Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart - Whoopie Pie Recipe

Nothing brings on Spring like flowers.  I love pansies.  They get a bad rap with that name! They are not delicate. They are the toughest bloomers I've ever met.   Pansies last through a harsh winter, hunkering down under the snow, and pop their beautiful petals until the Summer sun beats them down.  And they are edible unlike the shamrocks I put on my husband's birthday whoopie pies.  Happy to report that he is still kickin.    

This recipe is from my Grandma Helen Bessie Cecil who is like the pansy, beautiful and resilient.   It's called Pea PIckin' Cake.  Pea pickin' is a term from a country song by Tennessee Ernie Ford. It is a term of endearment because we grow peas in the South and pick them, shell them, and eat them off the vine, so thus, "bless your pea-pickin' little ol' heart."  There are not any peas in the recipe.  That would be gross.  Bless you.

Pea PIckin' Whoopie Pies

1 box butter cake mix
1 can 15 oz mandarin oranges-  drained
4 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil

Beat ingredients and pour into whoopie pans.  Or bake in 3 x 8" cake pans for cake.
Cook at 350 degrees: 15 minutes for the whoopies.  Cook 25 minutes for cake. 
Toothpick should come out clean.  Cake is super moist.  Cool thoroughly before frosting.

Frosting
8 oz cool whip (or whipped cream)
Large can crushed pineapple - drained
1 small instant vanilla pudding
Beat ingredients.  Spread on the love between layers.

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectionery sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2 drops yellow food coloring
Adjust glaze with confectioners sugar to get a consistency that will "set up."
Top with flowers.  Pansies were purchased at Whole Foods.

Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart!