Sunshine Cake

Sunshine is something that we could use today in Oregon; we have had rain for the last several days and it is expected to rain all week.

I originally found this recipe during our kitchen remodel.  My wife and I would visit a bookstore looking in the magazines for kitchen ideas.  I always sneak a peek into the Paula Deen Best Desserts magazines special: .  Who can pass that up?  I purchased the magazine and spend some of my free time planning which desserts I would make once we had a working oven.

One of the recipes I chose was the Sunshine Cake on page 42.  It was very easy to make and tasted great.  I checked on the Food Network site and there is a Paula Deen Sunshine Cake recipe listed, but it is a different recipe from this one.

Sunshine Cake
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen and Best Desserts

• 1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4-ounce) box instant vanilla flavored pudding mix
• 1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, undrained
• 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 2 large eggs
• Vanilla Pineapple topping (recipe follows)
• Garnish: mandarin orange slices (drained)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9x13 inch baking pan (I used a glass Pyrex pan) with a nonstick spray (the recipe called for a spray with flour, but regular PAM worked fine).
Combine in a large bowl the cake mix, pudding mix, mandarin oranges, pineapple, and eggs.  Mix on medium speed until fully combined.

Pour into the baking pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let the cake cool completely before applying the topping.

Vanilla Pineapple Topping

• 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple undrained
• 1 (3.4-ounce) box instant vanilla flavored putting mix
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed

Combine the pineapple and putting in a medium bowl stirring until well mixed.  Fold in the whipped topping.

Spread the Vanilla topping on top of the cake and garnish with the mandarin orange slices.  As this is a sunshine cake, I made a sun design on top with the mandarin oranges.

Everyone really enjoyed this cake when I made it in mid December.  It has just the right amount of sweetness mixed with the flavor from the mandarin oranges.  My mother-in-law liked this cake so much, she asked me to make it for her next birthday.
What a nice complement!

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell