treats–the chew, the crunch, and the sweet, nostalgic taste–but with a party flair from cake mix and fudgy frosting. They are so fun! These treats do require some time standing over the stove, but there’s no turning on the oven, and they can be ready in a matter of minutes. They are thicker and more decadent than your average rice krispie, and each bite is absolutely loaded with the flavor of cake batter and sprinkles! The cake batter fudge icing on top has white chocolate base infused with cake mix and vanilla. It’s a quick, perfectly smooth, candy-like frosting that perfectly complements the crunchy rice krispies. Just like the treats themselves, it’s easy to make and full of flavor. Now let’s get this party started! 🎉

What You Need

Besides the obvious ingredients (rice krispies cereal and mini marshmallows) you will also need:

Sweetened condensed milk. Make sure you don’t accidentally grab evaporated milk. These are sold right near each other and can be easy to mistake for one another, but they are very different.Butter. Unlike most of my recipes, I recommend using salted butter here.Cake mix. You know I’m a from-scratch kind of girl, but in this case, it’s hard to beat the “cake batter” flavor you get from boxed cake mix. I like to use white cake mix, but yellow or even strawberry would work too. And remember, you’re using just the cake mix itself here, not the add-ins (eggs, oil, etc.).White chocolate chips. These will create the base for our fudgy cake batter frosting.Sprinkles. We’ll add these to our cake batter rice krispies and on top of the fudgy frosting too, because I firmly believe you can never have enough sprinkles (and if you’re here, I’m sure you feel the same!).

SAM’S TIP: I’m not a big fan of using funfetti cake mix for this recipe simply because the sprinkles tend to melt and make for a muddled, messy appearance 🙁. If you are in a pinch, you could always use it and toss in extra sprinkles at the end though. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats

SAM’S TIP: If you have concerns about E.coli in the raw cake mix (I talk more about this in my cookie dough dip post), you can heat it in the microwave in 10 second intervals until it reaches 160F (71C) before using. This recipe serves as a wonderful birthday cake alternative for someone who doesn’t love traditional cakes (and it even looks like a real frosted cake before you slice it up!). Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook

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