Better than sex cake is a cake baked using yellow cake mix, with a juicy pineapple center, covered with layers of vanilla pudding and sweetened whipped cream, and sprinkled with coconut flakes.[1][2][3] A variant using chocolate cake mix, caramel topping, and crumbled toffee is known by similar names such as better than Robert Redford cake.[4][5][6]
The cake's moist center is typically created by inserting a fork into the cake several times and filling the holes with a mixture containing sugar and pineapple in its juice. It is traditionally baked using a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and then refrigerated and eaten cold.[1][7] The cake was featured by Paula Deen on her series Paula's Home Cooking.[8][9][10]
The cake's popularity was spreading in the west coast of Florida and in Charlotte, North Carolina when it came to the attention of the 1981 St. Louis annual convention of the Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Association.[1][2][11] It was published as a pair of cake recipes, with the other one from Indianapolis called "next best thing to Robert Redford" cake and featuring layers of chocolate pudding and whipped cream, with grated chocolate candy bar sprinkled on top.[1]
By 1990, several versions existed.[12] The basic recipe for the cake has been altered depending on the tastes of the person making the cake and alternates include chocolate, banana, or candy flavors.[13][14] A 1998 Kansas variant used chocolate cake mix, sweetened condensed milk, caramel ice cream topping, and crumbled toffee.[4] The less-explicit "better than Robert Redford" name came to be applied to both variants.[15][5][6]
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