Yellow Cake Mix (with confetti)

We celebrated the 18th birthday of my daughter a few days ago.  One of her favorite cakes is confetti cake.  I really don't like buying cake mixes from the store so I started making up my own mixes to have on hand for special occasions.  I adapted this recipe from one I found at melskitchencafe.com.  Discovering that I was out of cupcake liners to late to go to the store, I improvised and used cake cones for half of the recipe.  There is something very satisfying to making a cake from scratch.  I hope you are filled with a sense of "well done" after you pull this out of the oven.

What you need for the mix:

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour*
1/2 cup dry milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup candy rainbow sprinkles

*if you do not have cake flour you can make your own by measuring out 1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour in a bowl then take out 3 tablespoons of the flour and substitute with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch.  Stir with a wire whisk to mix.

Additional ingredients to make the cake:

1 1/4 cups warm water
2 large eggs

In a large bowl,  using a wire whisk,  mix together all the dry ingredients (except the sprinkles)

Using a pastry blender, incorporate 1 cup of butter and 1 tablespoon of vanilla.

It should look like this when it is done.

Stir in 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles.  If you are just making a yellow cake, obviously omit  the sprinkles.

If you are not going to be making the cake right away, this mix can be stored in a sealed container (or ziplock bag) in the refrigerator until ready to use.  To make the cake, continue on!

Preheat oven to 350.

To the dry mix, add 1 1/4 cups water and 2 large eggs.

Mix on medium high speed until well blended.

Pour into your choice of cake pan.

This makes the same amount as a store bought cake mix.  It should make 24 cup cakes, but if you choose to use ice cream cake cones like I did, you will have extra batter to make more than 24.

Bake until golden brown and the center springs back when lightly touched.  Here are the approximate bake times depending on what kind of pan you use:  cupcakes 20 minutes, 2 9" rounds 25 minutes, 9X13" 35- 40 minutes, 12 cup bundt 45-50 minutes. Oven temperatures vary which is why I say approximate.

Frost with your favorite frosting and enjoy!  I made my frosting by beating 1 cup of butter, 3 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. This was more than enough frosting to frost 24 cupcakes.