Happy 4th of July!

      I hope you had a good 4th of July! It was definitely warm here in Minnesota, but we were thankful for air conditioning! Our thoughts have been with everyone around the country that havn't had electricity and those that are fighting the fires.
      I wanted to share a recipe that I tried out on my family who joined us for lunch. I had found several cake recipes online but still ended up experimenting a little on my own. I love cake from scratch, but with a four week old, I knew I wouldn't have the time. So this was what I ended up with... (the pictures aren't great, sorry! I need to work my photography skills)

This is a simple white cake with a yummy buttercreme frosting. I decorated the top and sides with blue and red M &Ms, but next time I will probably try blueberries and strawberries.  I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
• 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 egg whites
•  red food coloring
•  blue food coloring
• 1 cup butter-flavored shortening
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon clear imitation vanilla extract
• 8 cups confectioners'  powered sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray 3 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray and dust with flour.
2. In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, instant pudding mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs together with an electric mixer to form a smooth batter. Divide the batter equally into 3 smaller bowls; tint one bowl to your desired shade of red, and one to your desired shade of blue. Pour each bowl into a prepared cake pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the cakes are set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about  10 to 15 minutes. The cakes will start to pull away from the sides of the pans when done. Remove the cakes, allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pans, and then set onto a work surface to finish cooling.
4. While the cakes are cooling, beat the butter-flavored shortening, butter, salt, and vanilla extract in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Mix in 1 cup of confectioners' sugar at a time, beating in each cup well before adding the next. Mix in the cream until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.
5. To decorate, start with the red layer and gently turn over onto a cake plate. Generously frost the top of the red cake, then place the blue cake on top. Frost the blue layer, then top with the white cake; use remaining frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake.

Note: I ended up with a ton of extra frosting that I plan on using on cookies later this week. But I probably could of gotten away with half of what I made.

Good luck and enjoy!

And here is Harper to also wish you a Happy 4th of July!