Hey, guys. Happy Tuesday! Has the universe ever sent you a gentle reminder that perhaps you should probably get back to doing what you love? I got one of those nudges to start baking again (it’s been months) because I made this kick-butt cake a few days ago… Granted it was from a mix, but still!
Of course I had to share it with you… ?
It’s the Sprinkle Party Snack Cake Mix With Frosting by a brand called Baked. I picked it up randomly at Cost Plus World Market a few weeks ago because it was on sale and…I liked how the box looked!
I could whip up a cake from scratch, but eh, baking requires attention, precision and, well…heart. I haven’t had much leftover soul to invest in baking sweets lately, but then I found this cake mix. Not only did it make things easy, but the cake actually tastes homemade. Highly recommended!
The mix includes a packet of dry ingredients for a butter-based vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles, and another packet for plain with vanilla frosting. The instructions are pretty detailed, too, which makes it easy to not mess up.
THIS CAKE IS SO GOOD. It’s light-as-air and melts in your mouth, and it doesn’t have that obvious taste of your typical boxed cake. Hard to explain, but to me boxed cakes all taste the same — kinda oily and heavy, without much flavor. Anyway, this one’s really, really good, and so is the frosting.
If you happen to live near a World Market, I suggest grabbing a box!
Anywho, that lovely cake opened up a metaphorical baking door, so I’ve made even more goodies since then, including brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and marbled cookies, which are half chocolate chip and half dark chocolate.
I’m thinking of making a pie next, because rumor has it that Trader Joe’s has a pre-made gluten-free pie crust. Or, maybe I’ll make some savory scones, or perhaps I’ll finally try my hand at croissants?!
Sorry, I’m getting distracted. Before I lose my train of thought, I have one more World Market thing to show you — this box of dark chocolate sprinkles!
It’s from Holland and from a brand called DeRuijter (“masters of bread toppings”), and the picture on the front looks like a loaf of French bread cut in half with the dark chocolate sprinkles on top.
Can somebody please explain what’s going on here? Do you eat the bread with just the sprinkles on top, or do you toast the bread in an oven to melt the sprinkles? Or, are the sprinkles attached to the bread with Nutella or peanut butter or something? Or, do you just eat it plain like a dark chocolate sprinkle sandwich?
If someone from Holland could please explain just exactly how this works, please fill me in, because I don’t know what’s going on here, and I would love to, LOL!
Now, to ensure that this post is marginally related to beauty, I finished the packets of Hask Hair Masks I got a while back, so I popped into Ulta to grab some more and found out that they sell the Argan Oil version in a jar for six bucks!
Can I just say that I’m STOKED?! I’m kicking myself for not getting a second jar. Sigh…
Also, I’m breaking in some fresh MAC eyeliners this week. They’re not really “new new,” since they’re new versions of old colors I’ve loved for a long time, but I’m still excited to use these sticks of Teddy, Costa Riche, Powersurge and Prunella!
What’s new with you?!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Oooh that Hask hair mask tub seems like a good deal, I should pick one up (despite the font, lol). Wonder if Target has it? Look at you go with the baking! If you like things with sprinkles, you should check out Molly Yeh’s blog and instagram. She even has a show now on the food network. She lives right across the river from me so I follow her. Her recipes are interesting and the ones I’ve tried have all turned out good!
That Papayrus is killing me slowly, no joke.
And thank you for the recommendation, I’ll check her blog out!
When I was five or six my family moved to Australia. And in Australia they used to make this delicious snack called “fairy bread.” The snack was untoasted bread and butter topped with “hundreds and thousands,” which we in the US know as sprinkles. It was absolutely delicious, and I kept making it even when we moved back to the US, except I used to toast the bread. Think about: bread, butter, sugar. Totally unhealthy. I, of course, thought it was great, but my mom didn’t agree. Anyway, I wonder if your Holland snack is in anyway related to my Australian snack.
Mmmm, I’m eating all the things. I call it pandemic mouth.
I’m exercising but not enough to counteract the free for all going on with non stop hand to mouth here in Maine.
That cake looks really delish and I am so not a cake girl. Give me a cookie or a brownie or a scone or a pie any day of the week.
Also, it’s getting cold here and we haven’t turned our furnace on yet. I feel like I need to burn all the calories I can and being cold helps.
Also, Connor is so pretty I can’t stand it!
Speaking of cookies and brownies, Trader Joe’s sells these things called “Brookies,” which are treats with a brownie case and a chocolate chip cookie layer on top!
I’ve traveled to Holland and the chocolate on bread thing confused me too. What you do is butter the untoasted bread and sprinkle the chocolate on top and eat. Some of the chocolate sprinkles look more like shavings and some more like sprinkles but they are used the same. It’s a really common breakfast, they even served it in the hostel I was staying in which is when I first encountered this “delight.” I had to ask a worker what to do with it too because I was presented with my breakfast of a few pieces of bread, packets of butter and a box of this chocolate. It is better with coffee. Everything is better with coffee!
This is so interesting to me! So what do you do to keep the sprinkles in place? Do you put the other piece of bread on top and eat it like a chocolate sprinkle sandwich, or do you leave it open faced and just allow the sprinkles to fly everywhere?
