Polka Dot Cake!

My daughter shares a birthday month with 2 of her cousins... This means that instead of trying to find three separate times that we can drag the entire clan together in one month, we combine the fun! Usually we do a meal, open presents, play some games - fun stuff like that! The cake usually gets delegated to me (meaning that I usually shout out - I'll make the cake, I'll make the cake before anyone says anything about the cake). No one fights me too much on it either - possibly because they are thinking inside "Thank God I don't have to come up with something!" :)

This year I knew just what I wanted to make - this cute polka dot cake that I had seen on pinterest was calling my name! So, I decided to give it a whirl... 3 layers? That should just about be enough for everyone! It turned out so cute! We all oohed and aahed over it! It was fabulous... Too bad we got over a foot of snow that day and the whole family couldn't turn out for the party! :( So, the siblings got together and we postponed the party for a bit until we could get the rest of the family together. Can't let a perfectly good cake go to waste though - don't worry, we played cards, ate up most of the 6 pounds of sloppy joes that my sister in law made and dove into the cake! It was a lot of fun, even if we were missing half the crew!

The original recipe called for using a cake pop mold and preparing the first cake mix using those directions and adding the coloring to that mix. I don't own a cake pop mold, shockingly enough, so I decided to try my luck just using my mini muffin tins. It worked out pretty well - they weren't completely round shaped, but the effect was still there!



Polka Dot Cake
(Recipe found on pinterest via once-upon-a-pedestal.blogspot.com)

3 white cake mixes
food coloring
2 cans of frosting, you can go homemade but I was looking for quick this time
skittles for garnish!

Mix up 1 box of cake mix, according to directions. Divide half of the batter into 6 small bowls and tint with whatever colors you choose. The original recipe calls for this fun neon food coloring but anywhere I could get to only had the "normal" colors. Pour batter into greased mini muffin tins.



Bake only until batter is cooked enough to be removed from the muffin tins. I baked mine for about 12 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then remove to baking rack to cool the rest of the way.

Mix up remaining 2 boxes of cake mix according to directions. Pour enough batter into 3 round cake pans to cover bottom of cake pan. Place cooled colored balls into the bottom of the cake pan and pour remaining cake batter over top to cover.

(This is what it looks like when your 2 year old grabs a stool, carries it over to the cooling rack and grabs a handful of your cooling cake while you are out of the room for a couple of minutes... Guess that will be the middle layer!)


Bake according to package directions or until cake springs back slightly when touched and cake starts to pull away from the sides. Allow to cook completely. Stack, frost and decorate as desired!