I am about to tell you a secret that equivocates to treason in blogger bakingdom.
Seriously. Don't throw rocks at me.
It is this:
I am a big believer in box cake mixes.
(This is where I need a large black grandma to be like "Oh No, she Dit-n't!)
currently taking auditions for that part if you'd like to volunteer
Oh yes I did.
Let me explain.
Except for specialties like coconut or carrot, box mixes are usually just as good as homemade and take about 1/8 the effort. In my opinion, it's really the frosting that makes that much of a taste difference.
Not to be a snob, but this is why canned frosting in my house just doesn't happen. Homemade frosting typically takes less than 10 minutes to whip up and tastes a million times better. It's kind of like a disguise for a cake mix. Like the opposite of when Lindsay Lohan dresses up as a zombie for Halloween in Mean Girls.
Please tell me you remember that part.
I developed this recipe based on my favorite
chocolate buttercream frosting by Williams Sonoma. This chocolate raspberry version is really great on a plain old Duncan Hines chocolate cake. It adds just enough raspberry and goes great with a glass of milk.
The candy oil can be found at baking stores or craft stores like Hobby Lobby.
A tip for using the LorAnn candy oils- The bottles are hard to pour from. They will drip all over the place as you pour. Just a drop or two makes a BIG difference in taste, so when you are pouring your oil into measuring spoons- do it over the sink and NOT over your recipe. The last thing you want is to overwhelm your recipe with excess candy oil. Not that I have experience in that area or anything.
(Seriously it's nasty... it will give you aversions for years)
If you're *really* smart you might want to use a dropper to measure the oil into your measuring spoon so you don't waste any.
