Don’t be put off by its name, whoever invented this is a brainiac, for what is considered the greatest invention in dessert history. Behold the power of the dump! A dessert with the most unappealing name, yet the best must-have to try. The history is cloudy, there was some overlap when it was sometimes called “Wacky Cake” and ”Crazy Cake”.

It got its name in the 1940’s, when recipes were usually made from scratch. It was 1st reference in 1980, actually “Duncan Hines” published the recipe in a Holidays Baking brochure, which was circulated in their familiar cake mix “blue box” as a bonus to consumers if they purchased the cake mix. The dump cake gained popularity because it used simple pantry ingredients and it was super, super easy to make.

All the young brides and novice cooks could present something to the table and get high praises, even though they couldn’t boil water. To them it almost covered the basic four food groups. The technique went from mixing bowl to baking pan.

In the lean times of the wars, recipes were often without eggs and butter, and because of the ingredient shortage, that’s when they were called Wacky or Crazy.

These bad boys have fruit, dairy, the cake mix and contained the bread group because the whole thing consist of a pan, a can of pie filling, some fruit and a cake mix, sometimes with little pats of butter.

When its baked it has a lovely crusted, yummy top that looked like a crumble and is buttery and sweet with fruit and really good, but tasted like cake. No need to tell me twice. Coziness factor in full effect, who can resist that. Whatever they are called, there is something to be said about a dessert that can be made and baked in the same dish.

Behold the power of the dump! And with the holidays coming up and you’re hanging out zooming with the family, you’re more than entitled to an effortless dish of comfort food.

I remember as a kid, there was this cake that would show up in the house once in a while, it was a large round cake, looked like a hat, maybe grandma made it, I don’t know, it was spongy, squeezable, so white and soft, and it had no frosting, but it tasted so good, maybe a hint of vanilla, light lemony, puffy and it stood so tall to us. I was a great treat because it being so spongy, we would go sit on the porch, giggling and squeezing the piece of cake while sitting on the back porch.

Nowadays I’m not really focused, when at a grocery store, and really don’t think about getting an Angel cake. Between Mama and I, we’d be eating that for four-six months. So I found a dump version of this tasty treat.

 

THE RECIPES

Pineapple Angel Cake yields 12-16

Ingredients:

2 cups of fresh or thawed blueberries or sliced strawberries

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained

1 pkg. (16 ounces) angel food cake mix (yes, they have that)

Directions: Preheat 350°

1. Spread the berries in a greased 13X9-inch baking pan.

2. Combine pineapple and mix on a large bowl, blend well. Spread batter evenly over the berries.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the enter comes out clean.

4. Cool in pan at least 30 minutes before eating.

How about Pink Lemonade Dump Cake for something different?

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, sliced

¼ cup powdered pink lemonade mix

½ cup (1-stick) butter, cut into thin slices

1 pkg. white cake mix

½ water

 

Directions: Preheat to 350°

1. Spray a 9 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

2. Spread the strawberries in prepared pan; sprinkle with the lemonade. Top with cake mix,

Spreading evenly. Top with the butter slices. Slowly pour lightly water on top, make sure you get most of the mix as much as possible.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes, or do the toothpick thing from the center of the cake. Cool 15-20 minutes.

Lemonade, no straw required.

 

This is the perfect fall flavor, welcome it with simplicity and embrace the season. This one is a swoon-worthy dump, with minimal effort.

Autumn Cranberry-Apple Cake

Ingredients:

1 can (21 ounces) apple pie filling.

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 pkg. of yellow cake mix

½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into thin slices

½ cup chopped walnuts

 

Directions: Preheat to 350°

1. Spray 13X9 pan with cooking spray

2. Spread apple pie filling into pan; top (spreading) with the cranberry sauce

3. Top with cake mix and spread evenly. Top with butter squares, covering the cake mix as much as possible. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Bake 50-55 minutes. Cool for 15-20 minutes.

These are really fun to do and won’t take to much of your time, but you’ll be surprise, and will get lots of comments, and what a great item to take to a function, potluck or get together. If you’d like to see more using your ingredients, get in touch with me and I would gladly send you the yummy recipe. Just challenge me! My E-Mail: Scrappychef@yahoo.com.

Happy Fooding! Happy Dumping! Scrappy Chef

 

 

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