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!