Welp, I did it again. I think I need to write the afternoon/evening post earlier in the day now that the monsoons are finally becoming more regular.
Here's the last post in our 4th of July series! Y'all ready?
The Original Pin
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| http://livingachangedlife.blogspot.com/2011/04/recipe-review-berry-cobbler.html |
Quick and easy Berry Cobbler. Looks yummy! I love these.
The Pinstrosity
Sandi's Cobbler Surprise. To use Sandi's own words, "it looked like something that came out of my son's diaper." But she says it tasted great.
To troubleshoot this, let's go through Sandi's process.
- "I added the frozen fruit (maybe a little too much fruit if there is such a thing), then added the cake mix on top of that, then finally added the Sprite.
- Too much fruit? If you ask me, no. If you as my husband, yes. But I don't think it had much bearing on the outcome of this. As long as the cake mix covers the fruit, I think you're good.
- Well after I added the Sprite it didn't cover all the cake mix so I added some more Sprite."
- If you look at the pictures in the original post, her soda does not cover all the cake mix. There are dry spots left. Too much soda might actually be part of the next problem.
- You could let the cobbler sit for a few minutes after adding the soda to try and get more of a reaction between the soda and the cake mix.
- "I baked the cobbler in the oven but forgot to set a timer so I was maybe 5-10 minutes over or under on time. When I pulled it out of the oven the cake mix was still powdery in many (most) places.
- I've actually never had a cobbler that is done this way that does not have powdery cake mix places, but it still tastes good. But of course you don't want it to all be powdery. This may have something to do with the type of cake, but I'll address that in a minute.
- So I stirred the cobbler up even though it says not to just so we could eat and not have dry cake mix everywhere.
- The original post says not to stir the soda and cake mix together before cooking, otherwise you won't have a crust topping, you'll have a cake topping. After things have baked a little while stirring shouldn't give a cakey topping, it'll just mix the crust and the berries all together, making the cooking time of the uncooked crust a little longer.
- I put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes, and when I took it out it looked gross. I had to beg my friends to try it and while it tasted good, it looked like something that came out of my son's diaper.
- Mmmm.
- "Turns out that you aren't supposed to use cake mix with pudding in the mix. I didn't see that until the next day when I was checking to see what went wrong."
- This right here might be the issue with the crust not forming correctly. It's the fine print that gets ya every time. The pudding in the cake mixes is supposed to help keep the cakes moist which is not quite what you're going for here.
I made this a few weeks ago. I followed the directions exactly but still had problems with powdery cake mix plus soupy-ness where the soda did cover the cake mix. I'm not sure the directions take into account that the frozen fruit would produce extra water. It was an odd combination. It was super sweet in some spots and super tart in others and some areas of the 'crust' were burnt. I finally just stirred it all together and put it back in the oven for 30 minutes. It came out cake-like but was quite moist and much more edible. However, I will not be making this again
ReplyDeleteI made this and really loved it!! We used sugar free cake mix, because hubs is diabetic, and it came out like a champ. Hardly any dry spots, and the ones there were we just stirred into the piece of cobbler on our plate. It was fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWe have made this a few times and it has always turned out.
ReplyDeleteI have done this a few times and my family loved it. My husband suggested a little flour with just half of the cake mix, and it crusted better and was so good. I added about 1/3 cup of flour to 1/2 box of cake mix, then dumped over berries and added diet sprite. I cooked mine a few extra minutes. Great dessert.
ReplyDeleteI made this in a smaller square cake pan and cut back on the fruit but used most of the cake mix. There were a few dry spots, but that didn't bother me - it tasted strangely delicious and I re-heated in the microwave for several days to come. I followed the directions except for cutting back on the size and portions slightly. It looked similar to the original pin (which still isn't great) but it tasted great!
ReplyDeleteMade this and it turned out wonderful
ReplyDeleteI've made this twice. First time I used French vanilla cake mix and Sierra mist. It turned out great and tasted very good. Second time I used a butter cake mix and 7-up, that one was a disaster and I ended up just dumping it in the garbage after one bowl of it.
