Directions
One of my all time favorite chick flicks is Steel Magnolias. So many quotes, so little time.
Shelby – “Pink is my signature color.”
Clairee – “Ouiser, I’d recognize this penmanship anywhere. You have the handwritin’ of a serial killer.”
Shelby – “Truvy, you know what you need in here? You need a radio, takes the pressure off of everyone feeling they have to talk so much.”
Truvy – “I had one once, but I threw it up against the wall when I couldn’t figure out where the batteries went. I know now, I was suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome.”
Ouiser – ” My God, you look different. Have you shrunk?”
In one scene, Truvy (Dolly Parton) is asked for her recipe for a cake called “Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa”. Her response? “Oh hell, Clairee, you don’t need a recipe. It’s just a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, and a cup of fruit cocktail with the syrup. Stir it and bake it in a hot oven until it’s brown and bubbly. I serve it with ice cream to cut the sweetness.”
This is not that cake, and if I’m being honest, Truvy’s “Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa” sounds kind of gross to me. This cake is just as simple to make, though, and for some reason every time I make a cake like this, I think about Truvy and want to dust off my copy of Steel Magnolias.
Unlike what I’m assuming the Cuppa cake would taste like, this cake is de-licious. It is the perfect easy dessert for a crowd, for entertaining, or as just a great way to end a family meal.
It’s not the most attractive name for a cake, but I think the idea here is you just dump a few things in a pan and, before you know it, you have dessert. You have to love simplicity!
Start with two large cans of crushed pineapple. Drain one of them, and leave the juice in the other. Pour both cans into the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch baking dish.
Next, I stirred together a cup of sweetened coconut flakes and a box of white cake mix. and sprinkled it over the top of the pineapple. (I added the coconut to the recipe. If you’re not into coconut, go ahead and leave it out.) Then, I topped the cake mix with some butter, threw on some toasted pecans, and it was ready to pop in the oven!
After about 40 minutes, the cake was done! Easy enough, right? It was perfectly browned and bubbly around the edges. It bakes up more like a cobbler than an actual cake.
Just like Truvy, I serve mine with ice cream, “to cut the sweetness”.
TROPICAL DUMP CAKE
Adapted from Southern Living: Quick and Easy
- 2 (20 oz.) cans crushed pineapple, undrained
- 1 (18.25 oz) package white cake mix
- 1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted
- vanilla ice cream
- Preheat the oven to 350*.
- Drain one can of pineapple. Spread both cans of pineapple into a 9×13 inch baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the cake mix and the coconut with a fork.
- Sprinkle the cake mixture over the pineapple.
- Cut the butter up into cubes and distribute evenly over the cake mix.
- Sprinkle the pecans over the top.
- Bake, at 350*, for 40-45 minutes, until golden and bubbly.
- Scoop out and serve warm, with vanilla ice cream.