I live in The Netherlands for a year. Dear Daughter was born there. Ah yes! Chocolade hagel!!! It’s a thing there. Definitely butter the bread and sprinkle on a thick layer of chocolate hagel. (Hagel translates to hail in English). After I do that I like to warm my bread and hagel a bit in a toaster oven to just slightly melt the chocolate, that way the sprinkles don’t run and bounce all over the place. At first I thought this was a kids’ after-school snack, like chocolate on a baguette in France. But then Dear Husband came home from the office and told me about how everyone in the office was eating this at lunchtime.
De Ruijter makes really good chocolate. If you ever find a box of unsweetened cocoa powder by that brand, buy it! It’s really good cocoa.
Oh, also, thanks for letting us know you found the Hask hair mask in a jar! Because the only annoying thing about the Hask masks is that floppy, non-resealable pouch they come in.
The sight of those new liners from MAC makes my heart sing! What is it about new cosmetics (new crayons, pencils and pastels, too) that gives me happy vibes? Teddy and Prunella will forever be two of my favorite colors!!
You’re very welcome. I’m deeply annoyed by the open pouch in my shower too which is why I was like YESSSSSSS when I saw that jar. 🙂
Noted about the cocoa powder. I use Valhorna (a trick I picked up from the bakery) when I can but will have to try De Ruijter!
OK, so I grabbed a freshly baked loaf of bread today when I was grocery shopping and will have to try this soon (maybe even this afternoon, hahaha). I don’t think that I could handle all the sprinkles going all over the place, though. Weird question but do you know if the butter is typically salted or unsalted?
Oh gosh, it’s been 27 years since I lived there. I want to say the butter in The Netherlands was lightly salted. To be honest I was more about the coffee (it was good there), chocolate and cocoa (also good), dairy products (never had better yogurt) and the spiced Speculaas cookies with almonds. I definitely had a sweet tooth while I was pregnant there.
Hmm. OK. I have both on hand and was guessing that the salted would be a good choice.
I’m going to try this later on today! Will report the results. LOL!
I am all about pandemic baking. Glad you got your baking groove back. Those are gorgeous chocolate chip cookies. I love the oatmeal choclate chip ones from the King Arthur website. I freeze a log for emergencies.
Oatmeal cookies are my dad’s fave! I make them for him but I have to stagger them out otherwise I know he’ll eat them all in one setting, LOL!
. . . but you didn’t swatch the liners. .?
Hi L,
You can see swatches in the individual review posts here:
Teddy
Prunella
Costa Riche
Powersurge
Funny you ask but I’m half Dutch-Indonesian and I know about the DeRuijter sprinkles, thanks to my late father. You eat it over buttered toast for breakfast or snack. It’s a great treat. Fun fact: kids made fun of my dad when he emigrated to SF from Amsterdam. They asked him why he was eating cake sprinkle sandwiches. I’m sure those asshole kids were just jealous.
They were totally jealous! I’m going to try this soon!
Yum!!! I am more than happy to help eat all these goodies you are baking lol!
I am in school again! Graphic design so that has been keeping me busy. So nice to have a schedule. I miss performing wish I could jump back on stage. There is a zoom opportunity that I will jump to do improv online (yes it’s possible). Theater is what I do best so hopefully that can happen in person sooner than later.
All of the baking you did looks amazing !
I am not only hungry but now have a craving to go and bake the sprinkles cake (sadly we can’t get that boxed version in the UK but hopefully I can make a vanilla tray bake with sprinkles and frosting to a similar effect).
I am glad you got some baking mojo back – sometimes doing something you love, even though it may require effort can feel medatitive in trying times.
The sprinkles stick on top with butter, but they are not supposed to be toasted – that would probably make a huge mess.
I’m Dutch and it’s so fun to see this on your blog! The chocolate sprinkles are called “hagelslag”, available in milk and dark chocolate, and are a breakfast and lunch staple in most Dutch households. De Ruyter is just one of the many brands of hagelslag available in the Netherlands. There’s also the chocolate shavings-type, which is called “chocoladevlokken” – i.e. chocolate flakes and a really chunky version called “hagel-swag”. Most people just sprinkle some hagelslag on a buttered slice of bread, sliced in fourths and eat it just like that. Most brands of hagelslag don’t melt well and may become a slightly grainy goo when heated. Personally I like it best on toast with salted butter, or sprinkled on top of a chunky peanut butter sandwich- which is pretty much part of my standard work lunch. But the fun is in discovering what you will enjoy most, so have fun experimenting!
I’m glad you’re back in the baking groove but your lovely cake is overshadowed (as always) by your adorable daughter! 🙂 I’m sure you want to smack me because I say this all the time, but she’s looking so grown up! I mean, clearly still a baby… but just a more grown up one. 😉 Speaking of, I’m working on a Senior Program for the boys for soccer and one of the moms sent me her letter to her son with a note letting me know that she was currently bawling at her desk. I told her she wasn’t tricking me into opening that until I was home alone. I know that rabbit hole! HAHA!
I have to tell you that Papyrus actually makes me smile now because it reminds me of you (and your lol comment about it crushing your soul).
I’m excited for baking now that the weather is cooling down. My first aerial class since March is in about an hour, I’m super excited.