Celebration Cake

I am transferring all of the recipes from my soon to be defunct food blog to this blog!  Here's a good one!

Here are 2 things you likely don’t know about me:

1.)  I watch The Bachelor (ette).  I know.  It goes against pretty much everything I believe about how men and women should relate, how and where women should find their value, and, um, all the other things.  It’s a train wreck I can’t stop watching!  But, to my credit, I think it is hilarious and unrealistic and I watch it purely for entertainment purposes and not to model my life after.  I thoroughly enjoy the spoilers and hysterical recaps.  Additionally, I nevernevernever let the girls watch.  Oh, and I still love Jesus…these things are not mutually exclusive (obviously).

2.)  I can’t make a white or yellow cake from scratch to save my life.  I’ve made ones the claim to be The Best Ever and they end up tasting like cornbread.  No bueno.

How do these 2 random facts interact?

When Sean (who was, undoubtedly, the least shady bachelor) was The Bachelor, I found out that his sister, Shay, blogs.  I started reading her family blog and occasionally checking her food blog.

She has recipes for 100 different bundt cakes that she mixes and matches with cake and pudding mixes.  While I don’t usually bake with mixes, I gave this white celebration cake a try (with my own frosting) and it was amazing!  It’s flavored with almond extract and is sweet and perfect.  It tastes just like you would want a wedding cake to taste…hence the whole celebration part.

A note about bundt cakes…

this is not, I repeat, NOT the time to be stingy with nonstick spray.  Spray the living daylights out of your bundt pan.  You don’t want the cake to stick or it’ll end up all wonky.  I mean, it’s nothing a little frosting can’t fix, but it’s easier to cut a cake that is in one piece and not patched together.  It’ll taste great no matter what, though 

Also, every time I think about a bundt cake, I hear this scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding in my head…

Enjoy my adaptation of this recipe…there’s always a reason to celebrate!

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Celebration Cake

Author: Becky

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  50 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Serves: 8-12

 

This cake makes every day a celebration!

Ingredients

• For the cake:
• 1 box white cake mix
• 2 boxes (small, the 4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
• ½ cup canola oil
• 1 and ¼ cups water
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• For the frosting:
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons room temperature butter
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream

Instructions

1. For the cake:
2. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix until incorporated. I always scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula as the dry ingredients can get stuck down there. Pour into a well greased (I use nonstick spray) bundt pan (10 inch) and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick you've poked into the cake comes out clean.
3. Let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from bundt pan onto your serving plate and cool completely.
4. For the frosting:
5. Measuring the powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Mix in the butter until crumbly. Add the extracts and 1 tablespoon of the milk or cream. Mix on high speed until creamy, adding as much milk or cream to get it to the desired consistency. Sprinkle with your favorite celebratory sprinkles.