Grinch Cake

Grinch Cake on a large wooden board with heart sprinkles.

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3.86 from 7 votes

This green Grinch Cake has a surprise hidden inside! Slice into your loaf to reveal the red heart secret.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 30

Cooling Time30

Total Time2 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 841kcal

Author: Jennifer Fishkind

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

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.

Tips:

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.

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