ReplyDeleteI made this yesterday and it turned out great. I read thru a bunch of comments that were under the recipe and saw that a lot of people were complaining about the bottom being liquidy. I read that one person used a turkey baster to suck up the liquid on the bottom and spread it on top. I tried the trick and it definitely helped. Not only was the bottom not so liquidy it also helped moisten up the cake mix so I didn't really have that much dried, powdery cake mix on top. I also used a can of regular Sierra Mist and I baked it for an hour instead of 45-50 min like the recipe said. I baked it at 350°. So I have to say mine did not turn out as a pintrosity.
ReplyDeleteI honestly make this every other day. My hubby and I devoured one in just a few hours. I do make a few tweaks. I feel i am a bit of a "Spake" expert. You need two bags of frozen fruit. They can remain frozen or thawed a bit. It doesn't matter. Make sure the mix covers as much of the berries as possible. Break up the big pieces of cake mix. Push the cake mix down into the berries/peaches. You can use canned, bottled Diet/Regular Sprite. If you use cans, you will need about 1 1/2. Pour it very slowly. It will bubble if the soda is fresh (a must). The one can should cover about 3/4 of the pan. Use just enough of the other can to soak the rest of the pan. Then I use spray butter and spray it all over the top. You could probably use regular butter pats at intervals (look for the dry mix). I finally sprinkle cinnamon all over the top. I then back it at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. This gels up the berries and browns the crust. You need to let it sit for a few minutes for the berries to firm a bit. It is awesome. We have had peach, blueberry (favorite), mixed berry, and blackberry (mmm). Still trying to figure out how to make a cherry (maybe with chocolate cake) and an apple. You could also add nuts or coconut. Definitely not a pinstrosity.
ReplyDeleteI have made this too and it tasted okay but it wasn't great.There were clumps of dough and wit wasn't as moist as a regular cake.I was pretty disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI made this and it was super powdery where the sprite didn't mix with the cake mix. I knew putting it into the oven that dry powdery cake mix wasn't going to bake into yummy goodness without any liquid mixing with it. When I took it out, there were patches of crispy cake mix over berries (where the sprite was mixed with the cake) and then there were patches of dry hot powder over berries.
ReplyDeleteIt's way better when you make it with butter. Canned peaches w/ juice on bottom, then cake mix spread over top, then cut up butter on top (like half a stick). I think the moral to all these stories is to follow the directions & have the right materials.
ReplyDeleteSo much better with butter. We call it dump cake, cause you just kinda dump in the ingredients. We also use canned fruit. My favorite is cherries with crushed pineapple, white Jiffy cake mix (2 boxes) and dot the top with butter.
DeleteI've made this several times, and it's a hit each time. I actually combine the cake mix and soda together to make a thick batter, I wasn't too fond of the dry spots when I didn't do this. I've used canned and frozen fruit, and on one used a muffin mix that complimented the fruit.
ReplyDeleteI made this with frozen peaches and it turned out great. True there are a few powdery parts here and there, but not a lot. I will add butter tabs to the places where I can see that the Sprite did not wet well. I also sprinkle cinnamon on the top. Yummo!
ReplyDeletewe used apple pie filling instead of frozen fruit. We did not stir it before we ate it, after we tasted the first serving of it, we stirred and put it back in the oven for a few minutes and it tasted much much better the second time around!! -Emily
ReplyDeleteI made this with whole strawberries and blueberries and it was AWESOME!! Picture above looks like it was cooked too long or something.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the butterers! Fruit...(we always just use canned)...yellow cake mix on top...squares of butter dolloped on top. I usually make some kind of 'neat' grid to try & make sure when the butter melts it will spread out evenly on the cake mix. I always have butter. I almost never have sprite in my house.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the butter people. I'm not sure how soda would brown? Unless it's just that wet mix browns... Anyhow, we use one can of pie filling (any type of fruit doesn't matter) one box of yellow cake mix spread evenly over it, and then one stick of butter, melted, and drizzled all over. About 30-40 minutes at 350 F and then just cooled until you won't burn yourself. The fruit will bubble up a bit around the edges, but for the most part stays under the cake mix.
ReplyDeleteI followed that recipe with that pin exactly and mine turned out awesome! :) I was a little concerned about the dry cake mix as well, but just left it, and it was fine.
ReplyDeleteI made this as well. It turned out fine. I followed the directions completely and made sure that I used the same brands and amounts as the blogger. It tasted really good. Family enjoyed it too!
ReplyDelete