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Pig Pickin’ Cake

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Thankful for every year

Last month was my Mom’s birthday. She was so excited because this was a big birthday for her. Not in terms of how much older she was getting but in terms of living past an important number in her family. Both of my Momma’s parents died before their 60th birthdays. So it was a huge milestone for my Mom to make it to 60 years old. It is an age that she is very proud of and happy to reach.
Pig Pickin Cake, also known as Mandarin Orange Cake
You gotta be thankful for each year that the Good Lord gives you, right? I do my best not to moan each passing year. Yes, every year, my Mom and I have more lines on our faces and gray hairs on our head. But we also have another year together and to be thankful.

Pea Pickin’? Pig Pickin’? Finger Licking’?

For her birthday, my Mom wanted a dessert she had not had since childhood, Pea Pickin’ Cake (or Pig Pickin’ Cake.) Her mother used to make it, but sadly she did not have her Momma’s recipe. So, my Mom and I were determined to get this just like she remembered.

Pea Pickin Cake recipe (boxed cake mix, mandarin oranges and pineapple cool whip)

Mandarin Oranges and Pineapple

This really is an amazing cake for the summer. The flavors are bright and fresh and the whipped cream topping gives it a light taste. It needs to be stored in the fridge because of the whipped topping, which makes it even more delightful after coming in from a hot day!
Pig Pickin Cake recipe from The Country Cook (also known as Mandarin Orange Cake or Pea Pickin Cake) Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick margarine (softened)
1 can (14 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained, 1/2 cup juice reserved
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
1 (4 oz.) box vanilla instant pudding mix
1 can (20 oz. can) crushed pineapple, juice reserved
½ cup powdered sugar
4 oz. whipped topping (COOL WHIP) (half a regular tub)
extra mandarin orange slices, for garnish
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.For the cake, combine cake mix, margarine, 1/2 cup juice from the mandarin oranges, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for four minutes on medium-high.

Add drained oranges and beat again until pieces are broken up and small. Pour batter into greased and floured 9 x 13 inch baking pan or 2-8 inch round pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes for 9X13 pan or 17-21 minutes for 8 inch pans. Basically you want the cake to be lightly golden brown and set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

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Once cake is cool, blend juice from drained pineapples with the vanilla pudding mix. Add powdered sugar and mix, then mix in whipped topping. Stir in drained pineapple. Spread on cooled cake (or layers if making a round cake) and refrigerate several hours.

slice, Pig Pickin Mandarin Orange Cake

Enjoy!

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5 from 15 votes
Pea Pickin Cake
Print
Pig Pickin' Cake
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
50 mins
 
Pig Pickin Cake is an easy cake that starts with a boxed cake mix, mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple. It's sunshine in a cake!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Pig Picking Cake
Servings: 12
Calories: 295 kcal
Author: Brandie @ The Country Cook
Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup) softened
  • 1 14 oz can mandarin oranges drained, 1/2 cup juice reserved
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • For the topping:
  • 1 4 oz box vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 1 20 oz can crushed pineapple juice reserved
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 4 ounces Cool Whip half a regular tub
  • extra mandarin orange slices for garnish
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

  2. For the cake, combine cake mix, butter, 1/2 cup juice from the mandarin oranges, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for 3-4 minutes on medium-high.

  3. Add drained oranges and stir until combined.

  4. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

  5. Remove from oven and cool completely.
  6. Once cake is cool, blend juice from drained pineapples with the vanilla pudding mix.

  7. Stir in powdered sugar. Then mix in whipped topping.

  8. Finally, stir in drained pineapple.

  9. Spread frosting on cooled cake. Optional: Top with slices of mandarin oranges.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Keep cake refrigerated

Nutrition Facts
Pig Pickin' Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 295 Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 5%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 56mg 19%
Sodium 402mg 17%
Potassium 164mg 5%
Total Carbohydrates 63g 21%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 42g
Protein 4g 8%
Vitamin A 6.9%
Vitamin C 16.1%
Calcium 12.9%
Iron 7.4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Comments

    • Looks and sounds delicious. I am going to make this cake this week for my Granddaughter Vanessa who is returning after a five month stay in Spain. Hope she likes it.

      PS, I hope your MOM has a wonderful birthday and many many more to come.

      Reply

    • I have been making this cake for years. It is my daughters favoriate cake and I bake it every year for her birthday.
      The family loves it and there is never any left.

      Reply

  2. I've heard such fabulous things about this cake…it may be on my menu this weekend…as, shocking as this may seem, we're running low on dessert!!! Happy birthday to your sweet mom, Brandie…and thanks again for allowing me to share one of my recipes with all your friends and fans. It was great fun (and you have the NICEST followers…truly :)). xoxo

    Reply

  3. Happy birthday to your mom, great story. This cake looks very fluffy and tasty. Since it has so many names-it must be delicious. The idea of individual servings makes this recipe even better. Thanks for sharing

    Reply

  8. You gals are just the sweetest folks in the world. Thank you for the birthday wishes for my Momma. She reads this blog (she better!) so I know she is loving all your well-wishes!
    Tonya – you crack me up!
    Siggy, love that idea!!!

