Hiya, friends! My penthouse days are over, and I’m back at work nursing a big old cup of coffee this morning. But it’s worth it for such a great weekend spent with friends. I got to meet and spend time with new and old blog pals (like Natalie, Caycee, Megan, Carly, Chassity & Jamie)…I plan on sharing more about the weekend soon…but I’m working on a surprise to go with it! I can’t wait to share it with you…let’s just say there are 25 reasons you’ll want to ‘swagger’ back for it.
But this morning I’m wishing I had a piece of this cake to go with my coffee…nothing better than cold cake in the morning! Somehow over the years, the cake has become the centerpiece of our birthday parties. No matter how much I outsource, or how simple the celebration, the cake is one place I pour my heart and attention.
I pick up store-bought cupcakes and cookies for many events…but when it comes to my kids, and their birthdays…I’ve made their cake every single year. For some reason, that’s a memory I want them to have and cherish. Maybe I hope it will compensate for all the times I’m not putting in a stellar mom performance.
Since this was our third Art Party in as many years, we’d kind of worn the rainbow theme out (see them here, here and here). I still like the idea of using bright colors, but this time we used them in the form of polka dots.
Separate the batter into smaller bowls, and dye to your preferred colors.
Bake 18-24 cake balls…which uses about half the cake batter.
You might want to bake extras, because they disappear fast.
Whip up the other box of batter, and pour about half an inch in the bottom of your cake pan, then place the cake balls on top.
Pour just enough batter to cover them, then bake according to instructions on the box.
I only have one 6-inch pan, so I was impatient and removed them too soon…but nothing a generous helping of frosting can’t disguise.
Keeping with the polka dot theme, I decorated it with round candy melts in colors that coordinated with the party.
The downside to cakes with surprises in the middle, is you don’t know of it’s success or failure until you’re cutting into it!
Each slice wielded different color and size polka dots, but that added to the fun.
I intended to take more pictures of the different slices, but it was gone before I had the chance. Guess it tasted as yummy as it was cute!
I thought the cake balls would be tough or dry since they’d been baked twice, but they had the same consistency as the rest of the cake. There are so many variances of this cake…you can change the colors of the polka dots to fit any party scheme…and I’d love to make a chocolate cake with white cake dots! Happy Monday, love bugs…hope your day includes cold cake and coffee!
OMG that is SO COOL!! so talented ! I could never do that lol but wow that came out perfect!
Beautiful cake! Perfect for a little girls birthday!
You are such a rockstar!! And so I knew I was going to love you, but now I am officially in love with you!! You seriously are the sweetest and the coolest ever!
So fun and I'm glad your girlie loved it! I always insist on making my kids' birthday cakes, too, even though I really want to just place an order at Sam's lots of times! It's so fun to look back at all of the cakes of birthdays past. We did a similar polka dot cake last year for my daughter's 10th birthday…still one of my favorites ever!
Oh so cute, my daughter's birthday is coming up and I know she would love this cake.. Thanx for the idea
I might attempt to make this for my kiddos before the end of the year is up. They would LOVE it!
This is too much fun…my girls would die over this cake!! It was so great meeting you this weekend! Your blog is adorable!! Gah!! I am addicted!! 🙂
this cake is So much fun!! love it!! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
Oh my gosh! Must try this. I thought it was going to be too tricky for me but cake balls in the batter, I can do that!! Yay!!
Okay………so two things………1) YOUR NEW DESIGN IS AMAZING! I love it so SO much! 2) You are a cake baking genius. Girl, you can bake me a cake anytime.
🙂
Oh my goodness! The details that went into this cake just blow my mind. Seriously…it's fabulous!
Wow, this is a wonderful idea. Must try it!
Love that! I'm so on that for my twincesses party
Love this cake and have plans to try this soon! I too, have always been determined to make my kids' cakes for their birthdays… until this year. I let my talented sister step in and make the cakes since things were too cuh-razy – I'm holding on to the teensiest bit of regret that I didn't do it myself but I figure auntie is the next best thing, right?
Beautiful! My twins are turning 11 in a month, so I will have to surprise them with this cake! Now, if you only had great birthday party ideas you could share! (We don't know what to do this year!)
LOVE this! It's seriously such a clever idea! Way to go!
I just made this and can't wait to cut into it!!!