Bake with Cheery Cherries – Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry Pie Filling Review & Giveaway

Yesterday, I uttered words that I never thought I would say before, “Where is Lucky Leaf when you need it?” I was at the grocery store stocking up for the snowstorm of the year, planning on making a pie. Unfortunately, the local grocery store doesn’t carry Lucky Leaf and sadly didn’t have any strawberry pie filling. What will it take to bring Lucky Leaf to my Safeway? Fortunately, I had a back-up dessert plan – a wonderful Sweetheart Cherry Cake made with Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry Pie Filling.

I was first introduced to Lucky Leaf Pie Filling a few months ago when they gave me the opportunity to try out the Premium Apple and Strawberry Pie Fillings. Yesterday, I was able to taste and bake with Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry Pie Filling when I baked the delicious and easy-to-make Sweetheart Cherry Cake.

I’ll start off by mentioning that I’m not the hugest cherry fan. Sure, I’ll eat a cherry Lifesaver here and there, but a real cherry? I’ll pass. I think I had a traumatic experience with a sour cherry as a child. So Lucky Leaf had a little bit of a challenge with me – 1) Get me to eat a cherry and 2) Get me to like eating a cherry.

Out of the can, the cherries actually looked quite good.

You can see that most of the cherries are whole and that there is a good fruit to syrup ratio, meaning the cherries aren’t dripping in the syrup. When I tasted the syrup, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the taste. It wasn’t too sour but also wasn’t so sweet to make them taste artificial. Also, I found that the cherry flavor of the syrup wasn’t too overwhelming. I thought it had more of a hint of sweet cherries than in in-your-face flavor.

To bake the cake, we first added half of the can and blended it into the cake mixture, mushing up the cherries and ensuring that every bite of cake would have cherry in it, then folding in the second half of the can which provided the whole cherry pieces.

Once the cake was baked and the slice was cut, that was where the true test would be for me. The cake itself had only a mild cherry flavor and the real “pow” came when you ate the pieces of whole cherry, which gave you a mild tartness. The texture was very nice – slightly thicker than a normal cake but still very moist. (Pause while I go grab another bite of cake.) The buttercream icing really complements the cherry flavor very well, adding an extra sweetness with a hint of almond (from the almond extract I added.) Ultimately, I enjoyed the cake – cherries and all!

I think Lucky Leaf was able to overcome my cherry-obstacles. This cake succeeded in getting me to eat cherries as well as to enjoy them! I don’t know that I’ll be sitting around eating cherries for fun, but I’d definitely have another slice of this Lucky Leaf cake.

For more information about Lucky Leaf, to find additional recipes, or to download a coupon to save $1.00 on any 2 Lucky Leaf Pie Fillings, please visit www.luckyleaf.com.

Lucky Leaf is also hosting a recipe contest! Held in partnership with Better Homes and Gardens, the Lucky Leaf Blue Ribbon Recipe Challenge winner will receive $1000 and over $50 in Lucky Leaf Products! To enter, simply submit your original recipe that uses at least one full can of Lucky Leaf Pie filling. Visit their recipe contest page to learn more details and to enter the recipe contest.

If you would like to bake up your own Lucky Leaf Sweetheart Cherry Cake, then you can enter to win the WCatDD Lucky Leaf Sweetheart Cherry Cake Giveaway! (Giveaway info is after the recipe.

Sweetheart Cherry Cake
Ingredients:
1 (18.25 oz.) dry white cake mix (or your favorite flavor)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract (optional)
1 (21 oz.) can LUCKY LEAF PREMIUM CHERRY PIE FILLING

Buttercream Icing Ingredients:
1 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract (optional)
4 c. (1lb.) confectioners sugar, sifted
2-4 Tbsp. milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325° F.
2. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch.
3. Mix together on medium speed; dry cake mix, eggs, baking powder, both extracts and ½ can of LUCKY LEAF Premium Cherry Pie Filling until moistened.
4. Fold in the remaining ½ can of cherry pie filling by hand until blended. Batter should appear thick.
5. Pour batter into pan and level with a spatula. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Remove cake from oven, and allow to cool completely in the pan before icing.

Icing Directions:
1. Cream together butter and both extracts.
2. Slowly add sifted confectioners sugar, beating well.
3. Add 2 Tbsp. milk. Mix well. If needed, continue adding milk 1 Tbsp. at a time, until icing is smooth and spreadable.

Recipe courtesy of Lucky Leaf – www.luckyleaf.com.

What’s Cooking at DD Lucky Leaf Sweetheart Cherry Cake Giveaway!

The Prize:

10 winners will receive a Wilton Excelle Elite 9-Inch Heart Baking Pan and a copy of the Sweetheart Cherry Cake recipe.

To Enter:

Make sure you follow the directions carefully. All giveaway entries should use the ENTRY FORM. You only need to fill out the ENTRY FORM once, unless you decide to additional earn extra entries at a later time. You can earn up to 15 entries into the WCatDD Lucky Leaf Sweetheart Cherry Cake Giveaway by doing one, some or all of the following:

Ways to Earn Entries:

Make sure you use this ENTRY FORM for your extra entries to count!

1. THIS ENTRY IS REQUIRED FOR ALL OTHER ENTRIES TO BE VALID (+1): Visit www.luckyleaf.com and tell me which recipe you’d like to try to make.
2. Follow Lucky Leaf on Facebookk (+1)
3. Post this giveaway on your blog (+3)
4. Tweet about this giveaway using the “retweet” link at the top of this post or by tweeting “I want to bake a cake with love and cherries from the @WCatDD Lucky Leaf Sweetheart Cherry Cake Giveaway! http://bit.ly/aYhvCQ” (+1)
5. Subscribe to WCatDD (+1)
6. Follow WCatDD on Twitter (+1)
7. Fan our WCatDD Facebook Page (+1)
8. Follow us on Google Friend Connect (+1)
9. Follow us using Network Blogs (+1)
10. Add the WCatDD button to Your Site (+2)
11. ONE TIME BONUS: Vote for us for the Web’s Top Giveaway Blogs (+2). After voting, don’t forget to comment on this post as well for your chance to win $100 if we win!

The Rules:

Ten winners will be selected at random for this prize.

Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM EST, February 12, 2010.

Visit our Giveaway Rules page for general giveaway rules that also apply to this giveaway.

Disclaimer: This post consists of my (and/or fellow tester) opinions only. Your experiences may be different. No compensation was given for this review/giveaway. I did receive free Lucky Leaf Pie Filling and a baking tin from the manufacturer or their representing PR agency to use and test for the purposes of this review. This did not affect the outcome of this review.