So, we’ve all been there; we’re invited to a gathering that turns out to be a bring your own dish gala, or there’s a potluck at work and we either forgot it was happening until the day before or we are just ill-prepared and tend to put things off (these last 2 are totally me).

Everyone is really into making baked goods from scratch, myself included, because if you’re stocked up with baking essentials in your pantry making a cake or a batch of true homemade cookies couldn’t be easier to pull off.

Sometimes however, due to time constraints, we turn to box mixes and tubs of pre-mixed cookie dough to get the job done and that is also OK; follow my alterations to box directions on these posts and nobody will ever care if you used a box cake or brownie mix.

Plus, not showing up empty handed is what really counts, even if you wind up taking home leftovers of what you make.

So no worries!

You can throw together something delicious that is super simple and tastes fancy with a quick trip to the baking aisle of your supermarket and a few tweaks from the package directions on the cake mix- just don’t be bashful when people want this so easy recipe for themselves!

I call this gloriousness Convenient Chocolate Cherry Cake;

What you need;

In the former incarnations of this cake that my Gigi (my amazing Grandmother) and I made we used cherry pie filling which, although tasty in it’s own right, was always way too sweet- so sweet, in fact, that we never put any kind of frosting on it.

So I did a little thinking on the subject and a little online research, and it turned out that another home cook who had encountered the same problem tried sour cherry preserves and canned whole red tart cherries, both with fantastic results- apparently the tartness of the cherries counterbalanced the sweetness of the cake and became exactly what she was looking for.

I went with the sour cherries because it was what was available at my local Walmart.

So gather your ingredients, preheat your oven to 350, prep your cake pan with a little cooking spray (you will need a 13×9 pan to make this cake, which is the size of a standard rectangular cake pan) and let’s make this happen, Cap’n!

The package instructions of the cake mix called for 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 3 eggs- in order to make this taste a little richer here are my alterations to the mix-ins;

Let’s go in order; for the 1 cup of water, I swap out an equal amount of milk, so 1 cup of milk.

I never use vegetable oil for anything, not even baking, so I subbed out olive oil (after it bakes you seriously cannot taste the difference) and doubled the amount they called for, so 1 cup of olive oil.

Lastly, the recipe called for 3 eggs, so I upped the ante and added 1 extra, so 4 eggs.

THAT, plus vigilance to be sure that you don’t over-bake, is what makes this cake taste like you spent all kinds of time and effort on it.

Never be afraid to alter the mix in directions- it is merely a rough guideline and not gospel- it will still turn out fine if you use these tweaks.

Actually, it will turn out better!

Next drain off (but don’t rinse, ain’t nobody got time for that) your cherries and mix those in as well;

Pour into your prepped pan, and pop that gorgeous gal in the oven!

I always set my timer for the bottom end of the suggested baking times and start checking the level of “doneness” (I know it’s not a word, I’m taking poetic license; I might even make up my own language, but that’s for another post); when a toothpick or cooking thermometer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean you’re in business.

Mine cooked for 35 minutes.

Next is the “frosting”; for this you need a 5.9oz package of Jell-O chocolate pudding and a thawed container of Cool Whip.

Do not mix this until your cake is cool, this is simple and no fuss, and will take 2 seconds to whip up but it must be refrigerated unlike standard frosting.

First mix the pudding with 2 cups of milk (the package calls for 3, but only use 2) and chill for 5 minutes in your refrigerator to let it set up.

I will look dark and thick (and delicious!) just like the picture.

Next, mix in the whole container of Cool Whip;

Grab your cooled cake;

And voila!

This cake is light, flavorful and not too sweet; the cherries are bright tasting and hold up well during baking instead of breaking down to mush.

Remember to refrigerate any leftovers because of the topping- the pudding and Cool Whip mixture isn’t shelf stable, and nobody wants to get sick eating something so awesome!

I brought this to New Year’s Day dinner with my family, and everyone loved it; we all went back for seconds and there was very little leftovers.

Make this when you need something crowd-pleasing to take to a potluck, a party, family dinner or just because!!!!

(Frosting recipe adapted from my friend Sam Turner’s Vanilla Pudding Frosting, thanks Sam!)

Until next time, lovelies!

Love,

The Chick and her Chickadee