Celebrate the Brickyard 400 with these semi-homemade ideas

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

As you all know, Speedway, Indiana is considered to be the racing capital of the world, and lots of Hoosiers are dedicated racing fans. With the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, I want to share some ideas for celebrating the big race that don't require a lot of work. All of these ideas would also work really well if you're throwing a race car birthday party for a child.

Chocolate "Tire" Cake

I love using stencils and powdered sugar to make designs on cakes. I've done this in the past with the IU sign and the pi sign for "Pi Day." So I thought it would be fun to use the same concept to make a tire out of chocolate cake. I just googled "hubcap," printed off an image, and cut it out. I placed the stencil on the finished cake, and shook powdered sugar on top. One of the trickiest parts is to carefully lift the stencil off the cake. You have to be very careful because because you don't want the excess powdered sugar on top of the stencil to mess up your design.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Challenge butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 1 chocolate box cake mix
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare cake pan with nonstick spray
2. Mix milk, butter, and eggs; slowly add cake mix and stir until combine
3. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Once toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven, wait 10 minutes, and invert onto plate.
5. After cake has cooled, place stencil on top and use sifter to even distribute powdered sugar over stencil.
6. Carefully lift stencil off cake and admire design

Traffic Light Brownies

Boxed brownie mixes are one of my favorite semi-homemade desserts because I love the convenience of it. But I never follow the ingredients on the back of the box. I consider oil and water to be flavorless ingredients. Instead I always swap them for an equal amount of melted butter and milk. So if the back of the box calls for 1/4 cup water and 1/3 cup oil, you should use 1/4 cup milk and 1/3 cup melted butter. I think it makes the brownies richer. I always use Challenge butter because it's free of additives and hormones, so you'll get the nest flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 box brownie mix
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup Challenge butter, melted
• 1 egg
• Icing (I used Betty Crocker Cookie Icing)
• Red, yellow, green chocolate candies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare 8 x 8 pan with nonstick spray
2. Mix milk, butter, and eggs; slowly add brownie mix and stir until combine
3. Pour batter into pan and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.
4. Once toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven
5. Once cool, cut into rectangles
6. Use icing to make three small dots on brownie
7. Place a red, yellow, and green candy on top of dots and let sit until icing hardens

Chocolate Covered Pretzel "Oil Dipsticks"

Everyone loves chocolate covered pretzels and I thought they looked close enough to oil dipsticks. Important tip: Before dipping pretzels melt you chocolate in tall jar instead of bowl. It will be easier to get more chocolate on the pretzel.

Ingredients

• Pretzel rods
• 2 cups milk chocolate or dark chocolate morsels
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening (recommended but not necessary)

Directions

1. Microwave morsels and shortening in microwave-safe jar on medium-high power for 1 minute and stir
2. If morsels are not melted, continue to heat and stir in 15-second intervals until you reach desired consistency
3. Dip pretzel rods into morsels, tilting the jar to get more chocolate on the pretzels
4. Place pretzels on wax paper when done
5. Once chocolate sets, dip them a second time and return to wax paper
6. Store pretzels in airtight container until ready to serve