Neve’s Peppa Pig Cake Recipe: A Fun and Delicious Birthday Treat

Neve’s Peppa Pig Birthday Cake – A Celebration of Simplicity and Flavour

Last weekend, we celebrated our daughter Neve’s third birthday with her very first party! She had been counting down the days since January, and her excitement was absolutely infectious. She had attended a few birthday parties last year, so it was finally her turn. She knew exactly what she wanted—a Peppa Pig theme, complete with a Peppa Pig cake, balloons, and plenty of sweet treats. Big demands from a little person!

Neve's Peppa Pig Birthday Cake

My Dilemma: A Cake That’s Fun Yet Free from Artificial Colours

For those who don’t know, I ran a celebration cake business in London for over a decade before moving to Chester and opening our patisserie, Sweet Elements. I made everything from simple birthday cakes to the most elaborate themed designs. But when it came to making a celebration cake for my own daughter, I faced a dilemma—I've avoided artificial food colouring for over five years.

I wanted Neve to have a fun cake, but I also wanted to stay true to my baking philosophy: high-quality, whole-food ingredients. My solution? Bake an incredible cake using the best ingredients—organic and free-range where possible—fill it with homemade buttercream and jam, and then cover it with coloured fondant. That way, the decorations could easily be removed before eating, while still giving her the magical Peppa Pig cake she had dreamed of.

The excitement was real!  Neve blowing out her candles!

How I Made the Decorations

In the past, I would have crafted every decoration by hand, but Neve already had Peppa Pig family figurines—so onto the cake they went! I made the rest of the decorations using fondant, crafting a rainbow and other elements using homemade flower paste (fondant mixed with CMC for extra strength). This allowed them to dry hard and keep their shape.

The Cake: A Tried-and-True Chocolate Fudge Cake

For the cake itself, I turned to a recipe I’ve been using for over a decade—Ina Garten’s Aunt Beatty’s Chocolate Cake. It’s incredibly moist, has a fantastic shelf life (stays fresh for seven days!), and freezes beautifully. It’s also one of the easiest cakes you’ll ever make—you don’t even need a mixer! Just two bowls: one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet. Mix, pour, bake—done.

Recipe: Ina Garten’s Aunt Beatty’s Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 210g (1¾ cups) AP flour / Plain Flour (I used WildFarmed)

• 400g (2 cups) sugar

• 90g (¾ cup) good-quality cocoa powder (I use Valrhona & so does Ina)

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 240g (1 cup) buttermilk, shaken

• 120g (½ cup) vegetable oil (I used avocado oil instead of seed oil)

• 2  extra large eggs / 2 large eggs (UK), room temperature

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Butter two 8-inch round cake pans, line them with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

5. Stir in the hot coffee and mix gently. The batter will be quite thin—this is normal!

6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

8. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes:

• If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use milk - I actually prefer making it with milk.

• Don’t skip the coffee! It enhances the chocolate flavour without making the cake taste like coffee.

• This recipe makes two 8-inch round cakes. For Neve’s cake, I made 1.5x the recipe to create a three-layer cake, which served around 40 portions.

The Buttercream: Italian Meringue for Stability and Less Sweetness

For the buttercream, I opted for a vanilla Italian meringue buttercream. It’s much less sweet than traditional American buttercream and incredibly stable—perfect for layered cakes. My original plan was to make homemade strawberry jam for the filling, but with all the other party prep, I simply ran out of time.

Extra Treats for the Parents
For the grown-ups, I baked a Hummingbird Cake in my Nordic Ware Bundt pan. I bought this pan on a road trip up the West Coast of the US with my mother—stopping in Portland, Oregon, where I picked up a suitcase full of cake pans and decorating tools! The sharp edges of this pan give such a beautiful finish. While the cake itself was delicious, I felt the desiccated coconut flavour didn’t come through enough. I’ll refine the recipe and share it once I’ve perfected it.

I also made Choux au Craquelin filled with a dark chocolate crèmeux and a selection of orange and lemon biscuits. Clearly, I was a rookie at throwing a kids' party, as time got away from me, and sadly, I didn’t manage to snap any photos of the other treats. Next year, I’ll be more organised—haha!

Hummingbird Cake

Try This Cake and Tag Me!

This chocolate cake is a game-changer—rich, moist, and so simple to make. If you give it a try, I’d love to see your results! Tag me on Instagram or Facebook  or drop me an email at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Happy baking!