In 2022 the sugary high cholesterol collab of our dreams dropped when the Duncan Hines corporation and beloved Country & Western diva and bouffant wig enthusiast Dolly Parton joined forces for a limited-edition “Southern Style” range of cake mixes and frostings. And the kitschy retro pastel Barbie-like packaging was pure pop art!
So, imagine how crushed I was when I couldn’t find any of these cake mixes at my local grocery stores in London. And I quickly discovered they were also seemingly impossible to order online outside of America. I sent a message to Duncan Hines via their Twitter account querying this, and a representative explained the licensing agreement exclusively covers the US, meaning no one outside of the country can buy Parton’s cake mixes. It was seemingly never meant to be …
... until my sassy Ohio-residing British ex-pat friend Louise (“Weezie) came to the rescue! She sent me two packages of Parton’s banana-flavoured cake mixes and two tubs of her buttercream frosting as a Christmas gift. (I don’t even want to think how much the postage must have cost her). I was going to hang onto them for special occasions (plus I’m trying to shift some post-Christmas – hell, post-Covid lockdown – blubber). And then there were the legal concerns. Am I breaking the law? It felt illicit! This cake mix is not licensed for use in the UK! But I cracked and - donning my frilly pinafore - whipped-up one of the mixes yesterday.
My verdict? Even
though the box screamed “DO NOT EAT RAW BATTER” in bold and upper case, I sampled
some of the batter and it gave instant promising hits of banana milkshake. My
layers came out a bit asymmetrical and wonky, but the finished cake is sublime.
It’s ultra-sweet and packed with that synthetic banana flavour which is
Proustian for those of us who came of age in the seventies before people
worried about E-numbers in food. Goddess Dolly never steers you wrong! In conclusion,
to paraphrase Homer Simpson: “Mmmm – fattening!” Now I’m determined to get my
hands on the coconut-flavoured version!
Sputter... sputter... LIMITED EDITION!!! Oh My Stars! Why didn't I get wind of this? I love fake banana everything... the weirder, the better and when you add in the Dolly angle... oh, damn. Missed out on this completely, did I. Heading to ebay. Maybe someone is selling an expired box or two. SO VERY JELL. Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteActually, do some Googling! I may be misleading re: "limited edition." I think there was a "Dolly Parton Baking Kit" available via the Duncan Hines site which was ultra limited edition. But the cake mixes / frostings should be more widely available (albeit in US only!).
Delete"My weaknesses have always been food and men - in that order." - Dolly Parton
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like "instant diabetes" to me đ” Jx