Sunday, April 5, 2009

Blackberry Dump Cake

I made a very tasty cake this weekend, and I thought I'd share the recipe... and the story...

I got the recipe from Mrs. Oliver in Nachitoches (NACK-uh-tish), Louisiana, when we were there on tour. Grace and I stayed at the Oliver's home one night for homestay. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, both in their eighties, were not members of the church, but had been meeting with the missionaries for a little while, and agreed to let us stay in their home. Mr. Oliver reminded me a bit of Dad, because as soon as we were settled in their home, he offered us a drink. Of beer. When we declined, he said (with a bit of a twinkle in his eye), "Oh, coffee, then?". He was hilarious. They were both so wonderful and kind.

Nachitoches! It was so beautiful and green, though it was just mid-April.

The chapel in Nachitoches, where we had a musical fireside.

Mrs. Oliver had made some cake for us, and it was so delicious, I had to ask for the recipe. She seemed surprised that I had never heard of dump cake before, so maybe it's a Southern thing. Many tasty foods are....

Breakfast at the Oliver's - biscuits, butter, molasses, sausage, and whole milk.

It's called "Dump Cake" because you really just dump all the ingredients into the pan - no mixing required! I didn't get a picture of the one I made because we ate it before I thought of my camera... which tells you how good it was! :)

2 1/2 cups of crushed pineapple (not drained)
3 cups fresh of frozen blueberries (I used blackberries because that's what I had in my freezer)
3/4 cup of sugar (we decided that this ingredient is probably not necessary... :) )
1 cake mix (yellow cake)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup pecans (I used a mix of walnuts and almonds because, again, that's what I had)

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a buttered 9x13 pan, layer the pineapple, berries, and sugar. Add the powedered cake mix on top, and drizzle the melted butter on top of that. Sprinkle nuts over the top, and bake for about 45 minutes.

It's so good, and really easy. The only thing that I might change is that some of the cake mix didn't get "wet" with either butter or berry juice, so there were some dry spots. So next time I think I'll try mixing the ingredients a little in the pan, though that might disrupt the awesome cake layer that forms on top. We'll see... :)

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver (yes, I have forgotten their first names... sorry!)

4 comments:

Rebekah Wood said...

Dump cake, eh? I think my mom used to make something like that. Mmmm.

Jessie said...

oh my gosh that sounds fantastic.. and don't worry! I've never heard of it either! :)

Kyoo said...

So far, I haven't heard of it either. And I have a combined total of 6 months experience living in the south now! This reminds me of one of my home stays with an elderly couple. Tours are awesome! And thanks for the recipe. I'll have to give that a try when I finish all my cookies :)
And I will get you the recipe by the way.

Lunicrax said...

cool recount of your trip! You'll have to make that cake and have me over, you know... :)