This recipe is inspired by a 1950s Swan’s Down Cake ad I discovered via Pinterest. The beauty of it is that you can make it however you please, just choose your favorite cake and frosting recipe; it’s all about how you assemble and decorate the cake. If your Easter cooking time is already booked up with preparing the main feast, you can use a boxed cake mix (shhh!) paired with a quick homemade frosting or make things even easier on yourself by using the canned stuff. I promise I won’t tell.
I happen to be a big fan of the traditional yellow cake, but you can use any recipe that makes two 8-inch layer cakes (or boxed mix for that matter). Because the frosting is essential to holding the cake together and giving it the rounded egg shape, you need a lot. If you’re pressed for time and using pre-made frosting, I’d recommend 2 (16-ounce) containers to be on the safe side. I was able to create this cake with a single (12.6-ounce) ounce of dark M&Ms, using nearly all the M&Ms, but if you are very particular about the colors and pattern you create on your cake, you may want to purchase 2 bags to ensure that you have more than enough of the colors you want, especially since the distribution of colors can vary from bag to bag (believe me, I did a high school statistics project on this ages ago).
