I think that Angel Food Cake is the white bread of the cake world. It has a nice flavor and texture, but I never crave it by itself. Angel Food Cake needs dressing up.
Some where, some time in the last few years someone gave me a great, and fantastically easy, Pineapple Angel Food Cake recipe. You take a box of Angel Food Cake mix, pour it in a bowl, and add a large, 20-oz. can of crushed pineapple, stir them together and bake until golden--about half an hour--in a 9 by 13 pan. This is one of my favorite cakes to treat my co-workers with. It takes me two minutes to get it in the oven, and by the time I am dressed, the cake is out of the oven and ready to go. Angels could not make a cake faster that tastes as wonderful. And it's inexpensive--less than $5.
After the first batch of Duncan Hines cupcakes that I made, I still had half a can of the Wilderness More Fruit Blueberry Pie Filling. I also had one free Duncan Hines Cake Mix coupon left from the batch I received as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. So I got a box of Duncan Hines Angel Food Cake mix with it.
Last Saturday morning, we had to open our store an hour earlier than usual--and an hour earlier than the schedule had originally been written for. I had to ask several employees to come in an hour earlier. When one of them balked, I coaxed, "I'll make the Pineapple Angel Food Cake."
"Deal!" he agreed.
This time I had to get up a little earlier because I wanted to make the Pineapple Angel Food Cake as cupcakes. I dumped the box of Duncan Hines Angel Food cake in the bowl, added the large can of crushed pineapple, and stirred. This always produces a slightly fizzy cake batter. I am sure Alton Brown could tell me why, but I just like stirring as the batter fizzes. This time, just as I was about to dish the cake batter into the cupcake papers, I added the half can of Wilderness More Fruit Blueberry Pie Filling. It was very heavy compared to my light, fizzy batter, so I just let it sink in the middle of the bowl, and gave it a little swirl with a spoon. Then as I scooped out the cupcake batter, I made sure to dip into the middle of the bowl each time and nab some of the blueberry pie filling. The usual Pineapple Angel Food Cake recipe makes 24 cupcakes; this batch made 40.
The resulting cupcakes were swirled with the blue of the pie filling and very moist. They very quite popular at work, and the employee who agreed to come in early enjoyed four! I think even my mother, the cake purist, would have enjoyed them.
So, is you are looking for a way to treat your co-workers this holiday season, start with a box of Duncan Hines Cake Mix!

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