Teddy Grahams' Day at the Beach

Ok, so I know the title is a little goofy but I am open to suggestions for a better one. This a treat I made for my son's Pre-K Graduation Picnic. I didn't have a blog at the time so I don't have have pictures of the pudding by itself. For this treat you need:

* White Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix (or similar pudding that is white) & ingredients to make it
* Gel Food Coloring - mine was Neon Gel Colors (you can use regular colors but the gel works best)
* White Cake Mix & ingredients to make it* Teddy Grahams
* Gummy Lifesavers
* Drink Umbrellas - I got mine at Dollar Tree
* Container - Again, mine came from Dollar Tree...I just love that store!!

Make pudding according to package instructions. Add your blue coloring to the pudding to get the color of "water" you desire. Let it chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before assembly.

Make the cake according to the instructions. Be sure to use the egg whites only to make your colors more vibrant. As you can see from the picture above, the neon colors really pop in the white cake batter. A couple of tips to speed clean up and make the mixing super easy: put quart size Ziplock bags in cups that are all the same size and fold the top over the edges. Add the cake mix evenly in the cups and add the different colors to each. Zip up the bag, cut off the corner and spread cake mix in pan. This works great especially if you are making cupcakes with multiple colors in them. While the cake is cooling, grind up part of your Teddy Grahams in a food processor. These crumbs will be the "beach".

Finally, assemble. Break up the cake in small pieces and put into your cup/container then fill to top with pudding "water". You can do the cake and pudding in advance and keep them in the refrigerator but they look best if done a couple of hours in advance. The pudding will seep slightly into the cake if you do this step the night before. Trust me, I know. Mine still looked good and no one else knew BUT I did! Add a little Teddy "sand" on one side, stretch the Gummy Lifesaver around the Teddy Graham as his life preserver and insert in pudding " water". Add the umbrella and there you have it...a Teddy Grahams' Day at the Beach!