We've all been there, you're on the wire, the company has more with little notice and you need a dessert. (Ok maybe we're not all been there, but it seems to me a lot!) You want something super fast, impressive, but that will require little effort (even with a toddler in your heels!) If you haven 't heard of "discharge cake," ignore the unfortunate name and trust me this is the best. The idea here is that you literally just "dump" all the ingredients in the pan and bake. What comes out is perfect, as cobbler cake with a thick layer of fruit and a soft lining and tender. It seems as fancy as cobblers and crisps that take a little more work, but in this case, it is easy as pie. (In fact, much easier than pie ... pie is not always easy right?)
Now I must admit that the concept original dump cake is a whole step easier than the recipe I share with you. You throw the fruit in the pan, sprinkle with sugar and corn starch, drain some cake mix yellow top, sprinkle with butter and call it a day. People seem to love this combo and you could quite go that route, but I want to complicate things that I do my own "cake mix" to throw on top. I'm not a cake mix person and never have to hand so rather than buy a box, I would probably never use again- I just mixed the flour, sugar and baking powder " mix ", and it worked very well. Dot with small pieces of butter and you're good to go.
As you can imagine the fruits of options with this type of dessert, are endless. Peaches is divine (and I plan to try that for sure.) Like other berries, apples, cherries, etc. I'll be really honest and admit that Andy and I ate the whole thing in a span of 24 hours. We have a little weakness for fruity dessert can I say? :)
- 6 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered
- 2 rhubarb stalks, sliced (about 2 cups)
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstartch
- 1 and ¼ cups flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon powdered coffee bicarbonate
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 unsalted butter stick, cut into small pieces
- Preheat oven to 350F. "Dump" strawberries and rhubarb in a pan 9inch, pie dish or square baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the sugar and cornstarch.
- In a small bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle evenly over fruit mixture. Dot with pieces of butter, making sure they are evenly over the dry mixture locations.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbly and thick, and the topping is golden and slightly crisp.
- Serve warm with ice cream.