1cupclub sodasubstitute for water in cake recipe when making pistachio cake
28ozcool whip
Instructions
Prepare your 6" cake pans by lightly coating with bakery pan grease (see post for details). Set 2 similar sized biscuit cuttesr into the center of the cake pans. You want about a 2" size hole
Mix up the cake mix per the package instructions. If you are making the pistachio cake like I did, I recommend substituting club soda for the water. Also add 1 tps almond emulstion or extract if making pistachio cake. All other flavors, add vanilla extract or other extract of choice.
Evenly divide cake batter between 2 (6") flat walled cake pans, placing the batter around the outside of the biscuit cutter. See post for more details.
Cover both pans with aluminium foil and place on the rack that came with the Ninja Foodi. I used a silicone waffle mold as a buffer between the cake pans.
Place one cup of water into the inner pot of the Ninja Foodi and place the rack with both cake pans into the inner pot of the Ninja Foodi. Set the pressure to high and the time for 21 minutes. Make sure the valve is turned to seal and press start. When the time is up, allow to natural release for 10 minutes and then manually release the rest of the pressure.
Remove the rack and the cakes from the Ninja Foodi and let them sit for at least 5 minutes. then carefully remove the aluminum foil. Run a cake tester or knife around the edges to make sure the cake is not stuck.
Flip the cakes onto cooling racks. Allow to cool completely. You can pop them in the fridge to speed up the process. Carefully remove the biscuit cutters from the center and keep the middle cake part in case you need it later.
Take the uneven tops off of each cake. You can use a long serrated knife and your eyes to cut of the uneven tops or you can use a cake leveler.
Split each cake into two layers. I do this fast and easy with that cake leveler I have, but you can also use a serrated knife to cut straight through the middle of each cake. You want to have 4 cake layers about the same height. If you get lucky, like I did, one of the tops won't have a hole in it and you can use this as the top layer. If not, no worries. We will use one of the center pieces to create a plug for the top layer.
Combine 16 oz of cool whip to 1 package of pistachio pudding mix and mix together until the dry pudding mix is incorporated into the cool whip.
Place the parchment round on the 6" cake pan turned upside down. Place one cake layer on top. Pipe the cool whip/pudding mixture on the top of the cake so it is about ½"-1" high. Repeat this process until you have 3 layers. Try to make sure the cake is level and you can push down on the top layer in spots if you need to adjust it, or add more cool whip if you have a noticeable slant.
Fill the cake with the candy of your choice and create a small mound on top. Pipe the cool whip/pudding around the cake like we did for the other three layers and place on the top layer. If your top layer has a hole in it, just cut one of the pieces that was inside of the biscuit cutter to about an inch and put in the center to plug the hole. If your biscuit cutters are different sizes like mine were, use the center that is the same size as the hole.
Using an offset icing spatula or butter knife, dump about a cup of the cool whip/ pudding mixture on top of the cake and spread down the sides. Turn the cake pan as you need too, until the all the sides of the cake have a layer of the cool whip. Then scrape off the top, leaving about ¼" or so of the cool whip frosting on top. Even out the sides by scraping around the cake and removing the excess. You can watch how I do this in the video below the recipe.