When it's time to celebrate a birthday or special occasion in our house, I prefer to make a homemade cake because it's more personal and feels special. 

And, let's be honest, it tastes better too! 

Normally, the requested cake flavor in our house is chocolate, but this time I wanted something different to celebrate our daughter's birthday. 

Looking through the pantry gave me an idea to create a dessert using one of my favorite soda pop flavors and a box of cake mix.

I don't think a cake recipe can be any easier than this Orange Crush cake.

All you need is a boxed cake mix, Orange Crush soda, and some vanilla frosting for a fancy “Ombre” frosting decoration.

Making the ombre frosting was a lot easier than I thought it would be and the end product looks as though hours were spent putting it together. Ahh, what a few drops of food coloring can do! 

I have a really helpful process below to make this pretty icing from homemade cream cheese frosting or from a tub of store-bought frosting! 

This cake really is super easy, and only requires a few ingredients to make a soft, delicious sweet treat with this popular crush soda flavor. 

• Orange Soda: grab a bottle of your favorite Orange flavored soda and be sure not to sneak a sip! 
• Boxed cake mix: A box of vanilla cake mix is perfect for this type of orange crush dump cake.
• Frosting: You can use homemade cream cheese frosting, or if you don't want to make the frosting from scratch, just use a tub of pre-made like Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting, Duncan Hines Vanilla Frosting, or Betty Crocker Vanilla Frosting! 

If you want to create the layers of colors, be sure to get vanilla frosting so the different shades stand out. 

When baking cakes, loaves of bread, or cookies, I really like to use my favorite USA non-stick pans. They are treated with silicone so you don't have to oil or dust them with flour, making it an easy-release pan for baked goods. 

Here are some of my favorite kitchen tools in my cabinet and a few other baking essentials too. 

• Round Cake Pans: make perfectly round layers for cakes.
• Square Baking Pan– I like using this for brownies and for square cakes, like my chocolate chip cake.
• Cookie Sheet: Every kitchen should have a cookie sheet or baking sheet. If you wanted to make this orange cake into a sheet cake, this would be the type of pan to use.
• Loaf Pan: Make this cake into an orange crush pound cake by baking in a loaf pan! 

Other useful items for this recipe:

• Mixing Bowl: a big mixing bowl is perfect for combining cake batter.
• Spatula: use a mixing spatula to scrape the batter on sides of the mixing bowl.
• Measuring cups & spoons: these come in handy when mixing up your colors for the ombre frosting. 
• Cooling Rack: cooling your orange crush cake is really important. You want to make sure it is cooled completely before frosting your cake.
• Cake Plate: a pretty cake plate makes even the simplest dessert look fancy! 
• Cake server: cut and serve each delicious slice of cake using this flat-bottom triangle-shaped utensil.
• Decorating Bags & tips: are needed for rosette swirls of colored frosting.  

Make sure you preheat the oven to cake mix directions. This temperature can range from 325 to 375 degrees, depending on your type of pan (non-stick pans bake at a lower temperature) and oven. 

Now you will prep your cake pans and make sure they have been treated with spreading butter or lining with parchment paper rounds.

Combine the cake mix and orange soda in a big bowl and mix it with a hand-held mixer. The beauty of this special cake is how simple it is!

While this is baking, you can prepare your colored frosting.

I like to make my own cream cheese frosting for this cake. The flavor is not overly sweet and it pipes through the decorating bags & tips really well. 

You can most certainly use store-bought frosting. Be sure to buy the white frosting so your colors will be vibrant. 

Because this is an orange-flavored cake, I stuck with shades of orange, but your colors can be anything your heart desires! 

Combine butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and whip together for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Now we're talking. 

Place frosting evenly into three separate bowls.

In one bowl, add enough orange coloring for a deep orange. The second batch should be a few shades lighter, and the last, even lighter.

• Frost cake with a thin layer of the lightest color.
• Place each shade of orange-colored frosting in three separate pastry bags with large star tip (Wilton 1M).
• With the darkest color, swirl rosettes on the bottom. Use the peachy orange in the middle and finish with the lightest color.

It kind of reminds you of a creamsicle, doesn't it?! 

Other frosting color shade combos to try:

• Red/Pink- Christmas/Valentine's Day
• Purple/Lavender/ Yellow- Easter/Spring/Mother's Day
• Green- Christmas/ St. Patrick's Day/ Spring/ Easter/Father's Day
• Blue/ Hannukah/ Baby Shower / Birthday

We have other soda cake & orange flavor recipes for you to try:

• Shirley Temple Cupcakes
• 7-Up Holiday Cupcakes
• Orange Cake Mix Cookies
• Clementine Pound Cake

This super easy recipe can be made for any occasion, like a birthday, special holiday treat, or a “just because” day! Topped with store-bought frosting that is colored in shades of orange, helps to make this a stand-out dessert.