Confession: I never did have leftover Halloween candy. I went out and bought all of it when it was 75-90% off. The weekend after Halloween, my best friend and I were in Birmingham, AL doing a little shopping and fine dining. Of course we had to go into Target, which is one of our favorite places, along with Vera Bradley and Baskin-Robbins! :) This Target had a TON of leftover Halloween candy for really cheap, so I bought a TON of it. It was good stuff too, like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers, Twix, Halloween Oreos, and Snickers.

So when I was trying to decide what to do with these Snickers, I googled recipes and then I remembered a recipe for Snickers Cupcakes I saw on Kevin & Amanda. The cupcakes look insanely good and I encourage you to try the chocolate mousse that she made to fill the cupcakes. I made the mousse and put it between my cake layers, but I think that was a mistake because my cake layers slid around while I was frosting the cake. The cake is amazing. I love the addition of the pudding mix to the boxed cake mix. It really makes the cake taste homemade. And this buttercream? It's totally going to be my go-to chocolate buttercream from now till eternity.  It's wonderful. Make this now, in cupcake form, layer cake, sheet cake..doesn't matter, just make it.

*And please don't pay attention to by cake frosting skills. I tend to think this is more of a rustic look. LOL!*

Snickers Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
recipe from Kevin & Amanda's Decadent Snickers Cupcakes


Cake:
1 box Devils Food Cake Mix
1 small box Jello Chocolate Fudge instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 C. milk
1 C. sour cream

Buttercream:
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
4 -6 C. powdered sugar
1/2 C. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 - 3/4 of a bag of mini Snickers, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans and then cover bottom with parchment round. Into a large bowl, put the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, milk and sour cream and beat until combined. Divide batter evenly among the 2 cake pans. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester placed in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pans for around 5-10 minutes and then remove cakes from pans and cool on wire racks.

For the chocolate buttercream, in a medium bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Beat well until all combined and is a nice spreading consistency. You may have to add a few drops of milk.

Frost cake and then place chopped Snickers on the top. Store the cake, covered, for 3 days, but it probably won't last that long.