Firecracker Cake

Wow, How's that for an Adventures In Baking 4th of July Cake!  Bright and festive and you haven't even seen the inside yet.   I found the recipe here at Betty Crocker's website.  It's quick and easy and the kids will love helping to decorate it.  Enough with the jibber-jabber, let's get to it but be warned:  Lots of pictures today. 

The ingredients.  Yes I used a box mix.  And canned frosting.  Like I said, it's quick.  And who wants to spend all day in the kitchen with the oven on when it's about 120 degrees outside?   

Let's get started.  Generously grease the cake pan.  I thought about using Pam spray.  I thought about using butter.  But it was that one word, Generously, that had me reaching for the Crisco. 

Next step.  Make cake batter as directed on the box using water, oil and egg whites.  Those darn egg whites again.  What are you supposed to do with the left over yolks?

And then.  This is where it get's interesting.  Pour 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl.  Stir in red food color until well mixed.  I stopped counting after 16 drops of red food coloring and just hoped it wouldn't be too pink.

Pour another cup of the batter into a separate bowl and stir in blue food color until well blended.  For the blue color, I used gel instead of liquid drops.  Love the blue color.

The assembly.  Pour red cake batter into bottom of pan. 

Carefully pour remaining white batter over the red batter.

Carefully pour blue batter over white batter until it forms a ring around the center.  Bake as directed on box.  Cool for 30 minutes.

Final step.  The decorating.  Divide frosting evenly into 3 microwavable bowls.  Microwave one bowl of frosting on High a few seconds until it's smooth enough to drizzle.  Drizzle white frosting back and forth around the cake.  Microwave the second bowl and stir in a few drops of red food coloring.  Drizzle the red over the white but don't completely cover the cake. 

 Repeat using the third bowl of frosting and blue food coloring.

And then, cause this cake doesn't have enough going on, throw on some sprinkles just for fun. 

The taste test.  Remember those colored layers.  This is what the inside looks like.  Red, white and blue.  And it tastes good too.  The sponge is light and fluffy and it has just the right amount of frosting.  This would be pretty at Christmas using red and green.  Or Valentines Day with Pink and Red.  The only thing I'd change is to use gel coloring instead of liquid for the red. 

This was a fun cake that tastes good and  can be customized for any holiday or event. 

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

-Teddra