King Cake Earthquake Cake – the perfect ending to your Mardi Gras party!! Yellow Cake with pecans and cream cheese. YUM! Cake mix, pecans, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla. Top the cake with a quick glaze and colored sugar. A fun twist on King Cake! Great for dessert or breakfast!

slice of king cake on a plate

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Earthquake Cake with Cinnamon and Pecans

This King Cake Earthquake Cake is a fun take on King Cake. It is perfect for your Fat Tuesday parties next week! This cake is so simple to make. It starts with a box of cake mix and has dollops of yummy cinnamon cream cheese through out the cake. It is seriously delicious!

The cake gets its name Earthquake Cake because as the cake cooks, the cake rises, and the cream cheese sinks leaving crevices in the finished cake. Every slice will look different. I've made this several times and it looks different every time. Sometimes the cream cheese sinks and sometimes it bubbles up. Either way, it tastes great!

king cake in a baking dish

How to Make King Cake Earthquake Cake

This cake is super easy to make. Start with sprinkling some chopped pecans in the bottom of a cake pan. Prepare a box of cake mix according to the package directions. Pour over the pecans. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer.  Add in powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt and continue to blend until smooth. Spoon cream cheese mixture over cake batter and bake. Let the cake cool and top with a quick powdered sugar glaze and yellow, green, and purple sugar.

  • You can use any flavor of cake mix that you prefer.
  • Store the cake covered in the refrigerator. It will keep 3 to 4 days.
  • This cake is delicious any time of year, not just Mardi Gras. Just swap out the colored sugar to fit the occasion. You can even leave out the colored sugar and the glaze. The cake is delicious on its own.
slice of king cake on a plate

Easy Dessert for Mardi Gras

I topped this cake with a simple glaze and Mardi Gras colored sugar. SO festive! It is also SOOOO good! This is obviously not a traditional King Cake, but it tastes great. Pecans, cream cheese, and cinnamon. YUM! This is the perfect ending to your Mardi Gras celebration. It also isn't bad for breakfast. Just saying????

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slice of king cake on a plate

King Cake Earthquake Cake

Yield: 16 people

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Total Time 50 mins

King Cake Earthquake Cake – perfect ending to your Mardi Gras party!! Yellow Cake with pecans and cream cheese. YUM! Cake mix, pecans, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla. Top the cake with a quick glaze and colored sugar. A fun twist on King Cake! Great for dessert or breakfast! #cake #dessert #mardigras #kingcake

  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to make cake
  • 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar, divided
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 to 4 Tbsp milk
  • yellow, purple and green sugar

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

  • Sprinkle pecans in bottom of pan.

  • Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour over pecans.

  • In a large bowl, mix together softened cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer. Add in 2½ cups powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt and continue to blend until smooth.

  • Spoon cream cheese mixture over cake batter.

  • Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

  • Remove from oven and cool completely

  • Whisk together 1½cups powdered sugar and 3 to 4 Tbsp milk.

  • Pour glaze over cooled cake. Sprinkle with yellow, purple and green sugar.

Steph

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slice of king cake on a plate
king cake in a baking dish