Snow Day Cake

Since we were stuck at home all day with each other and I was on a mission to eat as much starch as possible, it seemed logical to break out the cake mix I had bought at Whole Foods a few weeks ago. When we were decorating Halloween cupcakes in October I was horrified to see the amount of trans fat in the icing. I had been curious to try the cake mixes at Whole Foods and since Lily is obsessed with sprinkles and more sprinkles this mix fit the bill. Naturally Nora is produced with minimal ingredients, none of which require a scientist to figure out how they are compounded.

For this recipe I used 1% organic milk, two cage free brown eggs and conventional canola oil. The recipe was straight forward and as quick as the mix was spinning the cakes were poured into pans and ready to go to the oven. One thing that was cool was that the sprinkles evolved out of the mix as it was beaten. In our oven 25 minutes were enough for beautifully golden cakes.

After cooling in the pan for 10 minutes and then cooling on wire racks for about 30 minutes it was time for icing!

I went with Nora's icing as well, although an at home butter cream would have been great as well. All I needed was a stick of butter and some milk and strong arm muscles to stir for 5 minutes. The icing came up fluffy with a great vanilla taste. The mix also came with healthy sprinkles to add to the top, a task that my helper was happy to assist with.

What I loved about this cake was that it was a simple boxed cake that tasted like a homemade cake I had spent all day in the kitchen making! When you have time to make a homemade cake it is always a wonderful experience but sometimes you need something quick to take to school, celebrate a milestone or just have a fun quick activity in the kitchen. I would love it if Nora could market sprinkles separate from the cake mixes and icings. Since Lily loves sprinkles on everything it would be great to have them ready to go for whatever!

After I made the cake I went to Naturally Nora's webpage, read about how she got to this great recipe and joined as a fan on her Facebook page. What I didn't know is that Nora was giving away cakes if she got to 200 fans that week. Last week at work was one of the harder weeks I have had on any jobs. Working with homeless families and their children isn't always a happy ending and last week fulfilled that notion. When I got into the office on Wednesday I jumped on Facebook before facing whatever was going to hit me that day. I switched to live feed and saw that I had won 2 cake mixes and 2 boxes of icing! Nora, if you are reading this, you turned a sad day in our office into a joyous one! Who doesn't love cake? After that moment the week began to pick up-the simple thought of cupcakes with icing somehow brought us back to everything will be ok.

I got home Friday after a long work day involving great volunteers and a new client who wants to break the cycles her life has always held. I picked Lily up from school and when we got home I had cake mixes sitting by my garage! Lily was thrilled to see more sprinkle cakes and I was excited to be able to try the chocolate cake/icing combo! Chocolate cupcakes are on the schedule for today and I know for sure that smiles will follow. Thank you Nora!