For me, the American South has always been the very height of exoticism. Europe? Old hat. Growing up in Hong Kong, I was the weird teenager who went to Tower Records only to buy copies of the Oxford American. I became obsessed with Carson McCullers, and started writing a short story set in Pine Bluff, Arkansas (knowing nothing about Arkansas, I didn’t get very far). When my boyfriend and I were still strangers, my heart leapt when I learned that he was from Georgia.
Georgia–imagine!
In July 2004, I couldn’t wait to leave Russia and get on the next plane to Oklahoma. Earlier that year, the “Who I Want To Meet” section on my Friendster profile had read, “a cute American boy with a big American car, interested in driving me to eat chicken-fried steak and other regional delicacies not mentioned in the Larousse Gastronomique”. Improbably, I found him on Petrogradskaya Island. Half a year later I was eating fried chicken livers in a Cracker Barrel en route to Tulsa, thrilled to be the farthest South I had ever traveled. It was a start.
I know that I have it all wrong, that it’s not all steel magnolias in helmet hairdos, mint juleps, Blanche Dubois and Blanche Devereaux. If the Orientalists had their incense, odalisques and silken girls bringing sherbet, though, can’t a half-Chinese girl daydream about dry counties, snake churches and the blue people of Kentucky?
I’m always on the lookout for good, transporting Southern recipes. (If I can’t be in Oxford, Mississippi, I’ll pore over recipes for fried okra, collard greens disintegrating in pork fat, and bizarre casseroles until I am.) A real Southern lady taught me one last night, and, as fearful as I was curious, I couldn’t rest until I had made it. She calls it a real man-magnet at the church potlucks known as “dinner on the grounds”; her daughter-in-law simply calls it “crack”.
I did a little research and learned that, down South, it’s known as a Blueberry Dump Cake. True to its name, a series of increasingly improbable ingredients are dumped into a casserole dish. (How improbable? As the good lady who taught me the recipe puts it, “If it’s a special occasion, you buy the Duncan Hines cake mix.”) Forty-five minutes in a hot oven later, your improbable ingredients will have miraculously morphed into a dead ringer for a clafoutis, only trashier. And, I dare say, tastier.
Laura’s Southern “Crack”
In a large casserole, layer
(quantities are inexact because you cannot go wrong)
- light brown sugar
- fresh blueberries
- chopped pecans
- crushed, unsweetened pineapple
- 1 box yellow cake mix
Pour over two melted sticks of butter and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
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COMMENTS / 24 COMMENTS
Haha, “Blueberry Dump Cake”… it seems that most dessert names are usually hyped up to make them sound more delicious. That one is a bit counterproductive, but it sure looks delicious!kristina added this comment on May 19 08 at 11:15 am
It’s a product of the same school of dessert-naming as the Kitty Litter Cake, and Dirt & Worms.Michele Humes added this comment on May 19 08 at 11:26 am
Yes, a recipe I can remember from my earliest days. We called it “Quick Cake” and others called it “Dump Cake.” The most traditional “recipe” (if you can call it that) is cherry. You pour one can of cherry pie filling into your pan, mix it with one can of pineapple, and then top with your raw cake mix. Pour over ONE cube of butter (2? I can’t imagine) and bake for 45 minutes. That was a favorite dessert.Kate added this comment on May 19 08 at 11:43 am
Kate, I was told THREE sticks. Reducing it to two was my call. Can you believe it?Michele Humes added this comment on May 19 08 at 11:46 am
THREE?! Oh my gosh. No. I simply cannot imagine it. Heck, we used to cut it down by just dotting the cake mix with butter (like we were helping the situation … right?) but usually, if we wanted to be decadant, it was ONE full stick. Never, ever, two. Three? That’s just madness!Kate added this comment on May 19 08 at 12:06 pm
That’s the Southern Lady Charm for you, convincing you that you can never have too much butter. I remember a lovely southern lady who made the best cornbread, ever. I finally got her to give me the recipe and I had to laugh when she said “Well, honey, you start with a whole yellow cake mix and a can of corn and a stick of butter …”
It was butter corn cake. No wonder I liked it.
Intense cake type thing you’ve got there. I really wanna know how it comes out so good! And you pour 2 full sticks of butter on top? How does this work! Can’t you just do without all that butter?!?Nick added this comment on May 20 08 at 12:44 am
I’m told the secret is the crushed pineapple. All the sugary goodness in it caramelizes and coats every other ingredient.Michele Humes added this comment on May 20 08 at 7:32 am
You could definitely do it with less butter, but you can’t skip it all together. The concept is that of a crumble or a cobbler–without the butter, the topping would just be dry flour.
