Rum-Funfetti Cake & Tropical Fruit Layered Dessert

Summer is in full effect in late August here in Chicago – boy is it HOT! This past weekend, my girlfriend and blogger extrodanaire Annie over at Give Me Meatloaf and I got together for a Sunday-Funday brunch. Annie put together a delicious Mexican-style savory breakfast hash with all the necessary fixings such as salsa, avocado, cheeses and jalapeños. It definitely hit the spot, especially since we’re both lovers of Mexican food!

It’s also Annie’s birthday week, so knowing that along with her plan to serve her Mexican-style hash, I decided to create a Mexican-style take on a birthday dessert to go along with the theme of the day! Given this August heat however, I wanted this dessert to be easy, cool and refreshing. I purchased “Annie’s Organic Funfetti Cake Mix” (see what I did there?) and baked it according to the box instructions with a punch of Rum. I macerated tropical fruits in a lime-sugar mixture to enhance the fruit flavors, then I placed the ingredients in mason jars which made them super easy to travel with & eat out in the summer heat.

Check out this fun, easy, festive and flavorful dessert! But first, check out the birthday girl herself!

Ingredients:

1 box of Funfetti/Confetti cake mix (be sure to check the box for additional ingredients needed to make the cake mix)
Tropical fruits of your choice – I chose Pineapple, Mango and Kiwi
1/4 cup dark Rum (you can adjust to your taste preference)
Juice of 2 limes
3 tbs pure cane sugar
Cool whip

Set aside half-pint mason jars, I recommend 8, but you can always use less and just have leftover cake that does not get put into the jars. If you’re using the wider-shorter jars, the number you use will change based on more cake being used to fill the circumference.
Butter a 9×13 baking dish and preheat the oven according to the boxed cake mix instructions.
Boxed cake mixes will call for water in the ingredients. In order to add the Rum, you’ll want to reserve 1/4 of that for the Rum. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of water, add 3/4 cup of water and reserve the remaining 1/4 cup for the Rum. Prepare the rest of the mixture as directed from the boxed instructions and mix all of the ingredients together until well-combined.
Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake to the recommended time.
While the cake is baking, chop up the fruit and set aside. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the lime juice and sugar. Add the fruit and toss into the mixture then place in the fridge to keep the fruit cool while it macerates (P.S. macerating fruit is like marinating so to speak).

Assembly:

When the cake has finished baking, allow it to cool to room temperature. When the cake is cool, you will want to cut 2 rounds of cake from the dish for each mason jar. The size of the rounds you cut should match the circumference/size of the mason jar so the cake can be inserted. You can use a knife or a circle cookie cutter!
Place 1 round of the cake into the bottom of each mason jar, then place your cool whip topping over the cake. Remove the macerated fruit from the fridge and add a spoonful on top of the cool whip.
Place the second round of the cake on top of the fruit, then repeat the layer of cool whip and top the final layer with your fruit. In total you will have 2 layers of each – cake, cool whip & fruit!

Serve right away, or place the lids on the mason jar and refrigerate until ready to serve!