Even the best cooks have been known to make a mistake, right? BRYAN CURTIS (Nashville, Tennessee) shares that his Granny, IRENE FOSTER (Charlotte, Tennessee), was a wonderful cook. However, there once was this one cake . . . and it ended up being a bit browner than she wanted. So Granny took a knife, attempted to scrape the brown off the top, and actually used her vacuum cleaner to suck up the crumbs! Because Bryan’s Uncle Don worked for the Nashville newspaper, there was no “sweeping” this baking blunder under the rug. Uncle Don shared Granny’s vacuum story with one of the paper’s columnists, and it ended up on the front page! (Thank heavens she had a great sense of humor about it.) Nonetheless, this cake is delicious.
CAKE:
Cooking spray and flour to prepare pans
1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix with pudding
1 (3 ounce) box raspberry flavored gelatin
1 cup canola oil
½ cup whole milk
4 large eggs
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup pecans, chopped
ICING:
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pound powdered sugar
⅓ cup milk
¾ cup fresh or frozen blackberries
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
¾ cup pecans, chopped
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
2 TO MAKE THE CAKE, in a large bowl combine the cake mix, gelatin, oil, and milk. Combine using a hand mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Fold in the blackberries, coconut, and pecans.
3 Divide the batter between the three cake pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cakes test done. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
4 TO MAKE THE ICING, cream the butter in a large bowl. Add the sugar and milk. Beat until smooth.
5 Fold in the blackberries, coconut, and pecans.
6 TO BUILD THE CAKE: Place one cake layer on a plate and ice the top. Place the second cake on top of the first and ice it. Place the third cake on top and ice the top and sides. Keep leftovers refrigerated.
MAKES 16 SERVINGS.