Sunshine Cake

This cake recipe I'm about to give you is, in my opinion, the epitome of a summer cake. It's light, refreshing, slightly citrus-y, and mega-delicious. I like to call it "You Are My Sunshine Cake" because it makes me think of the song . . . And I may have been singing it while I was baking the cake. :)

The cake itself is a doctored cake mix and has mandarin oranges in it, while the frosting is a pudding/cool whip type with pineapple in it. The combination is to die for! I made mine in a 9x13 pan, but you could also do a layer cake. However, I would recommend making the frosting and refrigerating it for a couple hours before frosting a layer cake so it doesn't slide off the sides. For my 9x13 I didn't do that since the frosting just sits on top and I didn't have to worry about frosting the sides. You could also do a cream cheese frosting with this cake, and I think it would be excellent!

Sunshine Cake (original recipe can be found here)
Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 c. softened butter
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 14 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained (reserve 1/2 c. juice)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan.
2. Beat cake mix, butter, eggs, 1/2 c. reserved juice, and vanilla on med.-high speed for one minute. Scrape down bowl.
3. Add mandarin oranges and beat again until oranges are broken into small pieces - 1-2 minutes.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until light golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.




Frosting
1 box (4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained and juice reserved
1/2 c. powdered sugar
4 oz. Cool Whip (half a regular tub, doesn't have to be exact)
1. Mix pudding mix with reserved pineapple juice, then stir in powdered sugar.
2. Fold in Cool Whip until thoroughly combined.
3. Gently stir in pineapple.
4. Use to frost your delicious cake!
*Store this cake in the refrigerator.

Hugs and cookies,

Amanda