It’s February, and every breathing moment (including those times in the middle of the night when I have a stroke of genius that I can never remember the next day) is spent thinking about Valentine’s Day goodies. I spend a lot of time mentally creating and baking…thinking up new twists and embellishments. My grandfather was a professor of engineering and a woodworking genius who was a huge believer in the “measure twice, cut once” practice. I’ve learned that actually imagining myself making a new creation, step by step, helps me avoid a lot of mistakes. Not all…but a lot.
One of these ideas has actually come to fruition! And boy, do I have an easy dessert for you!
Seriously easy, not just easy compared to my usual fussing and experimenting and generally doing everything the hardest way possible. This is a “dump cake”, but it’s actually more like a pie, with a layer of cream cheese, a layer of strawberry, and a crunchy-buttery topping. I will give you the recipe for the topping, but if you want to use a boxed white cake mix, go for it. Personally, I like avoiding the preservatives, and it’s so easy to make the mix that I don’t mess with boxed mixes at all.
Eat this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Sheer bliss!
Strawberry Cream Cheese Dessert | Print |
- 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 can (21 oz.) strawberry pie filling
- 1 white cake mix (or see easy instructions below the recipe)
- ¾ cup butter, melted
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- Heat oven to 350 F.
- Prepare a 9-inch pan or casserole dish. (or a 10-inch heart-shaped pan) by greasing and flouring it or using an oil/flour spray like Baker's Joy.
- In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg, vanilla, and flour and mix at medium speed until well combined and creamy. Spread into prepared pan.
- Spread the strawberry pie filling over the cream cheese mixture. It's easiest if you evenly distribute dollops of pie filling and then spread with a rubber spatula.
- Cover the strawberry layer with all of the dry cake mix.
- Drizzle melted butter over the cake mix and sprinkle with walnuts.
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes. The top should be golden brown. It will continue to darken a little while it is cooling.
- Cool on a rack and serve warm with a little vanilla ice cream.
To make the cake topping instead of using a boxed cake mix, simply sift together the following ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 cup powdered milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Don’t let the photo deceive you; by the time you drizzle on all the butter, it will resemble a lake of butter with a few tiny white islands poking through. Don’t worry…the butter will soak in and turn that cake mix into a delectable, crunchy topping.
This recipe is very similar to one I posted this fall, which became one of my most viewed posts. It’s funny – I’ll spend days working on what I consider a great recipe, and yet a simple dessert gets all the action on Pinterest! If you like this recipe, you’ll want to check out my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dessert too.
Now…chocolate! I need chocolate! Let’s see what I can dream up this time.