Blackberry Dump Cake

Lightning storms on the north horizon. The fire watch is on. Three days of farrier work. Two ranches in the county. Eleven horses. The body is tired in the right way.

Patrick on the porch in the afternoon. Coffee in the good cup. The cottonwoods. Tuesday meeting in Roundup. Eight regulars. Three vets. I do not lead. I show up.

Campfire steak. Salt, pepper, fire. The whole point.

Cattle were good. Horses were good. The week was the week.

Took a walk to the river before supper Tuesday. The cottonwoods were silver. The water was running. I did not think much. I just walked.

The barn cats are doing their job. Down to one mouse this week, in the feed shed. The cats brought it to the porch as proof. They are professionals.

Mr. Whelan from down the road came over Saturday with a story about a horse he sold in 1979. The story took an hour. I listened. He needed someone to tell it to.

A reader emailed about the elk chili recipe. Asked what beer to use if non-alcoholic was not available. I wrote back: any beer is wrong if you don't drink. Use stock.

The Tuesday Roundup AA meeting was eleven this week — three new guys from a referral. The room was full. The coffee was strong.

Three days of horses this week. The work is meditative. The horses know. The owners pay. The cycle holds.

Drove to Billings for parts Friday. Stopped at the cemetery on the way home. Stood for ten minutes. Came home.

The wood pile is half what it was at Thanksgiving. I will split another cord on Saturday. The cord will be ready by next winter. The wood always is.

Listened to the cattle market report on AM radio while I worked the shop. Beef is up. Feed is up. The math is the math.

Truck started cold Tuesday. Twelve below. Battery is the original. I will replace it before next winter. I always say I will replace it before next winter. I never have.

Wrote a blog post Friday night. The first one in two months. About making chili in a snowstorm. Short. Practical. Posted it. Forgot about it.

Drove the back fence line Saturday. Two posts down from elk. Replaced them in the morning. The fence held the rest of the week.

Mended the chute hinge Wednesday. Welder was finicky. Got it on the third try. Patrick used to do this. I do it now.

The Musselshell was clear Sunday. Could see trout in the deeper pools. Did not fish. Just watched.

Hauled three bull calves to the auction yard Wednesday. Got a fair price. Came home. Counted the cash. Put it in the ranch account.

Hank, the dog, herded the chickens by accident. He apologized in the way dogs apologize — eyes down, tail low. The chickens were unimpressed.

A neighbor's heifer was choking on a corn cob. I drove over with my emergency kit. Cleared the cob with a length of garden hose. The heifer recovered. The neighbor brought a pie the next day.

Storm came through Friday night. Thunder. The dog hid under the bed. The kids slept through it. The cattle bunched up by the windbreak. Standard.

Worked on the truck Saturday afternoon. Plugs and wires. Two hours. Hands black with grease. Came in. Showered. Ate.

The week was the week — horses, fence posts, the auction yard, Mr. Whelan’s story, the cemetery on the way home from Billings. After all of it, I wanted something that asked nothing of me. The campfire steak handled supper. But when Patrick used to be here, there was always something sweet after a week like that. Blackberry dump cake is about as honest as dessert gets: you open the cans, you dump them, you walk away. The oven does the rest while you wash the grease off your hands.

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 cans (21 oz each) blackberry pie filling
1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, sliced thin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for serving (optional)

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Layer the filling. Pour both cans of blackberry pie filling into the baking dish and spread evenly across the bottom.
Add the cake mix. Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the blackberry layer. Do not stir. If using cinnamon, dust it over the top of the dry cake mix now.
Dot with butter. Lay the thin butter slices evenly across the top of the cake mix, covering as much surface as possible. The butter melts into the mix as it bakes — the more even the coverage, the better the crust.
Bake. Place uncovered in the oven and bake 40–45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling. The center should be set, not jiggly.
Rest and serve. Let the cake cool 10 minutes before scooping. Serve warm, straight from the pan, with ice cream or on its own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Blackberry Dump Cake — Simple Food for a Week That Asked Everything