Hosting Easter dinner or Mother’s day brunch? Making a cake for Sunday’s Church Potluck or a baby shower? This quick and easy Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake is just what you need! This semi-homemade recipe starts with a box cake mix which we top with a homemade white frosting and decorate with a simple bird nest made of icing and toasted coconut and Robin Egg candies.
This recipe was created for Dixie Crystals by BigBear’sWife, post and words written are 100% mine as always.
I got the idea for this Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. I saw these beautiful Birds Nest Meringue Cookies on CraftyMornings.com and woke up in the middle of the night thinking that bird nests would be adorable on a beautiful white sheet cake.
Yep, these are the things that wake me up in the middle of the night sometimes.
So with Easter and Mother’s day coming up I thought this might be the perfect time to make my dream come to life in cake form. While I did use the vision of the Birds Nest Meringue Cookies as my inspiration, these bird nests are made differently.
These Bird Nests are made with cream cheese icing and topped with toasted coconut before being filled with Robin Egg candies!
Ingredients For Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 4 egg whites
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 8 ounces sour cream
- Butter to butter pan
Yes this cake used a boxed cake mix to start it off. Let me tell you something, this cake is amazing. I’ve been making this cake recipe for over 10 years and it’s by far my favorite cake to make and decorate. You’re going to love it.
Ingredient amounts and entire recipe directions below
I bake this Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake in a 9 x 13 baking pan and get 12 pretty decent size pieces of cake when I cut it and decorate it. Of course it can yield more pieces if you cut them smaller, user a smaller tip to make the bird nests with icing and use the mini robin egg candies.
I like to mark cakes like this right in the pan before I start cutting and decorating slices. That way most of the cake slices are even and easy to remove from the pan and decorate if I’m serving them on individual plates instead of decorating the cake and taking it somewhere.
How To Decorate A Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake:
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Decorating this Bird’s Nest cake is really easy.
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Start by icing the entire cake with about 3/4 of the frosting that’s been made.
Each square of cake needs one bird’s nest decoration. -
Start by filling a piping bag fitted with a M1 star tip with the white icing. Pipe a circle in like a nest onto the center of the cake square.
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A M1 Tip looks like a big star.
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Next, sprinkle the icing nest with some of the toasted coconut.
Finally, add in a few candy eggs and the Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake decorating it complete. -
Just use those same steps to decorate each cake slice.
How to Toast Coconut:
Toasting coconut for this Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake is super easy.
Just pour shredded sweetened coconut into a skillet and heat over medium – low heat.
Stir constantly until the coconut reaches your desired level of “toastyness”. Speaking of toasted coconut, let me tell you that coconut smells like a Hawaiian vacation while you’re toasting it and it smells amazing! Keep an eye on it thought and don’t walk away!
Coconut can go from sweet toasted heaven to burnt crispy bits really fast.
Once the coconut it toasted just pour it onto a plate and let it cool until you’re ready to decorate the bird nests on the cake.
Candy Eggs and Which Ones To Use:
For this Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake I used the regular sized Robin Egg Candies because they’re one of my favorite Easter treats.
There are also mini Robin egg candies that you could use if you needed to make the decorations on the cake slices smaller.
If you’re not a fan of Robin Egg Candy you could also use Jelly beans, Chocolate eggs, or mini peanut butter eggs.
I mean to be honest I would be ok with a giant Cadbury egg in the middle of these cake slices haha.
This Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake is not only great for serving up at home but it’s perfect for potlucks and to send to friends and family.
Bake this cake in disposable pan (or bake it in a regular pan and then transfer it to a disposable pan), carefully slice it and decorate it right in the pan! Pop a top on it and it’s ready to head off to an event!
I sent this cake below over to my sister in law’s office and I heard that they all loved it.
Can I Use Any Cake Mix?
You can! You can also use a homemade cake recipe if you want but the one I used here in this recipe is my favorite and I’ve been making it for years.
Just remember that cake mixes vary and cheap cake mix makes a cake that tastes cheap.
I Don’t Like Coconut, Can I Leave It Out?
Yep! You’ll just have white bird nests instead of the straw looking ones. You could try out crushed graham crackers or chocolate shavings instead.
More Cake Recipes:
More Recipes Using Robin Egg Candy:
Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake
Bird’s Nest White Sheet Cake
This delicious white sheet cake it topped with a homemade white frosting and decorated with a simple bird nest decoration! This cake is perfect for Easter or Mother’s day!
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 1 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 4 egg whites
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Butter to butter pan
Icing:
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup milk
Decorations:
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
- 36 Robin Egg Candies
- M1 tip and piping bag
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt.
In the bowl of a mixer, mix together egg whites and vanilla, water, milk and vanilla.
Mix on low for about 10 seconds.
Slowly add the dry mix a little at a time. Mixing on low until everything is combined. Add sour cream and mix well.
Pour into a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Bake 30 minutes or until done.
Remove from oven and let cool.
For Icing:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cream cheese and shortening. Mix until smooth.
Slowly add powdered sugar while mixing.
Add vanilla.
Slowly add in milk, a few tablespoons at a time. Mix until combined.
Decorating:
Cover cake with 3/4 of icing. Reserve left over icing for bird nest decorations.
Cut cake into 12 squares.
Using a M1 tip and piping bag, pipe circle bird nests onto each cake square.
Sprinkle toasted coconut onto “nests”
Add 3 Robin Egg candies to center of each nest.
If you make this recipe, leave me a comment or snap a picture and share it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #bigbearswife — I love to see what you’re making from the blog!
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