This easy Grinch Cake looks like a basic loaf of sweet quick bread, but it’s baked with a surprise red heart hidden inside.
Grinch Cake For Christmas
Our Grinch Cake recipe is super easy to make using a cake mix shortcut for both the pistachio cake base and the red heart batter.
Lighter than a pound cake and sweeter than a slice of bread, this grinch green cake looks like an ordinary loaf on the outside, but when you cut into it, there’s a hidden heart inside.
The base of this sweet loaf bread recipe is full of pistachio flavor from packets of pudding mix with rich, red velvet cake baked in the middle; covered with white frosting, then drizzled with green icing, and sprinkled with candy hearts, this homemade holiday dessert is a fun and festive way to give a basic sweet bread recipe a Christmas makeover.
Why We Love Grinch Quick Bread Cake Recipes
- Quick and easy to make with cake mix shortcuts.
- Uses a handful of simple ingredients.
- Fun to make with the whole family and eat while watching the How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie.
- Surprise inside cakes are easy to customize with different colors, shapes, and cake mixes for different holidays and special celebrations.
- Perfect for a Grinch themed party, a Christmas celebration, or a holiday dessert platter.
Grinch Cake Ingredients
- Red velvet cake mix
- Eggs
- Vegetable oil
- Water
- Instant vanilla pudding mix
- Sour cream
- Yellow cake mix: White cake mix will work here as well.
- Instant pistachio pudding mix: You could use vanilla pudding mix here instead. Just add a couple of drops of green food coloring to make the batter green.
- White icing
- Green icing
- Red heart sprinkles
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Additions
- Use Other Oil: You can use coconut oil or butter instead of the vegetable oil. Just note that the taste will be a little different and your Grinch cake might not be quite as moist.
- Swap The Surprise Inside: You can use different shaped cookie cutters and cut-outs for your Christmas cake. Try hiding Christmas trees, candy canes, snowmen, ornaments, or Santas in the middle of your cake.
- Customize Your Cake: Hide blue or pink hearts in the middle of a white cake for a gender reveal party; bake a red, white, or blue cake and hide star shapes inside for Forth of July; bake a cherry bread with red hearts in the middle for Valentine’s Day.
Recommended Tools
- Loaf pan
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter (I used a 2 inch heart)
How to Make Grinch Cake
- Bake The Red Cake: Whisk together the red velvet cake mix, eggs, oil, vanilla pudding mix, and sour cream. Pour the batter into a loaf pan (Image 1) and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.
Pro Tip: The batter will be thick, not like cake batter so you’ll need to spread it out to the corners and sides of the pan. - Cut Out The Cake Hearts: Cool the cake for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator, then cut as many hearts out of the cake as possible. Set aside. (Images 2 and 3)
- Make The Green Batter: Whisk together the yellow cake mix, eggs, oil, pistachio pudding mix, and sour cream. (Image 4)
- Prepare The Pan: Pour a thin layer of green batter into the pan and line the hearts, face to face, from one end of the pan to the other (Image 5). Pour the remaining green batter over the hearts. (Image 6)
Pro Tip: You’ll need to spread out the batter.; it will not fill up the pan. Don’t worry if the red hearts are raised above a bit, the green batter will rise while baking. - Bake: Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for 30 minutes to an hour. (Image 7)
Pro Tip: You can place it in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process. - Decorate Your Dessert: Cooled completely and cover the top and sides with white icing (Image 8). Drizzle with green icing and sprinkle with heart sprinkles. (Image 9)
- Slice And Serve: Enjoy!
Tips For Making Grinch Cake
- Store-bought cake mix is super convenient but you are more than welcome to make your own batters from scratch and then assemble the cake as written.
- I used a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. You could use a larger one if you’d like or even a range of sizes so that the hearts vary from slice to slice (remember how the Grinch’s heart grows?).
- You can make this cake in a cake pan instead of a bread pan. Just note that you may want to change how you arrange the hearts in the batter and that you must adjust the cooking times. Refer to the instructions on the package to get it right.
- Feel free to add a few drops of green food color to the green batter in order to get a rich green color! The pistachio pudding does a pretty good job of creating green bread along with awesome flavor.
How to Store Grinch Cake
- To Store: Store the cake in an airtight container or wrap it in a double layer of plastic wrap. It will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can store Grinch bread in the fridge to extend its shelf-life, however the cool temperatures will dry it out, so I suggest against it.
- To Freeze: Freeze the wrapped cake in a freezer safe container or bag for up to 3 months.
