Recipes Made with Cake Mixes
Surprise Cake
Ingredients
- 1 (18.25 ounce) box plain yellow cake mix*
- 1 (3.4 ounce) box coconut cream instant pudding mix
- 1 1/3 cups (most of a 12 ounce can) Mountain Dew (or other citrus soft drink)
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon, crumbled finely
- Your favorite chocolate frosting
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
- Combine the dry cake mix and the instant pudding mix in the large bowl of an electric mixer.
- Add the Mountain Dew, eggs and oil and beat as directed on the cake mix package.
- Crumble the tarragon with your fingers (do it over a piece of paper instead of directly into the bowl, so you can catch and re-crumble any large pieces that escape). Add the tarragon and beat just to mix thoroughly.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on a rack, then remove from pans, fill and frost.
Serves 10 to 12
Notes
* 18.25 ounce boxes of cake mix have been replaced by 16.5 ounce and 15.25 ounce boxes. To compensate for the volume loss in a 16 ounce box, whisk 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour into the dry cake mix before proceeding with the recipe. To compensate for the volume loss in a 15.25 ounce box, add 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
* not pudding-in-the-mix, not butter-recipe mix, such as Duncan Hines