Our granddaughter Megan will be 21 this week, and she lives in Craig now, so I have been searching through my files for a birthday cake recipe. (Another granddaughter, Jessica, also celebrates her birthday this week, but I won’t be baking a cake for her, since she lives out of town.) Megan hasn’t decided what kind of cake she would like, so I came up with two possibilities.

The first, Snickers Cake, is an old favorite for our family, but the second, “Strawberry Cake,” is new to me. It came from my “to try” file. The second recipe sounds festive and pretty, too.

Snickers Cake

• 1 box German chocolate or Swiss chocolate cake mix
• 1 bag caramels
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2cup margarine
• 6 ounces of chocolate chips
• 1 cup nuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. Mix the cake as directed on the box. Pour a little less than half of the batter in the cake pan and bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Melt the caramels, milk, and margarine in the microwave and pour it over the baked cake. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and nuts. Pour the remaining batter over everything. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Reduce the heat to 250 degrees and bake 25 minutes or until done.

Strawberry Cake

• 1 package white cake mix
• 1 (3-ounce) package strawberry gelatin powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup mashed strawberries, fresh or frozen

Icing

• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 1 (16-ounce) box confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup mashed strawberries

Combine cake mix and gelatin powder in a large bowl. Beat in the oil, eggs, water, and strawberries. Pour into two 9-inch round, greased and floured pans. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and frost with strawberry icing. To make the icing: Mix butter and confectioners’ sugar together until smooth. Add the berries. Spread the icing between layers and then frost the top and sides.

If you have recipes to share with readers, please send them to me at PO Box 415, Craig, CO 81626, or call me at 970-824-8809.