Crispy Rice Treat Cake

Who doesn’t love crispy rice treats?  They’re a childhood favorite and so easy to prepare.  They can also easily be gluten free so a great, quick sweet treat option for my gluten free friends.  


I far prefer homemade crispy rice treats over the packaged kind.  They just taste so much better and you know what’s going into them.  You can even use my homemade marshmallow recipe if you REALLY want to do these from scratch,

HOW SIMPLE ARE THESE INGREDIENTS?

This simple treat happens to be one of my husband Tim’s favorite things so I made it into the form of a birthday cake when his birthday rolled around, adding some orange zest and a filling and topping of chocolate hazelnut spread just to make it extra special.  


That was a hit so I made the same for one of Tim’s best friends, Mark, for his birthday as well,  I think I’m on a roll.

You may have heard me mention my Mom, Lana,  is a baker and caterer.  She makes crispy rice treats that she takes to a local farmers market and guess what always sells out first?  Yep, these little morsels of yummy nostalgia.  Before the cakes, cookies & pies sell out, the crispy rice treats sell out.  Of course, her recipe has a whole stick of butter for the 8 cups of crispy rice, which is part of the reason hers are  so wonderful.  Being that she makes her own marshmallows, she may frequently use her own mallow recipe in her batches as well.  I’ve been meaning to ask that of her. 

She sent a crispy rice treat birthday cake down to one of my daughters many years ago when they were still quite young and it was such a memorable hit.  Now that she knows they are also my husband’s favorite, any treat boxes to us always contain these as well.  Mom’s are the best!  And so is this crispy rice treat recipe!

Crispy Rice Treat Birthday Cake


8 cups crispy rice cereal
1 stick butter
1 10 oz. bag mini marshmallows (you can use large marshmallows but they take longer to melt) or my homemade marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla (I like extra and I use vanilla paste)
Zest of 2 oranges
1 10 oz. jar chocolate hazelnut spread 
Sprinkles (optional)




You’ll need 2 8 inch cake pans lined with plastic wrap and have the plastic overlapping the edges so you can easily pull the “cakes” out of the pans.


Pour cereal into a very large bowl and add the orange zest.  Toss together.
Slowly melt butter and marshmallows over low heat until well combined and thoroughly melted.  Add in vanilla and stir.
Immediately pour over rice cereal and stir until well combined.


Evenly distribute into the cake pans and press down to tightly compact .  Cover and chill until very well set. I actually put mine in the freezer for about 45 minutes to hasten the process.


Tip the “cake” out of the cake pans and unwrap.  Place one layer on a cake stand or serving platter and place half of the chocolate hazelnut spread over that layer, easing the spread evenly over the cake and to the edges.  Top with second layer and top that layer with remaining chocolate hazelnut spread.  
Add sprinkles of other festive decoration if desired.