Zebra Cake....Well, Sort Of

So, I found this on Pinterest in two different colors and both recipes explained the same process for making the actual zebra stripes. I decided to try making one for the Super Bowl in red and blue since the Patriots and the Giants both had variations of both colors in their uniforms. This is what the cake was supposed to look like.

Click here to see detailed directions on how to make your own.

The directions tell you to use GEL food coloring to die the white cake batter your desired colors. I only had blue coloring that was GEL, so I decided (under Mom & Dad's direction) to just use regular food coloring - what difference does it make, right? So, we divided the cake into 2 parts and started spooning alternating bits of the batter into our two 9" round pans. This is what it looked like when we put them into the oven.

After baking, letting it cool, then fighting the "crumbles" to try and ice it, I cut strawberries into quarters and wrote XLVI across the top. It definitely isn't Cake Boss worthy or anything like that, but for a bunch of dudes watching football, I thought it looked good.

I was super excited for everyone to cut into the cake since the BEST part was sure to be on the inside with the beautiful ZEBRA STRIPES! Unfortunately, it looked like red, blue, and purple mush. It would have been redeeming if that flavor had been delicious or SOMETHING, but since the recipe called for white cake and I used vanilla icing, it wasn't much to write home about. :(

I think I'll try this again possibly with a square cake or maybe cupcakes and use white/black GEL food coloring and maybe some fancy pink icing. If you've made one of these and have any advice for me, please feel free to share!

To top it all off, my Super Bowl evening ended with this:

(not sure why it's upside down)

Apparently, I was going 65 on old 183 near Crystal Falls, although the officer didn't cite the posted speed limit on the ticket. The first thing he asked me was if I'd been drinking and later on in the traffic stop told me that he asked that because he could smell it on my breath - RIGHT! He proceeded to get me out of the car, ask me a few questions, then leave me standing in the 40 DEGREE weather while he sat in his heated car writing me a ticket. When he came back up to me at the end he also said "Um, your license says you're blonde." I said "Well, I used to be, but I died my hair BROWN a couple weeks ago." Seriously?!?! Who asks that?

Needless to say, it was pretty much a downer with the combination of my cake flop and traffic stop. Hope you all had an enjoyable Super Bowl Sunday!