Owen's Dump Cake

My middle child, Owen has been dying to star in a YouTube video. While I was trying to determine what would make a great first film for his debut, I remembered a super-simple recipe that I've seen on Pinterest and has been shared on Facebook. There are several variations of this dish and I have made a few of them. With each variation I try, my family has devoured them in one night. I like this version of the recipe because using diet soda allows me to watch my calories and still get to enjoy dessert with my family.

In the video Owen makes a mixed berry dump cake so I felt a cherry flavored diet 7 UP would be a great swap for the usual can of diet 7 UP or Sprite. However, when I had no soda in the house but instead had a few flavored wine coolers, a single cooler was also a great substitute for the soda in this recipe. Finally, if I ever decide to jump on the wagon with those who've sworn off soda pop all together I will try soda water and natural fruit juice as a substitute. However, I haven't built up the courage to take that step, so for this recipe diet Cherry 7 Up!

The other two ingredients are simple enough. Owen and I picked up the generic bag of frozen mixed berries from the freezer section at our local grocery store, which happens to be Acme Fresh Market, so this is the Food Club brand carried there. We also used a box of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix. Again, these ingredients can easily be swapped out in a number of combinations. We used canned apple pie filling (sugar free) and a box of spice cake mix for our first attempt and it was amazing. I've also tried frozen cherries and white cake mix. While I'm typing, I'm wondering if this works with chocolate cake mix.... I guess I'll have to try that too.

Without further ado, here is Owen's Dump Cake video:

https://youtu.be/PiuV_ANs3FQ

The full recipe:

Frozen Mixed Berries
1 box Yellow Cake Mix
1 can Diet Cherry 7 UP

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

In a 13x9 baking dish, dump and spread out frozen berries. Open cake mix and dump mix over frozen berries. Spread cake mix over the surface of the berries allowing some to fall between berries. Open can of diet Cherry 7 UP and dump evenly across cake mix and berries. Do not stir... this is dump cake. Finally, place in preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until surface starts to brown and berries are bubbling. This dish is great served warm with light whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt.