Add yeast to warm water and stir gently. Let sit for a few minutes. Meanwhile, add cake mix and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached. Stir to combine. Slowly pour the water into the mixer while it’s running on “Stir.” Add flour. Turn it to “2” and let it run until most of the flour is mixed in, then turn it to “4” until the dough comes together. It will pull easily away from the sides of the bowl. (I started with 2 3/4 cups flour but increased the amount to 3 cups after I noticed the dough was too sticky to touch.)

Note: you can do this without a stand mixer, but I haven’t. Stir the ingredients together in a large bowl until you can’t stir anymore, then use your hands to knead the dough until it comes together.

Place the dough in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1 hour (or as many as 4 hours).

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead just a few times to form a ball. Cut into 16 equal pieces.

Place a pot of water on the stove to boil (about 10 cups).

Form your pretzels by rolling each piece of dough into a long rope, about 15” long. Bring the two ends up, cross them and wrap them, and bring the ends down to the bottom, forming the pretzel shape.

When water boils, add 1 tablespoon baking soda to the water. Working in batches (2-4 to a batch, depending on your pan size) carefully place the pretzels in the boiling water. They will sink to the bottom. When they float, just a few seconds, pull them out using a slotted spoon. Drain well and set them on a cookie sheet covered with a silpat baking mat or parchment paper that's been sprayed with cooking spray (they'll stick to the parchment since they're damp).

Bake for 11-15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely before glazing.

To glaze: heat frosting in a microwave safe bowl for about 20-30 seconds. The longer you heat your frosting, the thinner the glaze gets (it will either drip off or be more like a thin frosting). If you heat it too much, just let it sit for a minute or two and firm up.

Dip your pretzels upside down in the glaze. Place back on cookie sheets and sprinkle with sprinkles. Let the glaze dry, then eat!