Strawberry-Lemon Cake Bars

I stumbled upon this recipe on my favorite foodie blog and was so excited to try it out. I've been itching to try different summer dessert recipes, and this one definitely didn't disappoint! This is a recipe you could probably make 100 different ways, so I'm excited to get creative with it next time. I modified the original recipe a bit, and it came out delicious! Try it!

Ingredients:

1 box strawberry cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 t. lemon extract
handful of coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine cake mix, one egg, and oil and mix until crumbly. Take all but 1 1/2 cups of cake mixture and press into greased pan to make the bottom crust. Bake 10 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, beat remaining egg, cream cheese, sugar, and lemon extract with an electric mixer until creamy.
4. Spread cream cheese mixture over baked crust and top with remaining 1 1/2 cups cake mixture. Sprinkle coconut on top. Bake another 15-18 minutes.
5. Let cool and refrigerate before cutting into squares and serving. Enjoy!

Feel like mixing it up? Instead of strawberry cake mix, try vanilla or lemon. Play with flavors by substituting the lemon extract for vanilla or almond extract. This recipe could be done so many ways, and I bet they would all be delicious!