Easy Macaron Birthday Cake

For the Cake:

• Betty Crocker super moist rainbow bit cake mix
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 large eggs
• 10 macarons, plus additional for cake topping

For the Icing:

• 1 cup salted butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 4-6 tbsp coffee cream or heavy cream
• 3 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray the bottom and sides of two six inch springform pans and place them on prepared baking sheets with pieces of parchment paper under the cake pans. Set aside until your cake batter is ready.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add your dry ingredients (the cake mix) as well as the milk, olive oil, and eggs. Mix together at high or medium speed until the ingredients are well combined. This should take approximately two minutes.
3. Pour half of the cake batter into each springform pan. Add your macarons to the batter, and ensure they are sufficiently covered in batter by gently pushing them down with the end of a wooden spoon. Make sure not to break the macarons when you do this!  Place the prepared pan with the cake pans in the middle oven rack and bake for approximately thirty to thirty five minutes. Until a bamboo skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
4. Let your cake layers cool on a wire rack for ten minutes before removing the spring form sides. Let the cake layers cool completely before removing the bottom piece of the cake pan.
5. While you wait for the cake layers to cool, we will make our buttercream! In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the butter until it is fluffy. Add half of the confectioner's sugar and beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and repeat. Push any excess butter and sugar mixture down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula. Now mix in your cream one tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Finally, add the vanilla and beat until well combined.
6. Now, let's decorate! Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand with the flat side facing up. Spread your buttercream icing generously over the top and sides of the cake. Place your second cake layer and repeat spreading the buttercream over the top and sides of the cake - I find this easiest to do with an angled spatula. Now, we will smooth out our icing to make it nice and pretty. Slowly turn the cake on the cake stand in a circular motion. Using a stainless steel bench scraper, lightly apply pressure evenly to the side of the cake to smooth out the icing along the sides. Repeat this for the top of the cake. I often have a hard time with this step, so really rely on my bench scraper tool - I love it! Finally, we will top our assembled cake with an assortment of macarons in the same flavor as we added to the inside of our cake.