Strawberry Disaster Cake

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (18 1/4 ounce) box strawberry cake mix
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced (optional)
• 5 (4 3/4 ounce) boxes strawberry-flavor danish dessert mix
• 10 cups cold water
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (optional)

Directions

1. 1

   Mix strawberries & sugar together & let stand for 15 minutes.

2. 2

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease & flour a 13"x9" glass baking dish.

3. 3

   Combine the strawberries & sugar mixture with the next six ingredients together in a large mixing bowl & beat with electric beater on medium-high speed for 3 minutes until well blended.

4. 4

   Pour into prepared pan & bake 60-65 minutes, then cool 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing completely from the baking pan. Cool COMPLETELY.

5. 5

   Break the cooled cake into good sized chunks [larger than bite-sized] & spread them out in a 15"x10" baking dish, making sure all the pieces are below the rim of the baking dish, but NOT FLAT ~ Lumpy is great!

6. 6

   If wanted, spread the optional 2 cups of sliced fresh strawberries over the top of the cake pieces.

7. 7

   In a large sauce pan mix the Danish Desert with the cold water. Bring it to a full boil & boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

8. 8

   If you opt to use the cream cheese, either mix it in with the Danish Desert hot pudding at this time, OR carefully pour the red pudding mixture into a large mixing bowl and just as carefully, using an electric mixer on low (or use a large whisk), mix the pudding & cream cheese together. [There will probably be small specks of cheese throughout the pudding mixture, & that's fine. Pour the pudding over the cake & strawberries, being careful to completely cover all of the cake and all of the strawberries [Although the chunks are covered, the result should be a lumpy, bumpy surface, not smooth!]. To avoid a top film on the pudding, cover the entire surface of the pudding with plastic wrap and let cake cool completely. Refrigerate.