I’ve been on a sweet kick off and on since Halloween. Thankfully, it’s been more off than on so I’ve not gained more than five pounds of the weight lost last year, but for sure as soon as things settle down, i.e., when I get settled into the doll house, it’s back to Weight Watchers and on to detoxing the sugar out of my system.
The sweet tooth was on today. Probably because of the frustration of my continually having to go behind the poodle cleaning up her mess, only to have her recreate it. So, when I was at Target picking up a few more storage containers, I looked around for something to satisfy that sweet tooth. Finding nothing that interested me, I picked up the ingredients for a dump cake.
I’m pretty sure the last time I made a dump cake was for an office function in 2004, but a dump cake is so easy that one never forgets what goes into it and how to make it. So once I arrived back at the apartment, I dumped all the ingredients into a cake pan, got the dump cake in the oven and set about picking up the poodle’s breakfast bowls from the floor in front of the television where she likes to eat and leave her plates, bowl, glasses, silverware. I picked up her empty cereal box from the floor, some empty candy wrappers, dirty towels and pretty much left the rest of her mess — dirty laundry and bedding in place, because ….. what’s the point. It would all be back before the day is over, but the good news is … I only have to live with it for 21 more days.
The dump cake takes an hour. I looked at the clock when I put the dump cake in the oven (12:15) and told myself to remove it from the oven at 1:15. After that I paid no attention as I went about further preparations for moving.
I’d made improvements to the kitchen cabinetry, trading out some very old partially rusted brushed nickel knobs and pulls for some very nice T-Bars. The owner and property management office are cheap b@stards who I already know are going to find ways and means of not returning the security deposit — in spite of my being here only one year with no damage to the apartment and my leaving the apartment clean because that’s just how they are with their tenants. So knowing that the owner and property management office are not going to do right, I decided to remove the nice knobs and put the old knobs and pulls back on. (Something told me to hang onto the old stuff. Glad I listened). I also made improvements to the stove. There were no knobs on the stove when I moved in.
Seriously …. Look …. No knobs.
When I pointed out the lack of knobs to the management office, their response was – I kid you not, “We don’t do that.” I was slightly dumbfounded, but whatever. So after considerable research and cost on my part, I finally found knobs that would fit the stove, but they weren’t an exact fit and I had to crazy glue them in place. Unfortunately, I can’t now remove the knobs because it’s a gas stove and I don’t want to blow myself up trying to saw or hammer or acetate them off. So the owner and property management office get a win with that improvement.
After the kitchen knobs and pulls were switched back, it was 1:15 … time to remove the dump cake from the oven.
Here’s the basic recipe. I used yellow cake mix and cherry pie filling, but the recipe works well with apple pie filling and/or canned pumpkin. Basically, there is no way to make a bad dump cake — it’s delicious no matter what you do or don’t do, but the picture that goes along with the recipe looks a lot better than what I pulled out of the oven.
Maybe it’s because I burnt the walnuts (Note to self: Is there anything you can cook without burning it? Evidently not) — but only just a little because I should have checked on the dump cake earlier and realized that it was done rather than wait the entire hour. Also, I forgot the whipped crème, which adds to the presentation and flavor.
No matter. It was scrumptious. Sweet tooth now satisfied.
