Shredded Chicken & A new cake

So I got a burst of energy and decide to spend it in the kitchen. I love shredded chicken barbecue sandwiches. I also love coconut cake and I love Dolly Parton. No, she wasn't coming to dinner but I was going to bake a cake from one of her recipes using the new Duncan Hines cake mix she has partnered with them on. First I gathered all the ingredients for all of it. 

Chicken takes the longest so I did that first. This recipe will make enough to feed a family of 4-6 with some left over. Put 3 boneless, skinless chicken chicken breasts in a pan and cover them about 1" over the top with water.

Next add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water.

Start at medium high heat with no lid. Once it comes to a boil, immediatley turn temperature down to a low simmer. Cover, but leave the lid cracked a little for steam. Once you cover it and reduce the hit, cook for exactly 60 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, prepare the barbecue sauce. You will need the following:

1 Bottle of Heinz Chili sauce

1 and 1/2 bottles of water (measured with the chili sauce bottle)

1 small onion diced or chopped 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons Worchestershire

5 tablespoons ketchup

1 stick Parkay margarine

1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir good then bring to a boil over medium heats. Boil for about a minute then turn heat off and set to the side.

Once chicken is done, you need to shred it as soon as you take it out of the water so it stays moist. (Pour the water out of the pan, wipe it out and set to the side. (This way you will have the pan to put the pulled chicken back into). You can shred with a couple of forks or you can use a mixer. I do a piece at a time so it has room to "tear" the chicken apart with the beaters. Either way you do it, just make sure it is all shredded good so you don't have big chunks in your barbecue.

Put the shredded chicken back in the large pan and pour the barbecue sauce back over the chicken and mix it until all meat is covered with sauce. Put on stove over low heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.

I like mine for sandwiches on hamburger buns. My husband would put cole slaw on his. My daughter makes it and some of her family eats it as a sandwich; but some eat it over nachos and some on a baked potato. 

While the chicken was cooking, I decided to make the cake. It's not a normal Duncan Hines cake. The added ingredients were different then any cake I ever made, but I followed the directions exactly so I could "rate" the cake when I was done. As you can see, it turned out good. But I was a little concerned because most of my Duncan Hines cakes raise up some above the pan which makes for super moist delicous cakes.

Then I followed their directions and spread the Dolly Parton buttercream frosting. They make a regular Duncan Hines buttercream frosting. But I used the Dolly one. The ingredients were just about the same, but I did notice this is not as creamy or easy to spread as their normal buttercream. But I plunged ahead and spread the coconut on the top in a thin layer like it recommended.  It turned out so pretty.

I cut a piece and look how beautiful. I still didn't think it looked as fluffy as their normal white cake mix.

I fixed me a couple of barbecue sandwiches and cut a piece of cake to have for supper.

Since I make this barbecue all the time, I knew it would be delicious and I was right. Now let's talk about Dolly Parton's coconut cake. All I can say is I am a big Dolly fan and love her music. After eating her cake, my advice is for Dolly to stick to music. It wasn't just "not very good". It was horrible. The icing was so thick and bland that I think wallpaper paste would have tasted better. I was right, the ingredients made a big difference. It was not a normal Duncan Hines cake. It was not moist at all, rather on the dry side. The cake had no flavor. None. So I ended up with a dry cake, with no flavor and heavy instead of fluffy. I tried to be fair and give it several taste tests. But after three bites, I was done. It was horrible. I went on Facebook and posted my opinion. A friend of mine is a die hard Dolly fan. 100% loves anything and everything she does. So he made the banana cake she came out with. He had the same reaction. It was so bad he couldn't eat it. 

So there you have a shredded barbecue chicken recipe you MUST add to your cookbook and a coconut cake recipe that you would be best to avoid.