I am always on the lookout for an EASY recipe. I like to cook and bake. I learned from my mom who was a wizard in the kitchen. Hand her a can of cream of mushroom soup and she would make a gourmet meal, complete with dessert. (Of course I was just a kid and would eat just about anything, including tongue, tripe and kidneys. It's amazing what my mom could do with those.). But her genius really came out when she was baking. I would come home from school to the most heavenly smells wafting from the kitchen. (That was probably why I came home.). My mom baked for the entire neighborhood. What ever she had made was usually shared with at least 3 of our neighbors. Thank goodness because if she left ALL her baked goodies in the house I would have been a two hundred pound six year old. I still have little to no will power when it comes to cakes and cookies.
And she was creative! Every 4th of July a small cake would appear decorated with whip cream, strawberries and blueberries artfully arranged like the American Flag. I won't even tell you about the Christmas goodies she would create. I would kill to have her recipes but sadly when she died and my dad sold the house he threw out EVERYTHING. I forgive him, he's a man who was focused on moving and clearing out years and years of stuff. But I still wish I had that little green tin recipe box that held all the magic.
Where was I ?. . . . Oh yeah, Dump Cake. The first time I heard of this was on Facebook. (I can get sucked in for hours scrolling one video after another.). So when I saw DUMP CAKE I had to stop and check it out. I have made several dump recipes in my lifetime but to me "dump" meant that when I made something that was absolutely horrible I would dump it in the garbage. (Believe me there were more than one.). But here was an actual recipe to dump a cake? I HAD to check that out. I came to find out that it is a way of making a cake without having to get out the electric mixer!!!!! Already I knew this was for me because my mixer is wonderful but it weighs a ton. The prospect of having to lift it out of the closet and carry it to the kitchen without dropping on my foot or getting a hernia is usually too daunting so I don't bake. But a cake that didn't require using an electric mixer?????? Whoa !!!!!! This is for me!
I happened to tell my friend Theresa about this recipe I had found and her response was, "Oh yea. I've made them". Now what kind of a friend keeps something like that a secret ?????? But I should have known better. This woman is also a wizard in the kitchen so of course she would have known about this new fad. Because I happened to find a dump cake recipe for a lemon cake and I know that lemon is one of Theresa's favorite flavors, (That and Butter Pecan Moonshine which I am told is best had when poured over vanilla ice cream. ). I knew I had to make the cake for her. The timing is perfect since her birthday is this weekend.
I watched the recipe video several times to make sure I knew what I was getting into. Looked easy . . . I'll give it a try.
STEP 1 . . . Dump a can of lemon pie filling into the bottom of the baking dish. OK where in holy hell do I find lemon pie filling ??????? Oh sure, the baking isle has all the cans of pie filling. They have cherry, apple, pumpkin, blue berry, raspberry, chocolate, coconut but NO lemon. Four trips to 4 different grocery stores and numerous numbers of store employees assuring me that "Sure we have lemon pie filling" I still did not find any. I could order it on line but it would take 2 weeks to get here. (Apparently they only make lemon pie filling in the furthest regions of Antarctica.) I was going to have to think outside the oven on this one. I bought 2 boxes of lemon pudding mix and used that instead.
STEP 2 . . . sprinkle 1/2 cup of cake mix across the pudding. Easy Peasy
STEP 3. . . Cut an 8 oz block of cream cheese into small cubes and place them all over the top of the mess in the pan. NO Problem !!!!! Except stupid me who is used to working with cream cheese in recipes took the package out earlier so it would soften up. Do you know that warm cream cheese does NOT slice well. It would be much easier to cut into cubes if it was COLD! But I now have a half made cake sitting on. my counter and no time to freeze the warm, mushy cream cheese. It wasn't pretty. I plopped GLOBS of cream cheese across the cake and hoped for the best.
STEP 4 . . . Dump the rest of the cake mix all over the cream cheese. Covering it evenly. Evenly?? Who are they kidding? Between the globs of cream cheese and the dumping of cake mix I was lucky most of the cake mix made it into the pan. As it was I had enough cake mix spilled all over the counter that I could have made a cupcake.
STEP 5 . . . Last but not least . . . cut one stick of butter into thin slices and distribute them evenly over the top of the cake. HA !!!!! Once again it would have been very nice if someone had mentioned that the butter, like the cream cheese, is SOOOOOOOO much easier to slice if it is COLD !!!!!!!!!! Dear Lord ! I was ready to dump the cake . . . in the garbage. But I will prevail and make my mom proud. (If she can stop laughing her wings off). Do you know how long it takes butter to chill after it being at room temperature for an hour? Neither do I because I just followed my previous adventure with the cream cheese and plopped globs of gutter across the top of the cake. No pattern, no symmetry, nothing . . . just PLOP !!
I am now sitting here in my living room waiting for the cake to finish baking. I am wondering if I will actually give Theresa the WHOLE cake. Do you think she would mind if half of it was missing? It smells divine. And I do think I deserve a reward for the conquering the "EASY" Dump Cake recipe.
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