THIS WAS MY GRANDMOTHER’S FAVORITE CAKE! MANDARIN ORANGE PINEAPPLE CAKE.

Today I have an unbelievable cake recipe for you.  I found this Orange Pineapple Pig Pickin’ Cake years ago in a Taste of Home cookbook.  I am a pineapple lover, so I knew this cake was for me.  After baking it once, I was in love!  Since that time, we’ve shared it with many people, the biggest group being our church family. They love this cake and I am asked to make it quite often.  Which is fine with me, since it is so easy.

Suggestion for a low to no sugar version would be to use a sugar free cake mix, omit adding the additional 1/2 of sugar to the cake mix or use a sugar substitute instead (like Splenda), and use sugar free pudding mix, sugar free cool whip and mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple in their own juice or light syrup.

Ingredients :

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Cake mix

1/2 cup Wesson oil

1 11- ounce can mandarin oranges

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs

Icing

12 ounce tub of Cool Whip

small instant vanilla pudding mix

1 16 oz. can crushed pineapple

Steps :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, oil, oranges with juice, sugar and eggs. Mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees in 3 greased, floured and lined with wax paper pans for about 20 minutes or until center of the cake bounces back when touched. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on cooling racks.

Icing

Drain juice from pineapple and set aside (If the icing seems to be too thick you can use it to thin it out a bit).

Mix pineapple with the instant vanilla pudding. Stir in Cool Whip. Frost the cake according to these directions. Store the cake in the refrigerator. I think it is better the next day.