Dream On....

If you are a food purist, read no further. I can promise that this post will cause instant blindness, hives, and major traumatic stress syndrome for those who do not believe in the use of prefabricated food ingredients.

I don't want to have to say, "I told you so" {although I'm very good at it!}, so this stands as your final warning....hit the "Back" button NOW! There is no turning back.

Anybody left in the room? Helllloooo? I think I see one or two of you hiding in the dark shadows waaaaay back there...shall we carry on with today's post?

Let me first clarify by saying that I, myself, don't normally use alot of prepackaged ingredients but some days just necessitate being a Sandra Lee wannabe because that pesky thing called life gets in the way or in today's instance, it's just a really good recipe that happens to contain items from a box. My second clarification is that, as written, this recipe contained even more prefab items than what is shown in my revision below so you can thank me for trying to un-prefab it.

You already know how sentimental I am about orange dreamsicles and so by default this is one of my favorite cakes.

I was first introduced to this lovely cake 8 monumental years ago when I turned the big 3-0. The company that I was working for at the time temporarily positioned me back in my hometown for a few weeks to work on a special project and one of my co-workers was kind enough to present me with this cake, unknowing that it would bring back a flood of childhood memories. I never forgot that cake and even 8 years later I still treasure hunt the grocery stores for the sometimes elusive Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix that it calls for. There never seems to be a shortage of the other Supreme mixes so hopefully your favorite grocery hangout carries this one as well. The recipe as written called for adding water to the mix but I decided to kick up the orange flavor a notch by adding orange juice.

But let's be honest here folks....this cake tastes like it's made from a box. I'm not trying to pass this off as being one of those where your friends are never gonna suspect that you cheated {as if the neon orange color wouldn't give it away} because it is what it is. But the icing....well, now that's a different story! It brings back the image of me carefully selecting my orange dreamsicle from the frozen cooler of Wilson's Convenience Store on those hot school day afternoons.

Substituting fresh whipped cream in place of the original Cool Whip gives the icing a richer flavor and less of a fake taste. And don't be afraid to pile it on....it totally makes the cake!

Prefab ain't so bad, people.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Dreamsicle Cake

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cakes/Icings

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 box Duncan Hines Orange Supreme Cake Mix
1 1/4 cups orange juice
1/4 cup oil
1 small box orange jello
3 each eggs
ICING:
8 ounces heavy whipping cream
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Mix all cake ingredients well. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutess. Cool completely before icing. (You can leave the cake in the pan and ice only the top, but I like to turn it out onto a cakeboard and slather a ton of icing on the top and sides.)

For icing: whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Slowly add orange juice and confectioners sugar while continuing to whip into stiffer peaks. Place the sour cream and coconut in a large bowl, stir to combine. Fold the whipped cream into the coconut mixture until just combined. Smooth over cake and keep refrigerated.

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