Surprise New Year's Eve Countdown Cake |

Best idea for New Year's Eve Cake? This surprise pop up cake will be an absolute hit at all of your fun celebrations for kicking off 2022 and beyond. This post may contain affiliate links.

small cake with a 2022 surprise popped out of the center. A clear tube with 2022 decoration, party blowers and pink curly gift bow

I'm just obsessed with this Surprise Cake Stand. For this fun New Year's idea, I used the Happy Birthday Melody version of the stand. I originally purchased this for my dad's birthday and it was SO much fun.

Since then, I've been trying to find even more ways to use this fun cake stand.

One of the best so far was hiding Elf on The Shelf in the surprise cake stand. Take a peek of this hilarity on my Instagram Reels.

pretty blue colored cake with white icing drip set on a gold cake platter

I can't think of a better (or sweeter) place to hide this mischievous elf.

Now on to how to kick off 2022 with a bang.. or pop or just a pop up surprise. This has got to be the very best way to celebrate the countdown to 2022.

SURPRISE CAKE FOR NYE

To get started working on this special surprise cake for NYE, you will need to purchase or prepare a small to medium sized cake.

Here is a basic rundown of what you will need to make this fun surprise cake.

Prepared Cake - homemade or store-bought is fine. If making your own, leave the top center unfrosted. Be sure to read the instructions carefully for the surprise cake stand you purchase. You will need to make sure your cake is not too big so that it fits on the stand and works properly. The instructions on the cake stand I purchases says that max cake dimensions are 10" for diameter and 6" for height.
Special NYE Treats - You will need special goodies to place into the pop up container referred to as a gift pod. I used my Cricut Explore 2 to make a scrap paper 2022 cut out, and I also added party blowers and a curly bow to make it look extra fun.

HOW TO HIDE SURPRISE INSIDE OF A CAKE?

The Surprise Cake Stand comes with great instructions on how to set up your cake stand so that it will pop up when you want it to revealing the fun new year surprises. There are a few steps to follow in order to set up this fun cake surprise.

Popping Stand Assembly
Music Box Trigger Assembly, if you choose this variety of surprise cake stand.
Cake Preparation

adding a spring to a surprise cake stand

The first thing you will do according to the instructions is set up the base of this surprise cake kit. This involves setting the spring inside and locking the tube into the base.

adding wind up music box to surprise pop up cake stand

When that is situated, you will set up the music box trigger if your cake stand comes with one like mine did.

pressing a clear tube into the center of a small blue cake to remove the center to enable it to be used in a surprise cake stand

Once you have your cake ready, you will place your cake onto the cake plate portion of the cake kit. It's officially referred to as the "surprise plate".

Then, you will use the cake cutting tube to basically remove the entire center of your cake. Be sure to save the center for another purpose.

adding bright pink curly gift bow into a clear tube as a gift. 2022 decoration inside the tube, too.

This will enable you to stuff the sealed gift pod container inside.

adding clear tube filled with celebration items for 2022 celebration

Next you will place the surprise plate with the cake onto the stand. You will be able to set it to line up the gift pod with the top of your cake. There are two screws that you will adjust on the surprise plate to secure it into place.

pretty blue cake with white icing drip. Topped with pretty swirls of blue frosting designs and finished with pretty candy coated candies that are purple, pink and blue.

Once that is set, the final thing to do is add a thin layer of frosting to the cake to cover the hole. I decided to add candies over the hole (which is not recommended, so do that at your own risk.) Smaller candies or sprinkles could potentially jam up the gift pod.

Once the cake center is covered, it's time for the good stuff!