Pebbles + Milk
Fruity Pebbles is the superior cereal, BY FAR! Yes, that's my opinion. But this is my blog. And we all know the craze with cereal milk. Made famous by Momofoku, cereal milk is super simple to make. If you want to use the standard recipe for this, head over HERE to this copycat recipe. I decided to switch things up a bit and use fruity pebbles and buttermilk. You'll find what I did below in the formulas. This cake is made using my new vanilla base recipe and adding in the substitutions necessary to create a soft, stackable, fruity-pebble-filled cake that is creamy and delicious! Enough talking, let's get to the goods.
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This recipe will make 5, 6" layers or 3 8" layers. You know I love to cater to my bakers who like tall bakes!
CAKE FORMULA
Flour - 440 grams
Sugar - 550 grams
Finely Crushed Fruity Pebbles Cereal - 1 cup (this takes about 2 1/2 cups cereal)
Egg Whites - 3 large
Eggs - 3 large
Unsalted Butter (room temp) - 232 grams
Buttermilk Cereal Milk - 220 grams
Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons
Salt - 1 tsp
Vanilla - 1 tsp
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in to the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment.
Add the sugar in to the bowl.
Start the mixer on low and slowly add in the butter, 1 TBSP at a time. Let the mixer run on low/medium speed for 3 minutes once all the butter has been added. The texture will look clumpy, but throughly distributed when it's done. You don't want HUGE chunks of butter, but you want it evenly distributed throughout the flour mixture.
Add in the egg whites and run the mixer on medium for 30 seconds, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
Add in the eggs and run the mixer for another 30 seconds, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
Add in the vanilla.
Add in the cereal milk and the crushed cereal, alternating, while the mixer is on low speed. Start with half the cereal, then half the milk, then the rest of the cereal and end with the milk. Stop after each addition and scrape down the bowl.
Once it's all incorporated, let the mixer run for 1 minute on low/med speed.
Line your pans with parchment, coat them with shortening and flour OR spray your baking tins with PAM quick release baking spray. Whichever way you do is fine, just make sure they are prepared for the cakes to come out easily.
Divide the batter evenly among baking tins. It measures to roughly 330 grams per 6" tin OR 550 grams per 8" tin.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes. Check the cakes and rotate at 25 minutes. Start checking for doneness around 30-35 minutes and look for golden brown tops and insert a toothpick in the center to check. The pick should come out clean. If not, continue baking in short increments and checking back. Oven times vary.
Cool in the pans for 20 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Level the cake layers once cooled, and saran wrap them for storage.
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BUTTERCREAM FORMULA
Unsalted Butter - 696 grams (6 sticks)
Powdered Sugar - 420 grams powdered sugar SIFTED
Buttermilk Cereal Milk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
DIRECTIONS
Fit the stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
In the bowl of the stand mixer, cream the butter at room temperature until light in color, roughly 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
Sift the powdered sugar and salt in to a separate bowl and pour the milk and vanilla over top of it.
Mix the sugar mixture with a spatula until it looks like the glaze for cinnamon rolls and no clumps remain.
With the mixer on medium, pour the mixture in to the butter in 3 increments, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
Continue to mix once all has been incorporated for 6-8 minutes.
NOTE: I would make this when you are ready to ice the cake. You will need to re-whip from the refrigerator if you make in advance. This needs to be refrigerated as it has milk!
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CEREAL MILK FORMULA
Butter milk - 3 1/2 cups
Fruity Pebbles Cereal - 2 cups
Brown Sugar - 1 TBSP
Cheesecloth
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat and pour the fruity pebbles on it, evenly spreading them out.
Toast the pebbles for 10 minutes in the oven.
Take out and let cool completely.
Pour the pebbles in a bowl and pour the milk over them.
Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and mix it up with a spoon.
Let steep for 20-25 minutes.
Strain the milk through a cheesecloth and store for use in recipe. You will really need to squeeze the milk out AND little bits of cereal are OK! No worries.
NOTE: You can make this in advance, but I would recommend only a day or two. This should yield just enough milk to use in the recipe and for the buttercream. If you fall short for the buttercream, add in the missing grams in heavy whipping cream.