Enjoy some summertime fun in the kitchen with your kids baking and decorating a Brownie Beach, a gooey chocolate Pillsbury™ Brownie topped with peanut butter frosting and cookie crumb sand, and a swirl of blue and white frosting waves.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Pillsbury™. The opinions and text are all mine.
A day in the kitchen baking and creating together with your family can be as entertaining as a day at the beach. If you are looking for something fun to bake with your kids this summer, you've got to try this Brownie Beach.
It's so simple to make using a Pillsbury™ Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix baked in a 9x13-inch pan, frosted, and decorated with cookie crumbs.
If you want you can even craft little candy crabs out of store-bought taffy or homemade candy clay and place them on the beach.
You can have this beach cake decorated in less time than it could take to gather up all your family's flip-flops, beach towels, bathing suits, and sunscreen for a day at the beach.
Video
Watch this video to see how to easily decorate your beach-themed brownie.
Ingredients
- Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix
- Pillsbury Jif Peanut Butter Frosting
- cookie or graham cracker crumbs
- Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting
- Pillsbury Funfetti Aqua Blue Vanilla Frosting
- Optional: candy crabs made from red taffy (or red candy clay) and candy eyes
Supplies
mixing bowl
silicone spatula or wooden spoon
9x13-inch baking pan
non-stick tin foil or tin foil that's sprayed with baking spray
offset spatula
Instructions
Make and decorate the brownie.
- Make your Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge Brownie in a 9x13 pan.
- To make the beach:, spread Pillsbury Jif Peanut Butter Frosting over about ½ of the cake and sprinkle cookie crumbs over top.
- You can use store-bought peanut butter, sugar, or vanilla wafer cookies, or graham crackers to make your sand.
- You'll get the finest crumbs if you pulse the cookies in a food processor.
- Don't have a food processor? Then place the cookies in a zip-top bag and smash them using a rolling pin, a meat mallet, or the back of a pan.
- To make the ocean, spread Pillsbury Funfetti Aqua Blue Frosting over the remainder of the brownie.
- Spread some Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting in a few spots over the blue.
- Use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula to blend the white and blue frosting together.
- You want the ocean to look like it has waves in it, so don't be neat here. Leave spikes of frosting in your ocean.
Make candy crabs.
- To make the candy crabs using red taffy or red candy clay (modeling chocolate):
- If you are using taffy, you might need to heat the candy in the microwave on the DEFROST setting for about 5 seconds in order to soften it enough to work with.
- Pinch off about a teaspoon of candy and roll it into a ball.
- Roll three long ropes of the candy for the legs and one rope that is about twice as thick for the claws.
- Flatten the tips of the thicker rope then use scissors to make a short cut creating the crab's claws.
- Arrange the legs in a row then pinch them together in the middle.
- Attach a round ball (body) on top of the legs.
- Attach two candy eyes near the top of the body.
- Set the candy crabs on the sandy beach on your brownie.
- NOTES: The pieces of my crabs held together well enough to move them onto the beach cake. If you want them to hold together a bit more permanently then you might want to use some clear piping gel to attach the legs together, the body to the legs, and to attach the eyes.
Add the candy crabs to the brownies.
Place your candy crabs in the sand on your brownie beach.
Variations
You can use a sheet cake instead of a brownie if you prefer to make a beach cake. You could even bake a large cookie in a 9x13-inch pan and decorate it.
Related Recipes
If you are hosting a beach party, you might also like to make these other beach-themed recipes.
See all of my beach-themed recipes, here.
Recipe
A fudgy chocolate brownie decorated with peanut butter frosting and cookie crumb sand alongside a blue and white frosting ocean.
- 1 Pillsbury™ Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix
- ¼ cup water
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tub Pillsbury Jif® Peanut Butter Frosting
- ¼ cup cookie or graham cracker crumbs
- ½ tub Pillsbury™ Funfetti Aqua Blue Vanilla Frosting
- 3 tablespoons Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting
- Optional: candy crabs made from red taffy or red candy clay and candy eyes
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Mix together brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs just until combined.
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Pour into a non-stick tin foil or parchment paper lined 9x13 inch baking pan.
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Bake for 18-22 minutes until the edges look set.
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Remove from oven and cool completely for about an hour.
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Remove brownie from pan and set on a cake board or cutting board.
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Spread Pillsbury Jif Peanut Butter Frosting over about ½ of the cake.
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Sprinkle cookie crumbs over the frosting.
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Spread Pillsbury Funfetti Aqua Blue Vanilla Frosting over the remaining cake.
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Add small dollops of Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting over the blue frosting.
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Use an offset spatula or spoon to swirl the blue and white frosting together making the frosting look like ocean waves with some peaks.
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If desired, crafts some candy crabs (see the video and tutorial above for instructions) and set them on the sandy beach.
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Serve and enjoy.
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Leah D says
I’ll eat peanut butter but I’m not so sure I’d enjoy it like this. Is there anything I can substitute it for? Is there anyway I could just crumble up the cookies or graham crackers and somehow make it stick? What could I use?! Lol
Beth says
Sure, Leah, you can just use white frosting under the graham crackers if you prefer. The graham crackers will still give your cake the look of sand. Have fun!
Coco in the Kitchen says
Those crabs are SO cute!
Beth says
Thanks! I'm glad you like them.
Karen @ Sugartown Sweets says
What an awesome beach cake!! The candy crabs ..well, they just grabbed my attention! Cute as can be!
Beth says
LOL! You are too funny!!! 🙂
Andie Thueson says
Those are the cutest brownies ever! I love the little crabs!
Beth says
Thanks, Andie. I thought the crabs were a fun addition to the brownie beach cake.
Allyson Zea says
Wow this looks so fun for the kids!
Sabrina says
What a show stopping treat for a pool party! The kids are going to flip when they see this!
The Partiologist says
Beach brownie, beach brownie...I'm singing it now! Since I can't go to the beach, this is the next best thing!
Beth says
I totally understand your feeling! It's been too many months since I've walked along the ocean on a sandy beach. I'm in need of a beach fix.
Jaide says
So fun! My mom made me a cake like this when I was little, except she used brown sugar instead of graham crackers and peanut butter.
Beth says
How fun! Brown sugar makes great sand too!
Tara @ Unsophisticook says
OMG, how adorable is this?! Totally having my girls make this on vacation next year.
Beth says
I hope they have fun making their beach brownie!
Jennifer Lehner says
OMG...this beach cake is too cute! I want to throw a beach party just so I can make this cake!
Beth says
Thanks, Jennifer. It would definitely be a great reason to throw a beach party!