COLORED CAKE MIX RECIPES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among 6 small bowls, about 1 1/3 cups each.
• Using food colors, tint batter in 1 bowl blue, 1 bowl red, 1 bowl green, 1 bowl yellow, 1 bowl orange (using red and yellow) and 1 bowl purple (using blue and red).
• Refrigerate 3 colors of batter until ready to bake. Pour remaining 3 colors of batter into cake pans.
• Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center and begins to pull away from side of pan. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks; cool completely.
• Wash cake pans. Bake and cool remaining 3 cake layers as directed.
• In large bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light yellow. On low speed, gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until frosting is smooth. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
• Trim rounded tops off cakes to level, if needed. On serving plate, place purple cake layer. Spread with frosting to within 1/4 inch of edge. Repeat with blue, green, yellow, orange and red cake layers. Spread light coat of frosting on top and side of cake to seal in crumbs, then frost with remaining frosting.

Steps:

• Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt; stir to blend.
• Mix in sugar.
• Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks crumbly.
• Label and store in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature.
• Makes 1 pakage mix. Each package makes two 8 or 9 inch layers or one 9 x 13 x 2 inch rectangle.
• To Use:.
• Pour 1 package of mix into a mixing bowl;.
• add 3/4 cup milk and 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• Using either an electric or manual rotary beater, beat at slow to medium speed for two minutes (by hand, beat 3 minutes averaging 135 strokes per minute). Scrape the sides of the bowl frequently as you beat.
• Add 2 eggs; beat 1 minute more (2 minutes by hand).
• Grease and dust with flour your choice of pan(s); spread batter evenly in pans.
• Bake round cake pans at 375 degrees F. for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• bake the 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool cake(s) for 10 minutes in their pan(s) before turning out on racks.
• Variations:.
• WHITE CAKE.
• Follow the same directions as for Yellow Cake replacing the 2 eggs with 3 unbeaten egg whites. Use an electric mixer for beating.
• SPICE CAKE.
• Add to the package of Yellow Cake Mix: 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and a pinch of ground allspice. Follow Yellow Cake directions.
• EXTRACT FLAVORED CAKES.
• Replace the vanilla in either the Yellow or White Cake recipes with 2 to 3 teaspoons of the extract of your choice. You may want to add a few drops of food coloring for the flavors like lemon, orange, or cherry, etc.
• FRESH ORANGE CAKE.
• Pour 1 package of Yellow Cake Mix into a bowl; add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange peel (1 teaspoon dried). Squeeze the juice from 1 large orange and add to it enough water to measure 1 cup. Add this orange juice to the mix, beat for 2 minutes as directed previously; add 2 eggs; beat and bake as directed.
• CUPCAKES.
• Pour cake batter into greased cupcake tins or tins lined with paper baking cups; fill 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
• Makes about 2 dozen.
• NOTE: To prevent a cake from sticking to its pan, put the pan on a wet towel to cool as soon as you take it out of the oven.