7-up cake

This was the 2nd cake I made for Carlile's birthday lunch.  It was delicious and a great companion to the Super Chocolately Cake from the same lunch. 

7-up Cake

Cake: 

1 box vanilla cake mix (you could also use yellow or white)

1 box instant pudding mix (I used white chocolate but you could use vanilla or lemon or even cheesecake flavor)

1 box lemon gelatin mix (added for the extra flavor - you can do this or skip)

 4 eggs 

¾ cup oil

¾ cup sour cream 

¾ cup 7up or other citrus soda 

a few Tbsp. milk (I think I used about 2)

1 tsp. vanilla extract (could also use butter extract and/or lemon extract) 

Mix all ingredients together until batter is smooth.  Bake in pan of your choice. (9x13, cupcake tin, bundt, etc) 

I baked this in a bundt cake pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, I think... just watched it until the top was lightly browned and the toothpick inserted came out clean. 

Let cake fully cool and then made glaze for the topping. 

Glaze: 

2 cups powdered sugar 

2 Tbsp. lemon juice (you could also use 7up)  

2 Tbsp. milk 

Mix together well and spoon over the cake. So good!

Super Chocolately Cake

This is based on my gussied up cupcakes 'recipe'.  You can create pretty much any flavor you like by just changing up the individual ingredients a bit.  Here is what I did for this particular cake - Carlile's 2nd birthday cake.  :)

Super Chocolately Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix (your choice) 

1 box instant pudding (I used chocolate) 

2-3 Tbsp. baking cocoa 

4 eggs (can use 5 for extra richness) 

¾ cup vegetable or canola oil (you can use melted butter for extra richness) 

½ cup milk 

¾ cup sour cream (or plain greek yogurt) 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

½ cup coffee (we used from our morning carafe) 

½ - 1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips) 

Mix it all together, pour in bakindg pan (I used a 9x13) and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (or until it is cooked through and you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean). Time may need to be adjusted to work with your oven and the pan you use. So just pay attention. 

I cooled the cake then frosted with a chocolate buttercream frosting - 

½ cup butter at room temperature 

2 cups powdered sugar 

2-4 Tbsp. half & half or heavy cream 

1 Tbps. vanilla extract 

⅛ tsp. salt 

4 Tbsp. baking cocoa 

(This made enough frosting to adequately cover this 9x13 pan. But you would need double this recipe to do layer cakes or cupcakes, I think.)