Birthday Cake

My husband is addicted to Skittles.  He keeps a giant jar of them in his desk at work.  He keeps a giant jar of them above the refridgerator.  The external motivator that we used to potty train our daughters was Skittles (aka "Daddy Treats").  Skittles are, to him, the perfect snack, ending to every meal, and solution to any sort of hunger twang or bad taste in the mouth.  With one exception - he picks out all the yellow ones. 

Yes.  You read that right.  I am married to a man who buys gigantic bags of Skittles, opens them, and picks out every. single. yellow skittle and tosses it before he fills up his Skittles jars.

So for his birthday, I decided to make him a "Skittle" themed cake.

This is very similar to the cake that I made last year for my girls' birthday...but that was before I started this blog.  Maybe I'll post a pick at some point, it was a caterpillar, and pretty cute (if I do say so myself).  But the best thing about this Skittles cake is the fuity frosting.  Yup.  That's right.  White cake, fruity frosting.  Delicious.

I used the "White Cake" recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.  I will post the recipe at some point, too.  But not now.  Now I want to focus on the frosting.  Very, very easy.  And very, very good.  It pairs perfectly with the cake.  A spot-on combination that I would urge you to try:

Jello-Cream-Cheese Frosting

Beat 4 oz. of softened cream cheese (use the real, full-fat stuff) until smooth.  Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/8 c. granulated sugar, and 1 box of your favorite flavor of jello and beat until smooth.  Add 1-1/2 C. heavy whipping cream all at once and beat until stiff peaks (start on low or it will splatter everywhere).  For vibrant color, add some food coloring.