Ladybug Cake!

It’s my Birthday today!  Yay!  Birthdays were always a huge celebration as I was growing up.  My mom had a big yellow box of recipe cards from Betty Crocker that had tons of fun ideas.  One of the categories was “Children’s Parties” and it was full of card-after-card of fun cakes.

Every year, mom would tell my brother and I that we could pick ANY cake out and she would make it for our birthday party (this, I believe, is where my great love of beautiful desserts began!)  I had all sorts of cakes- a Panda bear, an Igloo….and one year, a giant ladybug.  I loved it!

So, this year we are taking a trip down memory lane, back to the mid-70’s, for this retro recipe that made me smile then and now.

The Original Betty Crocker Recipe Card

INGREDIENTS: (original Betty Crocker recipe can be found here)

• 1 box of cake mix, any flavor, plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package.
• 2 sticks (1 cup) of salted butter
• 2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of clear vanilla flavoring
• Red food coloring gel
• York Peppermint Patties
• Wilton candy melts in red and dark chocolate (just a few!)
• Mini M&MS

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees
• Generously grease and flour a 2 quart oven-proof bowl.
• Make cake mix according to package, and pour into prepared bowl.
• Bake at 350F degrees for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Allow cake to cool for a few minutes and then run a knife around edges and tip upside down on a cake rack to cool completely.
• Make icing by combining butters, powdered sugar and vanilla and beating on high until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
• Place cake on serving plate and spread a smooth layer of frosting over entire dome of cake.
• Refrigerate about 10-15 minutes to harden 1st layer of frosting.
• Use red food coloring gel to color about 2/3 of remaining frosting.
• Frost over 1st layer with white over the front 1/3 of cake and red over the back 1/3.
• Decorate with peppermint patties, icing and M&Ms.  You can use licorice for the antennae, nose and mouth, but I just piped colored candy melts into the shapes I wanted.
• Enjoy!!

My thoughts:You really can use any items you want to decorate this cake.  You can see that Betty Crocker used gummy candies and black string licorice.  Making this cake brought back great memories of being a kid.  Many thanks to my wonderful mom for making childhood so much fun!  

One of my favorite parts of this site is being able to give you creative recipes to surprise your family with on their special days!  Here’s to many Happy Birthdays for you and yours in this coming year!  Enjoy! ~r

Other fun birthday recipe ideas: