Stick of Butter Cake (Kid Friendly April Fools Prank)

I have to confess, I’ve had a little too much fun preparing for April Fools this year. It all started with making an April Fools Fried Egg and Toast which quickly led to Jello Juice. To help round out this breakfast of champions, I thought we needed to have some butter and toast.

For the record, I’m no baker and I’m even worse at cake decorating. So when it came to making this cake, I decided I need to make the process as easy as possible. What I found was not only a simpler way to ice this cake, but also leaves a smoother finish then if I tried to spread it by hand.

The key is to start with a dense cake like a pound cake. (And yes, just go to the store and buy one. Nothing about this recipe is healthy anyway). We don’t want a cake that’s crumbly and airy. A light-textured cake has more crevices and will have a lumpy finish.

The other key to success is heating up the frosting (once again, store-bought is fine). You’ll get something that’s pourable so you don’t need to do any fiddly spreading (which would drive me insane with a cake this small). One coat should be enough, but two coats will give a smoother finish (it also makes the cake a little too sweet for my taste. But it’s a small price to pay for art.).

Related: Breakfast Prank (Surprise Your Kids April Fools Morning)

Ingredients

• Pound cake (store-bought is fine. Really any sort of dense cake works best. Otherwise, it’ll get too crumbly and be hard to handle.)
• 1 cup white store-bought frosting (flavor doesn’t really matter as long as it’s white)
• yellow food coloring

Directions

1. Cut the pound cake into a rectangular cube the size of a stick of butter (roughly 1.5in x 1.5in x 5in). I kept a stick of butter next to me as a reference. You should be able to make at least two sticks of butter from one cake (either eat the scraps or freeze it to make some April Fools chicken nuggets – that’s an article for a later date). Optional: Set aside a couple of 1/2 slices of the pound cake to make “toast” to go along with your “butter.”

Dad Stuff Tip: A long serrated bread knife works best for cutting the cake into a stick of butter.

2. Melt a cup of the frosting in a bowl in the microwave for 15-second intervals, stirring in between. You’re looking to soften the frosting until it’s pourable (but not super thin and runny). Add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring to get it the color of butter.

3. Place the stick of butter-shaped pound cakes on a wire cooling rack over a sheet pan.

4. Pour the melted frosting over the cake until it’s completely covered. A good amount of the frosting will drip to the bottom. It’s okay, we can reuse it. (This is by far the easiest way to ice a cake this small and get a smooth finish. )

Dad Stuff Tip: One coat of frosting should be enough, but if you want a smoother finish, let the first layer of frosting set, reheat the frosting (you might need to collect the frosting under the rack), and pour a second layer. It’ll be too much frosting for that amount of cake (in my opinion), but it’ll hide any lumps better.

5. Once the icing has cooled and set, use a narrow spatula to carefully transfer the stick of butter cake to your favorite butter dish.

6. Toast the slices of pound cake on the lowest setting of your toaster. Keep a constant eye because it will burn the moment you look away (I kid you not, it will go from no color to burned faster than your kid can ask for a snack).

7. Serve your stick of butter cake with some pound cake toast. Maybe even with a side of orange jello juice or a sunny-side-up ostrich egg.

You might also like these prank food ideas:

• Breakfast Prank (Surprise Your Kids April Fools Morning)
• Jello Juice (April Fools Juice Prank)
• April Fools Fried Egg and Toast (Yogurt and Pound Cake)
• Bundt Cake Pizza/Stromboli (April Fools Cake)
• April Fools Beer/Champagne (Non-alcoholic Prank for Kids!)