Pioneer Woman Cooks Sparkle Cake Recipe - raspberry and peach

Hello, everybody!  I know you're thinking, "wait, weren't you just here??"
  I was! Thanks for noticing! Now, my last post I mentioned Pioneer Woman Cooks had put up some recipes for Easter/ after Easter and I was determined to make her Sparkle Cake even thought it might end up a "fail". I won't post this picture again because I don't want any comparisons (haha!) but here's the Sparkle Cake Recipe.

(This is her ham. My didn't look like this but it was still soooooo gooooood.) 

 In her recipe she actually makes the angel food cake and although it did look VERY EASY, I was really pressed for time. not that I have such a busy life, but as usual, I'd left my YBC post until the very last day! (WHY DO I DO THAT?) So, Tuesday afternoon at 4PM, I realize that I should take some shortcuts. So, I bought my angel food cake and the rest is just as the recipe reads, except I also decided to change the flavor.

 In the original, she uses strawberry, but I LOVE raspberry and my husband loves mango. Since we were having guests, I thought, "Let's make two!"
(What's better than one Sparkle Cake? Duh, TWO Sparkle Cakes!)
You're going to need an angel food cake, a packet of jello, and some frozen fruit. Also, heavy cream for the topping.

 So, let's start with our angel food cake. *MMMMMMMM*

 Flip it upside down (fat side down) and gently saw off the top about three inches from the bottom.
                                     
Yes, I KNOW it's crooked. So sue me.
                                 
Now, gently insert the knife about a half inch from the outer edge and cut all the way around, not reaching the bottom. A few pokes won't hurt, but try not to saw all the way through to the foil or you won't have anything for the filling to rest on when you spoon it inside.
                                       
Again, gently saw through the cake about a 1/2 inch from the inside edge. Now you have to concentric circles. Start to peel out the inner cake. I was afraid it would all come out in a big blob, leaving me with chunks of cake, but it wasn't too hard. I pulled at it from the bottom, near the lower layer so I could control how much came out.
                                      
OK, so our cakes have a neat little trench to be filled!

 Take the fruit from the freezer, so they're at the ready.

 But one cup of boiling water into a bowl.
 This is a fascinating picture, no? I could stare at it all day.)

 Add the package of raspberry (or whatever flavor you desire) jello and stir until dissolved. (In my picture, I have a larger package, so I just used half. If you buy a small package, use the entire thing.)

 And the mango is started...

 As soon as the raspberry Jello is dissolved, stir in the raspberries. This is like adding the cold water. Instantly, the Jello should start to set.

 Same thing with the peaches. Oh, you're wondering why it's not frozen mango? Well, apparently there was a run on frozen mangoes in our grocery store today. It's a conspiracy, I'm sure of it! They must have known I was going to try something with frozen mangoes!
 (Uhhhhh, I swear that is spelled MANGOS but it keeps blinking at me... so I'll put in the 'e'. But I'm fairly certain that's not right. )
  Anyway, I grabbed some frozen peaches. Everybody loves peaches... right?

 Just in case you think I forgot, here's the other angel food cake.

 In about five minutes, the Jello is set!

 Here's the raspberry.

 Spoon the mixture into the middle of the angel food cake.

 Replace the top.

Same with the peach-mango. 

 Now, whipping cream! Whip into stiff peeks.

 I had this idea of tinting it blue and making it sort of Fourth of July-looking, but my kids said it was too early. (But take note, this would be a great cake for the 4th!) Anyway, I tinted it pink.

 Whipped topping covers a multitude of sins, as the picture shows. It was soooo pretty! (The afternoon sun was coming in and making it hard to take the picture, but maybe you can still see...)

 The pink was light and delicate. This is probably the prettiest cake I've ever made.

                                                                     NOM NOM NOM.

 I was fully prepared for the cake to fall apart as it was cut, but it arrived on the plate basically in one piece.

 The inside was very flavorful, since it really only had half the water it needed for the Jello recipe.

 And I was also prepared for the entire cake to collapse after I cut the first slice. Not too bad...

 And here's the peach-mango cake. We tinted it a very light yellow but you probably can't tell.

 I thought of filling the hole with foil and making the center a place to set a fancy fruit design, but our guests were almost here so, I just plopped on the peaches.

Close up! This was definitely my favorite of the two. Really fun flavor and different from chocolate/vanilla/strawberry...

I also wanted to share our first try at Jan's smoothie recipe. It was SO DELICIOUS! And yes, I had to make this much just so everyone could have a small glass. But it was so healthy and good for the family, I'm more than willing to put in the quality time with my old blender.

I had to get a picture of this fine smoothie 'stache. He had no idea what we were laughing at, but he very sweetly waited until I could snap a photo!

  I'll leave you with one more fun picture....

It's my third Austen Takes the South book, already up on Amazon for pre-order! I was checking something else and the title popped up... I thought, "What? I just turned that girl in!" But there she was, sweet and sassy. It's sort of a bare bones place-holder, but it does have the blurb in case anyone wants to take a peek.

 All right, my friends! Have a wonderful week and I wish you the very best Spring weather!