UmiCar Cake

Get ready to take your little Umizoomi fan for a sweet ride with this easy homemade cake.

All new math-minded missions starting 2/4 @ 9:30am

Ingredients

• 1 box (18.25 oz.) yellow cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 can (16 oz.) plus 1 cup vanilla frosting
• Yellow and red food coloring
• 1 cream-filled snack cake (Twinkie)
• 2 brown candy-coated chocolates (M&M's)
• 3 pieces chocolate taffy (Tootsie Rolls)
• 4 mini chocolate-frosted doughnuts
• 4 white mints (Mentos or spice drops)

Directions

1. Step 1

   Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 2 1/2-quart glass bowl (Pyrex). Prepare the cake mix using the 4 eggs, buttermilk, and oil according to package directions. Pour the batter into the prepared bowl and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cook 15 minutes. Invert the cake and allow to cool completely.

2. Step 2

   Tint 1-1/4 cups of the vanilla frosting pale yellow with the food coloring. Spoon the tinted frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip, about 1/2-inch round. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the remaining vanilla frosting into a resealable bag. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting an orange-yellow with the yellow and 1 to 2 drops of red food coloring.

3. Step 3

   Heat the chocolate chews in the microwave until softened, no more than 3 seconds. Press three chews together and roll out to an 1/8-inch thickness. Roll out the other chocolate chew. Using the photo as a guide, cut out the mouth and eyebrow shapes from the rolled-out chocolate chews. Transfer to a piece of wax paper until ready to use.

4. Step 4

   Trim the top of the cooled cake to make level. Place the cake on a work surface, trimmed side down. Cut a 1 1/2-inch piece off of the two opposite sides. Cut a 4-inch circle from the top center about 2-1/2 inches deep to make the opening of the car and remove the scraps. Cut out two 2 1/2-inch circles with a small paring knife on either trimmed side, about 1 inch deep and about 3/4 inch apart for the wheels.

5. Step 5

   Place the cake, cut side down on a serving platter. Spread the entire cake--except for the wheel openings--with the smooth layer of the orange-yellow frosting. Make the frosting as smooth as possible. Press the chocolate doughnuts into the openings on the sides of the cake as the wheels. Trim the snack cake to fit as the front seat of the car and place it in the opening.

6. Step 6

   Pipe an outline of the pale yellow frosting around the bottom edge and top edge of the cake. Pipe two dots of frosting on the front of the cake as the headlights. Add the chocolate candies and taffy as the eyes, mouth, and eyebrows. Snip a very small corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting and pipe a dot of vanilla frosting as the sparkle in the eyes. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting into the holes of the doughnuts and add the white mints as the hubcaps.

Nurtition Facts

• Calories: 432
• Total Fat: 17g
• Saturated Fat: 9g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Cholesterol: 57mg
• Sodium: 272mg
• Total Carbs: 66g
• Fiber: 0g
• Sugar: 57g
• Protein: 4g