Better Than The Typical Box Cake

Call it "cabin fever" or possibly just a sweet tooth...regardless, this weekend was all about baking in our house. I had some leftover blueberries from last week so I knew I wanted to use them in something else before they spoiled and had to be tossed in the trash. 

So hours before Hurricane Harvey hit, Eddie K and I made the horrible decision to run to H.E.B. for groceries. No, we didn't go because we are "preppers", we went because it happened to be our grocery day. I know, I should've planned ahead but ugh, I didn't. So....off we went. 

To my surprise, it only took us about 30-45 minutes to shop and checkout. We left with a cart full of food, booze, and enough stuff to make this delicious cake you see below. There wasn't a single bottle of water in the whole store but I think we managed to get the "important items." AKA wine and cake mix. Keep reading for the full recipe below.

Trust me when I say it's way easier AND way tastier than it looks!

Better Than The Typical Box Cake

by Morgan Hill Sellers August-28-2017

So what if I didn't make the batter from scratch! With a few upgrades, this box cake is the bomb!

Ingredients

• 1 Box Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 Large Package Strawberries
• 1 Cup Blueberries
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• Large Container Cool Whip
• 2-3 Cups Sliced Almonds

Instructions

Preheat oven to match boxed cake mix instructions. For me, this was 350º. Prepare cake mix according to box. Pour into two separate 9inch round cake pans. Once oven has pre-heated, add the two cake pans and set your timers!Wash fresh fruit and lay on paper towels to drain. Once patted dry, cut strawberries into four slices and throw into a medium size mixing bowl. To the bowl of diced strawberries, add sugar, vanilla, and a handful of sliced almonds. Stir and refrigerate. Once cakes are finished in the oven, remove from pans immediately. Let cool for 30 minutes before cutting them in half making 4 thin layers of cake. Using the layers of cake and the cool whip, assemble accordingly. TIP: add a tiny dollop of the strawberry mixture between layers for added flavor and texture! Once layers are complete, cover the whole cake with the remaining cool whip. Decorate the top with the remaining strawberries and add the blueberries for decoration. Pat the sliced almonds along the sides of the cake. ENJOY!

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 1 hour 30 mins Yield: 8+ servings