I Made Dolly Parton's Famous 3-Ingredient Cake from Steel Magnolias
Dolly Parton's Cuppa Cuppa Cake from Steel Magnolias
Dolly Parton is a true legend, showing off her talent on screen, on stage and in the kitchen. She has become a household name recently, too, when it comes to fixin' up a little something sweet with her line of Duncan Hines Dolly Parton Baking Collection baking mixes as well as her cookbooks, including a new one that's coming out this fall (she really does it all, folks).
One of Dolly's most famous big-screen roles was in the 1989 movie Steel Magnolias, where she played small-town beauty shop owner Truvy Jones. She was part of an all-star cast that also included Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Darrell Hannah and Julia Roberts.
Although Dolly's role in the movie was doing hair (and delivering memorable lines), in one scene she nods to her affinity for baking when her character gives up the secret to perhaps the easiest cake you'll ever bake. It's called the "Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa" Cake, which is made with three ingredients and can be on the table in less time than it'll take to watch the entire movie. Here's what happened when I tried Truvy's cake in my kitchen.
Ingredients for Dolly Parton's Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake
For this cake, you'll need flour, sugar and canned fruit cocktail (with the juice). That's it!
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Related: We Asked Dolly Parton For the Best Way to Upgrade a Boxed Cake Mix, and Her Answer Was Iconic
How to Make Dolly Parton's Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake
There’s one scene in the movie when Dolly Parton‘s character, Truvy, describes her cake–which she rattles off in her sweet, southern drawl with ease–so I'll let her tell you how to make it: "It's a cuppa flour, a cuppa sugar and a cuppa fruit cocktail with the juice and you mix and bake at 350° 'til gold and bubbly (about 30-40 minutes)."
Dolly Parton‘s character goes on to say that it is a rich cake, so to cut the sweetness, she serves it with vanilla ice cream.
What I Thought of Dolly Parton's Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake
I grabbed my grandmother's vintage baking dish for this one because it felt fitting, then sprayed, mixed and baked. And I wish I had better news about this cake, but it just didn't deliver. The cake was gluey and dense, with the fruit pieces disappearing into the heavy yellow cake batter. It wasn't too sweet, which I was surprised by since it was a cup of sugar on top of fruit cocktail in syrup. The edges were golden and it was set more around the edges, but not enough to salvage or serve to guests. Perhaps our standards for desserts have slightly elevated since the '80s?
If I were to try this again, I would experiment with the recipe a bit, perhaps trying a different flour, sifting my ingredients, adding a leavening agent and remembering not to over-mix.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Tips for Making Dolly Parton's Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake
Experiment with your flour. Some recipes online for this cake call for self-rising flour, which has the addition of baking powder and salt already added in and is a staple in a lot of southern baking recipes. I used regular flour but next time, I'll try self-rising to see if the cake improves.
Vary the variety of fruit cocktail. Because this is a recipe from a movie, there are going to be some loose interpretations on the Internet, with the fruit cocktail being one of them. Most of the recipes call for fruit cocktail with the juice as opposed to the fruit cocktail in heavy syrup, which is what I used. Some call for extra cherry fruit cocktail. The recipe is easy enough that you could try both and decide for yourself which one is your favorite.
Up next: The One Pantry Staple Dolly Parton Can't Live Without
