Baked Goods Deluxe

There's an easy, quick cake recipe that doesn't require a lot of measuring or fuss, but is really good and tasty. Even the family's youngest members can make this dessert that's a cross between a cobbler and a deep dish cake.

An old friend gave me this recipe many years ago. I still have the little recipe card with it written down. I keep those as mementos, like a culinary time capsule, full of memories.

Don't you have a little box or three-ring binder of handwritten recipe cards somewhere?

The ingredients for this cake are very simple, it goes together quickly, and bakes up into something really yummy and special.

There are studies that show that the strongest link to memory is often a scent or smell. Maybe cinnamon, or vanilla. The smell of baked goods can take you back to memories of your childhood.

Southern Dump Cake Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan bottom; be sure the oven is fully at temperature before you put the cake into the oven

Pour a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple in heavy syrup into the pan and spread it evenly around the bottom of the pan

Spoon generous globs of cherry pie filling from a 21 oz can over the pineapple but don't try to spread the cherries, just drop globs evenly spaced over the pineapple layer

Open a box of yellow cake mix, the size that makes two layers, and use your hands to sprinkle the dry cake mix right over the top of the pineapples and cherries in the pan, but don't stir or mix anything together

Sprinkle 1 cup of chopped pecans on top of the dry cake mix, generously and evenly across the top of the layered mixture in the pan

Take one entire stick of butter and cut into thick slabs and pats, then dab the slabs on top of the entire cake ingredients in the pan, giving good overall coverage with the slabs

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until the corners are set and the top is nicely browned, with the fruit bubbling through in spots

This cake is great right out of the oven with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream on top, but it's also good at room temperature.

If you don't finish it all off in one sitting, be sure to store the remainders in the refrigerator and reheat it later in the oven - Or cut it into portions and put into the freezer, to warm up in the oven or microwave.

Easy to make, and it goes a long way toward spicing up your holiday or any occasion with a tasty treat!

You may have everything you need in your pantry right now to make one of these Southern Dump cakes. Try it out and see if you like this recipe as much as I do.

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While we're on the subject of cake mixes and notebooks, here's something cool, that you don't see every day!

A notebook, blank pages all spiral bound, with the covers made from the front and back of the box for a cake mix!

There's an Etsy shop with many different types of notebooks like this.

Aren't they fun?

And what better place to start saving handwritten recipes?