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!
