Recipes Made with Cake Mixes

Surprise Cake

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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

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
  2. Combine the dry cake mix and the instant pudding mix in the large bowl of an electric mixer.
  3. Add the Mountain Dew, eggs and oil and beat as directed on the cake mix package.
  4. 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.
  5. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  6. 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* 18.25 ounce boxes of cake mix have been replaced by 16.5 ounce and 15.25 ounce boxes.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



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