The Easy Layered Cake That Uses 3 Store-Bought Ingredients And Tastes 'Heavenly'

Imagine a delicious, flavorful cake that doesn't require making a huge mess in the kitchen. That's the idea behind the Heaven On Earth Cake, a dish made of several store-bought ingredients that combine to make one "heavenly" whole. For the convenience items, you'll need angel food cake, canned cherry pie filling, and vanilla pudding. For raw materials, you'll also need to grab some sour cream and whipped topping (Cool Whip being the obvious choice). Layered like a trifle, velvety angel food cake squares get coated in fruity and tart cherry pie filling and a sweet vanilla pudding made extra creamy by the sour cream. It's enough to make the mouth water. Then, you'll take that lush concoction and top it off with fluffy whipped topping for the perfect finish.

Once you gather up all of your ingredients, grab your favorite 9x9 dish. You'll want to dice your angel food cake into bite-size pieces and toss half of them into the bottom of the dish as the first cake layer. The next layer is your bright cherry pie filling. Evenly spoon the fruity goodness over the bite-size cake before placing the rest of the cake over the cherries. That third layer (arguably the most delicious part) is a rich, thick vanilla pudding and sour cream mixture, which gets even more decadent when you place the whipped topping over it as a sort of cloud-like frosting. In no time, you'll have a fresh, light, and tangy cake that tastes just like "heaven on earth."

The fun thing about this dessert recipe is that, while it's yummy as is, it's also easily customizable. For example, take inspiration from a light and airy Chantilly cake with berries and swap the cherry filling for a berry-based one like strawberry or blueberry. The zesty, somewhat tart pops of berry flavor completely change the flavor profile, yet still work with the vanilla-sour cream pudding and cake. Peach pie filling is another delectable fruit choice that gives reminiscent notes of juicy peaches and cream shortcake.

You can also play with the cake. Try using chopped pieces of chocolate cake instead of angel food to make your own creative venture inspired by the flavors of black forest cake or bars. The classic combo of rich cocoa and sweet, plump, almond-noted cherries works beautifully here. Another yummy, tart idea is to look for lemon pound cake and use that as your base layer. Then, take inspiration from this raspberry lemon macaron cake by alternating the layers with lemon pudding and raspberry pie filling or preserves for the ultimate fruity experience. 

Other ideas include changing the type of pudding. The options are limitless. Find cheesecake-flavored pudding mix for a cherry cheesecake-inspired layer cake, or get butterscotch pudding paired with apple pie filling for a spiced toffee-noted spin. Even white chocolate pudding would pair well with practically any fruit (though raspberry sounds particularly delicious with the marshmallow-like flavor of the white chocolate).