American Dream Torte

For the Memorial Day picnic at my grandma's house this past weekend, I decided to make this complex-looking, but seriously easy-to-make torte from the All The Best Pampered Chef cookbook. It came together relatively easily (I made the pound cake the night before), and my family was impressed with both the way it looked and the way it tasted. Easy, breezy. Give it a try!


American Dream Torte

Ingredients

1 package (16 oz) pound cake mix (plus ingredients to make the cake)

1/2 cup water

1 package (3 oz) raspberry gelatin

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup cold milk

1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 package (3.3 oz) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling

3/4 cup blueberries

1/2 cup raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet (or the Pampered Chef Stoneware Bar Pan, if you happen to have it) with a 13-inch piece of parchment paper. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, and pour batter into pan, spreading evenly. Bake 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. Left cake onto cooling rack (with parchment) and cool completely.

2. Microwave water on high 1-2 minutes or until boiling. Add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Add jam, and whisk until smooth. Invert cake onto smooth side of a large cutting board and remove parchment paper. Prick cake evenly at 1/2-inch intervals. With a pastry brush, brush cake evenly with gelatin mixture. Trim 1/4 inch around edge of cake and discard edges. Cut cake crosswise into three equal layers.

3. Whisk cream cheese and milk until smooth (I used my electric mixer). Spoon whipped topping over cream cheese mixture (do not mix), and then sprinkle with pudding mix. Mix well. (Mixture will be very thick.)

4. Place one cake layer on a serving platter. With a pastry bag filled with filling mixture and small tip of your choice, pipe a straight border around edge of cake layer. Place four large scoops of filling down the center and spread evenly to the border. Top with second layer. Repeat as above. For third layer, pipe a decorative border around the edge. Spread remaining filling down the center. Top with blueberries and raspberries. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Yields 16 servings

8 Responses to “American Dream Torte”

  1. # Blogger Ramona

    How pretty! Looks amazingly tasty, too!  

  2. # Anonymous Anonymous

    It looks really pretty Kristi!
    I completed the meme  

  3. # Blogger Marie

    Sounds like another good one, Martha! I mean Kristi!!

    Mmmmm.

    So, about that B&B...  

  4. # Blogger Binulatti

    Woe. Cake-pricking? Pastry bags? Baking continues to elude me. But you - are the master. Nice work! Looks maaaahvelous.  

  5. # Blogger Shannon

    I'm with Karrie, baking continues to pretty much elude me as well, ESPECIALLY desserts! I am so a'skeered of desserts! But seeing your photos and reading your breezy confidence makes me wonder if maybe I'm just being a big old baby about it. Then again, neither Barrett nor I have big sweet tooths (teeth?), so the desserts would just look pretty and go to waste. Maybe Colin likes dessert, however. . .  

  6. # Blogger Leslie

    Had I known that it would have been so easy to show some patriotism as to eat something so delicious, I most definitely would have - Shrub be damned.  

  7. # Blogger Kristi

    Ramona-Thanks!

    Clare-I'm going to check out your answers.

    Marie-hee-hee. I wish!

    Cal-I know. I'm gifted that way.

    Karrie-It's really not that hard. Even you could do it. ;)

    Shannon-It's honestly not that hard, because if it was, I probably wouldn't do it! And every kitty has a sweet tooth.

    L-Well, I'm certainly not what you'd call a patriotic kind of gal in the "Guns, God, and Country" kind of way, but my Navy Captain aunt really liked it.  

  8. # Anonymous Anonymous
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