Does “pour over 2 sticks of butter” mean that you pour the previous list of ingredients over butter already in the pan, or that you ‘dump’ the ingredients in the pan, THEN pour the butter over? !! Thanks!Katie D. added this comment on May 30 08 at 12:32 pm
Can the secret (the crushed pineapple) be replaced? I’m allergic to pineapple but this recipe looks delicious and manageable. (I’m not much of a baker.) What if I use orange/mandarin juice with more sugar? or apple and peach juice?Issie added this comment on Jun 01 08 at 9:11 pm
Katie, Sorry for the confusion. I mean the latter: you ‘dump’ the ingredients in the pan, THEN pour the butter over. The vague use of “pour over” is a strange convention of British recipe-writing that I got used to while living in the UK.Michele Humes added this comment on Jun 02 08 at 7:58 am
Issie, I think you could use canned peaches (in juice rather than syrup). I would go over them with a knife to get them in smaller pieces, or even pulse them a couple of times in a food processor. Obviously, it would change the flavor of the dish, but it would be tasty in its own right. The important thing is that there are nice sugary juices to caramelize. I think the orange/mandarin juice would be too acidic.
Thanks heaps for your suggestion. I will definitely make this dish for my next dinner party!Issie added this comment on Jun 02 08 at 9:42 pm
By the way, I love your site. You are very creative with your recipes.
The cake mix part is prepared according to instructions, right? Not just dry cake mix powder?Jan74 added this comment on Jun 03 08 at 7:18 pm
Your love of everything Southern makes me giggle. I’m married to a Southerner and lived in the Atlanta ‘burbs for 5 years. Loved it… though you’re right that it’s not all mint juleps. There’s the ugly side that you’ll find eventually.Amanda added this comment on Jun 05 08 at 10:10 am
I’ll give you another fun Southern recipe: Poor Man’s Peach Cobbler. Melt 1 stick butter in a 9×13 dish (while preheating your oven to 350*F). Mix together 1 cup self-rising flour with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Pour over melted butter. Add 1 can peaches in light or heavy syrup, spooning peaches with **some** of the syrup, but not all. Bake until golden. It’s unbelievable, and a staple in every Southern lady’s household. People beg me to make this. BEG.
Makes me think of a pumpkin surprise dish that I discovered this thanksgiving season:HM added this comment on Jun 06 08 at 11:46 am
Basically consists of a can of pumpkin pie filling (either just the can or made according to instructions with evaporated milk and eggs, although just about everyone liked it plain) a box of cake mix, a stick of butter and either pumpkin seeds or nuts (walnuts or pecans)
You spread the can of pumpkin pie mix in the bottom of a baking dish, sprinkle the dry cake mix over top (makes a layer about an inch thick or so) and drizzle the stick of butter over the whole thing. Sprinkle with nuts or seeds if you’re using them and bake (I forgot the exact time, but you could probably google pumpkin dump cake or pumpkin surprise or something)
It was a big hit, and basically was like a pumpkin pie cobbler. Mmmmm.
Oh yeah! This stuff is awesome! I’ve only tried it with the canned cherry pie filling, pineapple, and pecans. It’s really good right out of the oven with a good sized serving of vanilla ice cream! YUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!!The Downtown Boutique added this comment on Jun 10 08 at 10:28 am
my fav is pineapple cheese cake, we shrepped pineapple mixed. and by cheesecake i mean cream cheese not ricotta cheese.Antiques added this comment on Jun 10 08 at 2:13 pm
Are you sure about Jan74’s question? You really pour dry cake mix over the other ingredients? How on earth would that work?scott added this comment on Jun 10 08 at 4:49 pm
Scott, it gets “rehydrated” with the two sticks of melted butter. The recipe I’ve given is tested and accurate.Michele Humes added this comment on Jun 10 08 at 6:11 pm
The butter makes the dry cake mix kind of like a crumb topping, also, some of the juices from the fruit seep up from underneath so there is a little bit of fluffy cakey bits too. Mmmm, good stuffHM added this comment on Jun 11 08 at 7:57 am
We used to do a similar thing when camping, goes over well for a group. You have the cast iron bean pot with the lid and it has 3 little legs on it. Put in it in this order: 1 can peaches, not drained; 1 yellow dry cake mix; 1 can lemon-lime soda pop. Stick it in the fire with some coals on top of the lid for about an hour, maybe less depending on altitude. that’s it! peach cobbler while camping.mo added this comment on Jun 11 08 at 9:44 am
Wow I gotta pdf this one.cribcat added this comment on Jun 12 08 at 7:38 am
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