    Reply

  9. Dear Rae, what a great story and recipe. Thanks for sharing it. I look forward to making it for my family/friends.

    Reply

  11. Brandi, This is such a great post and I enjoyed reading it so much. This cake looks wonderful and I hope your Mom has a wonderful birthday. I can tell by your post how close you and your Mom are and I love that about you. My girls and I have so much fun together, too. Have a great weekend and thanks for sharing your Mom and your recipe with us today.

    Reply

  12. Im going to attempt this for dessert tonight sounds very refreshing…..Happiest of Birthdays to your Mom may all her Birthday Wishes come true this year!!!

    Reply

  13. Happy Birthday to your mom. My mama's birthday was yesterday. This is the second birthday since her passing and I sure miss her! She would have been 69. Cancer took her home too early. Anyway, don't mean to be a party pooper! Glad you still have your mom and glad y'all got to celebrate together! 🙂

    Reply

  14. We call it Mandarin Orange Cake and no matter what it's called… it is GOOOOOD! Even for breakfast!!!!! Well, I wouldn't know, I'm just speculating. lol 🙂

    Reply

  15. Ok fine! I know it's good for breakfast from experience. Confession is good for the soul, right? Oranges are healthy, and cool whip is like having milk and butter is a good fat….oh never mind.

    Reply

  17. Happy Birthday Brandi's Mom! 🙂

    This cake sounds really good! Thanks so much for sharing it!

    Reply

  19. I have definitely been living under a rock since I never heard about this cake :((
    Sounds so great for summer, with those mandarins.

    Happy birthday to your mother Brandie and thanks for sharing this amazing cake 🙂

    Reply

  20. Happy Birthday to your mom! Enjoy! Cake looks amazing. Yummy! I'll have to try this. Thanks.

    Reply

  21. Oh my gosh, I just found your blog through a linky party. Every single recipe on your side bar is mouthwatering! I LOVE this cake – except I call it "Pig Pickin Cake". I have only ever done it as a sheet cake. I love the idea of making it a layer cake. I will have to try that next. I am a new follower – I LOVE your blog. Check out mine if you're interested. http://eatcakefordinner.blogspot.com

    Reply

  23. Happy Birthday to your Moma. Nice to make a easy cake and be enjoyable. Sounds wonderful. Have a great week Andi

    Reply

  24. Happy B-day to your mom..your cake look amazing..and I love all the names..I cant say that I ever heard of it but I have to try..looks like my kind of cake..

    Reply

  30. I hope Mom had a wonderful and blessed birthday. How about I tell you when my birthday is and you make this cake for me. I can't imagine that I could do it any better.

    Reply

  31. This is an absolutely fabulous cake recipe! My mom made this every year for my birthday. I missed it this year since we couldn't be together. I guess I'm going to have to make it myself. Hope your mom had a fantastic birthday! Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

    Reply

  32. This cake is so good and perfect for summertime!! I've tried it at a locally favorite bakery and loved it. I'm so glad that you shared the recipe with me now so that I can make it! 🙂 Thanks!

    Reply

  33. A happy belated birthday to your mother…I, too, have seen this cake called by all the different names you mentioned. The recipe was posted in my local newspaper several years ago. According to the article, TV journalist, Connie Chung, went to Atlanta, GA to interview the parents of Newt Gingrich. Newt's father made this cake and served it to Connie Chung. I have made this cake so many times and it is always well loved by everyone that eats it. I make it for one of my stepsons every time he visits. He could eat the whole cake by himself if I'd let him. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I'll have to try your version with the powdered sugar added… 🙂

    Reply

  34. Finally, finally, FINALLY got a chance to make this cake and OMG…it is DELICIOUS!!! I especially love the icing with its little chunks of pineapple. I made the 2-layer version and garnished around the edge with mandarin oranges which made it seem extra special to the kids.

    Reply

  35. My family loves this cake! We are from southwest fl and this cake has been a staple at many a birthdays, family gatherings and on those just because days! My * year old loves it so much that since she's been in school that's what she has asked for on her birthdays for school. Needless to say all her classmates now ask for the pea cake.. We only have one difference in our recipe from yours and that is that we don't add powdered sugar to the frosting because it already a pretty sweet one on its own without..Love your blog! All your recipes remind me of my Gran!!!

    Reply

  36. I have to try this one. Sounds like the type of cake that southern women would have baked. I've got a really old recipe that my mother-in-law in South Carolina gave me that is fantastic and I hope I never lose that recipe because it will make a pineapple cake with seven minute sticky frosting or a pound cake.

    Reply

  37. Brandie, this cake is just like the one our favorite restaurant serves. Shonda, the lady that bakes the cake told me what was in it and then I found this recipe, which is exactly like it with the exception that she puts all of the juice from the mandarin oranges in the batter. I made it on Saturday and put the whole can in as well. My husband is a retired Marine and has a good appetite but I have to say that in the 34 yrs. that I have been married, this is without a doubt the best cake I have ever made. My husband just loved it and so did I. I gave my younger sister the recipe on Sunday when I went to her son's ceremony for obtaining Eagle Scout.

