Taking a dump cake (to work, that is)

[robotech_master]

Last night I made a family recipe for a dessert that is delicious out of all proportion to how easy it is to make. It's called a "dump cake" because all you do is "dump" a bunch of ingredients into a cake pan and bake it. My Dad got it from a family friend named Glad Peters, and used to make it for square dance and church potlucks, and a while back I asked him to send me the recipe.

Work was holding a Valentine's Day dessert contest, with three $25 gift cards as prizes in the categories of most delicious, most appealing, and most healthful. So I figured what the heck, it's worth a shot.

As it turned out, there were only five entrants, and I won "most delicious." Most appealing went to someone's Oreo truffles (a decision with which I heartily agreed, they were neat-looking and good-tasting), and "most healthful" went to someone's custard pie (I'm not sure how a custard pie can be considered "more healthful" than a dessert containing cherry and pineapple, but I expect they didn't want to give more than one prize to any one dish).

Here's the recipe, as I got it from my Dad.

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GLAD PETERS'S DUMP CAKE

Dump into a 9" x 13" cake pan:

20 oz. can crushed pineapple

21 oz. can cherry pie filling (or other flavor)

Sprinkle on top:

18 or 20 oz. cake mix

Pour over it:

2 sticks (or 1/2 lb.) melted butter or margarine

Sprinkle over all:

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

Bake at 325 for 1 hour, 20 minutes.

NOTE: Glad uses yellow cake mix, but I like to use dark chocolate.

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I have to agree about the chocolate cake mix. A lot of people make dump cake with yellow, but I find chocolate and cherries go together very, shall we say, "cordially."

Another thing to note: get the crushed pineapple that comes in pineapple juice, not syrup. It's going to be syrupy already with the cherry pie filling, and the pineapple juice (don't drain it, dump the can right in) helps to counteract that (as well as contributing necessary liquid to moistening the crust as it bakes). Also, if you're getting those disposable aluminum pans from grocery stores in which to make it (a good idea if you're going to be taking it somewhere and don't want to have to worry about carting the pan back), use the deeper "stuffing/utility pan," not a normal "cake pan." There's enough stuff in there that it will overflow a shallower pan during baking, as I've found from experience.

If anyone makes this for gatherings of your own, or even just family dessert, I'd love to know how well it goes over.

Happy Day-Before-Cheap-Candy-Day, everyone!

Comments

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

No stirring at all. Just dump and sprinkle. The only utensil you need is a can-opener. (And scissors to get the bags of coconut and nuts open if you have to, I suppose.)