Butterscotch Cake for Pink October

I know, it’s too soon to be posting another cake entry.  But this is my first entry for the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I feel it’s only logical that I post a pink entry or at least, an entry with a touch of pink.   Please indulge me as I attempt to tickle your sweet tooth (teeth?) once more with another cake entry.

Presenting, my Butterscotch Cake decorated with carnations and a couple of “twists”….

I am pleased to say that my fondant curse has been broken!  Yahoo! *knocks on wood*  I’ve almost always encountered problems with fondant just about every time I cover my cakes with it.  But not anymore, thank heavens!  It’s funny how I always hold my breath whenever I start covering the cakes with fondant, hoping and praying for a smooth and soft as a mattress finish.

Now, I may just be ready to make my own fondant.  How does homemade marshmallow fondant sound?  Sounds like a lot of work, I know.  Hee hee!    But I’ve tasted the marshmallow fondants made by some newbie cake decorators (like me!) and my, did their fondants taste good!  That’s the next challenge I’m hoping to put myself through, hopefully, really soon.

All the decorative elements on this cake are made with gumpaste, save for the cake and cake board which are covered with fondant.  Until two weeks ago, I’ve never worked with gumpaste.  It was love at first touch!    I love gumpaste!  I love how it is easy to work with so much so that I had a blast making these carnations and leaves and twisties.  Next time, however, I’ll make sure not to scrimp anymore and use sparkle dust instead of sugar sprinkles, which were too big for the carnations.

Now as for the Butterscotch Cake, I love how it turned out, except that I found it to be a little crumbly.  I turned to my Cake Mix Bible once more for this cake recipe.  The original recipe, however, was for a Butterscotch Bundt Cake, which I was afraid might be too dense and dry.  So I pretended I knew better and added butter and a tad more water to the mix.  I always want a moist cake so I thought these additions will do the trick.  To some extent, they did.  But I’ll give the original recipe a try next time to see the difference.

A huge slice of cake (1/4 of the cake) ready to be shared and delivered to friends.

I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon, but I really liked this cake.  Promise, you won’t be able to tell it’s made with cake mix!

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1 package yellow cake mix

1 package (4 serving size) butterscotch-flavored instant pudding mix

1 1/3 cups water

3 eggs

1/3 cup butter

3 eggs

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans

Powdered Sugar (optional – for decoration)

DIRECTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 325F.  Spray a 10-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Combine all ingredients except pecans in a large bowl.  Beat with electric mixer at medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until blended.  Stir in pecans.

3.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

4.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Invert cake onto serving plate.  Cool completely.

To decorate, just sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the cake….but only if you want to.   I’ll try the bundt cake version some time…promise.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, y’all!