    I have also given your website to my daughter and my daughter-in-law. They will be making it as well.

    Thanks and I am thrilled to have found your blog.

    Reply

  38. Can't wait to make this.
    Whenever we would come to the USA from Salzburg, Austria, my Aunt Merlin would make this cake (Arkansas) just haven't been able to find recipie and it's escaped from my pea brain. Thanks for posting, I'm going to "pig out"

    Reply

  40. My mother had this recipe as Pig Pickin' cake. Her recipe did not include the powdered sugar and she would always poke holes in the cake with a toothpick and pour some of the pineapple juice over it. It's my favorite and she would make it for my birthday in July(perfect as you said for hot weather). She's been gone almost 6 years and I still can't make it to taste like hers.

    Reply

    • My mother did the exact same thing. She would drain the juice to use after the cake had baked, poking the holes into the cake afterwards and using the juice, before layering the frosting without powdered sugar. She also used wax paper under the cake mix so that the juice would remain underneath and seep back up into the cake.
      Best cake ever!

      Reply

  41. I've been excited ever since I found your site here recently. I was especially excited to see this recipe though…because I already had it. lol We call it Piggy Cake. Anyways, the reason i was so excited is because if I have at least ONE recipe that you already have, maybe one day I'll cook as good as you!

    Reply

  42. Have had this recipe for years but mine does not call for butter in the cake mix instead it calls for a butter cake mix, 4 eggs and a can of mandarin oranges, juice too. It turns out light and fluffy and sooooo GOOD. Everything else is the same.

    Reply

  43. I used to make this cake often. We called it pea picking cake since it was made during the summer and made a good dessert to have after picking peas on the farm. It is better if you put some nuts in the topping. I always used chopped pecans.

    Glad your mother was able to have this cake for her 60th birthday. What are you planning to make for her 70th?!

    Reply

  44. Never known anyone else to make pea picking' cake other than my own mom. So glad to have found your recipe and blog (thanks to pinterest!) and the chance to share the love. This is a MUST for every birthday and cookout!

    Reply

  45. My family as made this cake for years and we call it "Pig Pickin Cake" because you make a pig out of yourself eating it. We also make it with three layers, it seems to absorb the pineapple and cream taste even better.

    Reply

  46. I've always heard it called "Pig Pickin" cake too, because the ladies used to take them to the bbqs in the community. No matter what you call it, it really is good! 🙂

    Reply

  47. I have made this cake throughout the years for large groups and I have always used the yellow cake mix UNTIL last week. I substituted an orange cake mix and it is so much better! I will not go back to the yellow cake mix. It got rave reviews from my church group.

    Reply

  48. Can you put it in the freezer to help keep it cold for setting out for a few hours until after the meal? No way to refrigerate once we take it to the party.

    Reply

    • I’m thinking that the oranges weren’t beaten small enough. The weight from them weighed down the cake. I never added the powdered sugar because I thought it would be to sweet for us.
      Thank you for the recipe the cake is delicious.

      Reply

      • I I am so glad to see that someone else had their cake flatten. Mine actually shrunk from the sides of the pan also. I really think my oranges were beaten small enough. Any other ideas of what I did wrong? I used extra large eggs – could that have done it?

        Reply

  52. My recipe is different in that the icing is: crushed pineapple and the juice, a large instant vanilla pudding, mixed on mixer then fold in cool whip. Do try it. this way

    Reply

  53. I live at high altitude (7000 feet). I made this cake for years without any problems. However the last couple of years, it has fallen just at the end of baking. Has there maybe been a change to the boxed cake recipe? Does anyone have any tips to help me out? Otherwise, I LOVE the cake!

    Reply

  54. The cake turned out perfect. No issues what so ever. The frosting was a whole other situation. Nothing I did would firm it up. It was like soup. The instant pudding calls for 2 cups of liquid and this recipe only called for a quarter of the liquid so I don’t understand why it did what it did.

    Reply

  55. I make a cake very similar, except no powdered sugar in the topping. Topped mine with pecans and cherries. The recipe was given to me by a neighbor 30 yrs ago and is still a favorite. At a dessert auction fund raiser it sold for $70.

    Reply

  56. I just made this recipe and it’s to die for!!! I subbed the oranges for additional pineapple and added mini marshmallows and 1/2 cup shredded coconut. Such a great summer desert

    Reply

  58. I am green cooker and just want to make this recipe . the quesiton is which one I should use ? Hand mixer or hand blender?

    Reply

  61. I have an off-the-wall question. This recipe sounds divine, but would it be a good follow-up to a veggie lasagna dinner? I’m planning a menu for my Italian MILs visit in August.

    Reply

  62. I just made this last weekend for the fourth. Such a great summer dessert. The topping is so light and the cake is so fresh. The only thing I did different was not use the powered sugar in the frosting. So yummy! Thanks.

    Reply

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