More Grinch Recipes
Other Easy Christmas Recipes
- Christmas Crockpot Candy
- Ice Cream Cone Christmas Trees
- Strawberry Santas
- Haystack Cookies
- Grinch Cake Pops
If you tried this Grinch Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!!!
Grinch Cake
Serves — 10
This green Grinch Cake has a surprise hidden inside! Slice into your loaf to reveal the red heart secret.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooling Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients
For the red (heart) batter
- 15.2 ounces box of red velvet cake mix
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 ounces packet of vanilla pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
For the green batter
- 15.2 ounces box of yellow cake mix
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons water
- 6 ounces (2 3-ounce) packets of pistachio pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
For the icing
- 1½ cups white icing
- ¼ cup green icing
- 2 tablespoons red heart sprinkles
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 standard loaf pans with parchment paper or spray with non-stick baking spray.
- Make the red batter. Whisk together the red velvet cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, vanilla pudding mix, and sour cream.15.2 ounces box of red velvet cake mix, 3 eggs, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 3 ounces packet of vanilla pudding mix, 1 cup sour cream, 3 tablespoons water
- Bake the red bread. Pour the red cake batter into one of the prepared loaf pans and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and removed clean. The batter will be thick, not like cake batter so you'll need to spread it out to the corners and sides of the pan.
- Make hearts. Allow the red cake to cool for at least 30 minutes in your refrigerator before slicing. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut as many hearts out of the cake as possible. Set aside.
- Make the green batter. Whisk together the yellow cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, water, pistachio pudding mix, and sour cream.15.2 ounces box of yellow cake mix, 3 eggs, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 6 ounces (2 3-ounce) packets of pistachio pudding mix, 1 cup sour cream, 3 tablespoons water
- Put the hearts in the green batter. Pour a thin layer of green batter into the second loaf pan and line the hearts up face to face from one end of the loaf pan to the other. Pour the remaining green batter over the hearts. Again, the batter will be thick so you'll need to spread it out. It will not fill up the pan and the red hearts will be raised above a bit, this is ok. The green batter will rise while baking!
- Bake. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted off to the side of the hearts and come out clean.
- Cool. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for 30 minutes to an hour. You can place it in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.
- Ice. Once the cake has cooled completely, remove it from the loaf pan and ice the top and sides with white icing. Drizzle with green icing and sprinkle with heart sprinkles. Slice and serve!1½ cups white icing, ¼ cup green icing, 2 tablespoons red heart sprinkles
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: Store the cake in an airtight container or wrap it in a double layer of plastic wrap. It will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can store Grinch bread in the fridge to extend its shelf-life, however the cool temperatures will dry it out, so I suggest against it.
- To Freeze: Freeze the wrapped cake in a freezer safe container or bag for up to 3 months.
- Store-bought cake mix is super convenient but you are more than welcome to make your own batters from scratch and then assemble the cake as written.
- I used a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. You could use a larger one if you’d like or even a range of sizes so that the hearts vary from slice to slice (remember how the Grinch’s heart grows?).
- You can make this cake in a cake pan instead of a bread pan. Just note that you may want to change the way you arrange the hearts in the batter and that you will need to adjust the cooking times. Refer to the instructions on the package to get it right.
- Feel free to add a few drops of green food color to the green batter in order to get a rich green color! The pistachio pudding does a pretty good job of creating green bread along with awesome flavor.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 841kcal | Carbohydrates: 123g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 125mg | Sodium: 1093mg | Potassium: 274mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 87g | Vitamin A: 431IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 221mg | Iron: 3mg
concept is cute wish I had more details and pictures on how to arrange hearts Had extra batter left next time I’ll make 2 green asked and only fill loaf half way it took long to cook the green cake and green cake asked for 2 pudding
I didn’t make this I just wonder can u substitute the pistachio pudding for something else I never had pistachio or can u use van or lemon and use food coloring
I have not tried that to advise. The pistachio pudding will help with the green color (and it is delicious)
why does it call for 2 puddings for green cake I had so much batter I wish I wouldn’t had filled my up so high took longer to cook
I made the cake without the pistachio pudding I have people w nut allergies so I used a lemon cake mix added green color gel used fresh lime and lemon squeeze in the batter it came out pretty good I just had alot of left over batter w both made a couple cupcakes and it took way longer than 45 min with all that green batter so I had to turn down to get inside done but it came out fine
Cute concept. Cutout hearts didn’t look like hearts, did not use. Batter more cookie dough in consistency.
my cut outs weren’t the best the sunk and moved but cake was good I dint use pistachios pudding I did lemon cak and lemon puddin nit allergies in my home and green gel
yo quiero el libro de ustedes gracias
Ty love it