Unsolicited Cake Review

 What's a girl to do when it's the third day in a row that rain has kept her indoors?

How about checking the pantry for something to bake!

I did just that, and found a cake mix and some pre-made canned frosting which I had been meaning to use for a couple of months.  The rain was simply the perfect excuse for baking.

My preferred cake shape is a bundt cake rather than a rectangular shaped cake... I think bundts are prettier... it's a personal thingie I have.

Let's bake it and then I'll rate it for you.

The directions on the box said to mix it with 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of oil. and three eggs.

Once fully mixed it was to be baked at 350 degrees 38-43 minutes if using a bundt pan.  I baked mine for 40 minutes and as you can see by the above photos, it was gorgeous in both shape and color.

 I let it cool for a couple of hours and then loosened it from the bundt pan with an up and down motion of a thin spatula.  This method usually frees up a bundt cake for me nicely with no sticking.

 Then I inverted the cake onto a pretty plate, by flipping it over quickly and tapping on the bottom of the pan.

Isn't that a pretty, happy go lucky looking plate?

 The cake inverted and freed itself from the pan nicely, with only minor sticking of one small piece which I pushed back into place on the cake.  This is no big deal since I had plans to frost the cake which would hide the oops.

 The canned, whipped frosting spread nicely, and I put it on thick.

The cake mix had funfetti in it, but I had to use sprinkles we had in the spice cabinet and sprinkled them on very lightly.

This added nice color to the cake.

Then I cut myself a slice, and my husband also had a piece as a secondary taste tester.

The inside of the cake was so pretty, and the frosting and colorful stars I had shaken atop the cake looked perfect!

So how did it taste?

On a scale of 1-5, with five being the best, I would give this cake a 3.5-4.0.

The cake, although the package said Super Moist and that it had pudding in it was somewhat of a disappointment to both of us.  It was a tad bit dryer than we had hoped for.  The frosting was nicely whipped as the can said it would be, but it didn't rate nearly as high in the taste department as a homemade frosting would... it did however frost smoothly and easily, so no complaints there.

I would use this cake for a child's birthday party... since children are not as judgmental about cake as adults can be, but I would not take this cake to a dinner gathering of friends.  It simply was not moist enough or quite flavorful enough to impress and earn compliments if that is what you want.

I love it when friends are oohing and aaaahing over my cakes.