Robert Redford

Ok, this post is not really about Robert Redford, it's about Robert Redford cake. That's right, cake.

I did see Robert Redford on TV the other night, on The Actor's Studio. I hate that show. It's super pretentious and nowadays the celebrities on the show don't have any talent half the time, or they are just boring, flavorless people. They used to film that show at the New School, where I got my MA, in the same auditorium I had my graduation ceremony. Crazy, huh.

Anyhoo,(yes, I will be discussing cake, never fear), I guess Robert Redford really wanted to be an artist and ended up in New York broke and on a lark went to acting school. The rest is history.

So I have this recipe for a cake named after Robert Redford. The recipe's been floating around the planet for a while now, and is so popular, two versions have evolved. In fact, the second cake is called "The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford Cake."

I first had the cake in 1993 while on Thanksgiving Break in Sterling, Colorado. I was spending the weekend with the guy I was dating, on his family's farm. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience, if not dreary. We broke up a couple weeks later. What I remember most about the weekend is the cake. His mother, a roly-poly farmer's wife, made it as part as the Thanksgivings Day feast. She told me it was called Robert Redford cake. However, when I wanted to replicate it several years later, I learned from the Internet that her cake was actually the "Next Best Thing to Robert Redford" cake and that the real Robert Redford cake (equally if not more delicious) was something else. Both cakes are decadent, gooey, over-the-top, but mind-blowingly tasty. Robert Redford cake is very chocolatey.

Robert Redford Cake

1 package german chocolate cake mix
(or devil's food, etc...)
14 oz can of condensed milk
1 jar of carmel butterscotch topping
3 Heath Bars (or comparable brand)
8-12 ozs Cool Whip

Bake cake in a 9x13 pan. After baking but when cake is still warm, poke several holes in the top with the handle end of a wooden spoon (around 8-12 holes). Let the cake cool. Mix together condensed milk and caramel topping then pour the mixture over the top, letting it soak into the holes. Spread cool whip over cake and top with chopped up heath bars.


Next Best Thing to Robert Redford Cake

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 cup finely chopped pecans
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
3 3/4 oz package instant pistachio pudding
3 3/4 oz package instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk

Mix together the flour, butter and pecans and press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown. Let cool. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and half the Cool Whip. Pour on top of the butter/pecan mix in pan. Mix together pudding mix, milk and rest of Cool Whip. Spread over cake as the top and final layer. Refrigerate for a while then eat!