Name: Easy Reindeer Cakes
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 10 Hostess Ding Dong Cakes; 1 tablespoon cookie icing; 20 mini twist pretzels; 20 candy eyes; 10 chocolate melting wafers; 10 M&M's (red or brown)

These Easy Reindeer Cakes are a quick and easy no bake holiday treat that the kids will be begging to make with you over and over again! Made with Ding Dong Cakes, pretzels, and candy in just 15 minutes!

Bring even more excitement to your holiday season with another reindeer recipe such as my Reindeer Cookies! Made with brownie sandwich cookies, frosting, pretzels, and candy!

Easy Reindeer Cakes made from ding dongs on a wooden table surrounded by holiday decor.

Make a quick trip to the store and have fun making a batch of these Reindeer Cakes! Okay, “cake recipe” is used a bit loosely here, since this recipe uses easy ingredients and minimal time to create tasty holiday fun that the whole family can enjoy!

Perfect for school holiday parties, the annual family Christmas party, or as a fun snow day project as December 25th creeps closer! We also love these Christmas Tree Cupcakes!

Table of Contents

About This Reindeer Cakes Recipe

Taste: These yummy cakes are filled with a variety of flavors! From the chocolate cakes that are filled with vanilla cream and dipped in fudge-like chocolate. To the edible decorations of salty pretzels, candy eyes, and a sweet chocolate nose!

Texture: The majority of the texture lies in the base of these reindeer since they’re made with tender, moist cakes! From there you’ll get a satisfying crunch from the pretzels and candy!

Ways The Kids Can Help Make These Reindeer!

As a Mom, I’m always looking for fun holiday recipes that the kids can help with! Since these reindeer cakes don’t require messy ingredients or any baking, it’s a great one for kids to be involved with!

The kids can unwrap the Ding Dong Cakes and place them on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. From there have them sort out the M&Ms by color into small bowls.

Afterward, either you or the kids can adhere the pretzel antlers to the cakes. Just be sure there’s enough surface area left on the cake so there’s room for the face!

Then give them the freedom of creativity! Hand over the icing bag and let them make the reindeer faces using the candy eyes, chocolate wafers, and M&Ms!

The kids will certainly remember the day that they made these Reindeer Cakes! Another quick and simple Christmas recipe they can help with is these Cute Mini Yule Logs out of Swiss roll cakes!

We also never let Christmas slip by without decorating a batch of Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies!

If you’re not into making or baking, then maybe you’d prefer to put together some Magic Reindeer Food complete with a poem! After all, I find that it doesn’t matter what we’re doing, kids just love spending time together doing a seasonal activity!

Overhead photo of ding dong cake being decorated as reindeer for the holidays.

Recipe Tips When Making Reindeer Cakes

M&Ms – Feel free to grab your favorite bag of M&Ms to make the reindeer nose! I just used classic milk chocolate M&Ms, but peanut, caramel, fudge brownie, or even crispy M&Ms would be great for these!
Reindeer Nose – If you can’t get your hands on a bag of chocolate melting wafers, mini vanilla wafers would work as well. This part can also be skipped altogether by just using a red M&M for the shiny nose.
Pretzel Antlers – Be sure to use mini twist pretzels. Full-size pretzels just won’t fit on the Ding Dong Cakes the way they need to.
Cookie Icing – Used to adhere the edible decorations to the cakes. This can also be replaced with melted chocolate!
Let The Cakes Rest – Once the cakes are assembled you want to let them rest for at least 30 minutes. This allows the icing to firm up so the decorations don’t slide off!

How Do I Store These Reindeer Cakes?

Place the assembled reindeer cakes in an airtight container. Store them at room temperature and enjoy them for up to 4 days.

After that, the cakes tend to dry out or go stale!

Can I Just Stick the Pretzels Into The Cakes?

I don’t recommend this! Sticking the pretzels into the cake causes them to crack and fall apart. Adhering them on top of the cakes with cookie icing is the best option without risking the stability of the cakes.

Where Can I Find Candy Eyes?

I grab my candy eyes off of amazon! But I’ve also seen them in the seasonal aisle at Target, Walmart, and Michaels Craft Store.

A mini reindeer cake leaning against a glass of milk.

Let’s Connect!

If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!

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5 from 2 votes