Birthday Barn Cake

Has this ever happened to you?  I was baking this morning, and the littles (our nickname for #3 and #4) were really underfoot, so my dear husband took them for a quick car ride.  It was lovely!  However, it took me at least 15 minutes to realize that he hadn't turned off the TV, and the songs I was absentmindedly singing along with...were from Sesame Street.  Whoops.


Back to the cake!

Now, this technically has a healthy ingredient in it , but in my defense, I made it last year for #3's birthday, and one of the mom's who was in attendance actually begged me to make it again.

The recipe book I used is "Cake Mix Bible":

It is one of my all time favorite cake recipe books, especially because it starts with boxed cake mix, and ends with WOW!

I made the Banana Cake, with Banana frosting (instead of the chocolate they recommend), and although it sounds like a lot of banana, it's a lot of YUM!

#3's birthday is tomorrow, and we're having a party at a park with a petting zoo, so naturally, this is what her cake looks like:

 

Of course, the party isn't until tomorrow, so technically I can't really say how many thumbs up...but I'm willing to bet on 100%.  After all, it is cake.  With frosting.  And adorable animals.

I got the idea for the cake from Betty Crocker, but I added some ideas of my own.  Instead of red icing (one of my least favorites), or fondant (pretty, but yech!), I used strawberry fruit roll-ups!  I suspect it will still just get peeled off, but I easily save myself 30 minutes of agonizing, careful, perfect icing. 

So, with a baa-baa here, and an oink-oink there, the cake is done, and all that's left is to enjoy.

ETA: 12 kids, 7 moms, and everybody loved it!