Velvet Cake Stacks

This year I made a special little treat for Valentine's Day.  The recipe came from the Cooking with Paula Deen magazine and is very similar to the fudge cake that has been popular for 20+ years with sour cream and a box of pudding.  The difference is flavors of the cake and pudding and no chocolate chips added to the mix.

The recipe calls for 24 cupcakes from each mix.  I just did 12 and then put the rest of the batter in an 8" round cake pan and baked it.  I used the left-over filling between the 2 layers.

Velvet Cake Stacks

Filling:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 (7 oz.) jar fluff

1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip, thawed

Pink Velvet Batter:

1 box white cake mix

1 (3.3 oz.) pkg white chocolate instant pudding

4 large eggs

1C sour cream

1/2C oil

1/2C water

6 drops red food coloring

Red Velvet Batter:

1 box red velvet cake mix

1 (3.4 oz.) pkg. cheesecake instant pudding

4 large eggs

1C sour cream

1/2C oil

1/2C water

For the filling, beat cream cheese and marshmallow until smooth.  Beat in Cool Whip until combined.  Place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350.  Line your muffin tins with paper liners.

Combine all of the ingredients for the pink velvet cake and spoon into 24 prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 15-18 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in pans for 10 min., remove to cooling rack to continue cooling.

Combine all of the ingredients for the red velvet batter and do as you did for the pink velvet batter.

Once cooled, remove the paper liners and cut off the rounded top of the cupcake and let the family snack on them another time. :)  Half will be red-pink-red and the other half of the stacks will be pink-red-pink.

Stack the cake round putting about a tablespoon of filling between the layers. Pipe some filling on the top with a star tip.

A simple, yummy treat that looks fancy enough that the family feels a little extra love.