Pudding cake doesn’t take a Rescue Ranger

Pudding cake is one of my all-time favorite desserts. It
contains only two ingredients ““ graham crackers and chocolate
pudding. The alternating starchy and creamy layers soak into each
other, making a striped, wiggly confection that’s cold and
delicious.

So when you’ve had an overwhelming week and you’re
tired and hungry and then, in an uncharacteristically sweet move,
your roommate asks if there’s anything he can make for you,
request pudding cake.

Direct your roommate to empty a five-ounce packet of powdered
chocolate pudding mix into a medium pot, add three cups of 2
percent milk and stir until mostly blended.

Tell him to place the pot over medium heat. Instruct him to stir
quickly and continuously until the pudding thickens and begins to
boil, making sure to keep scraping the bottom so that it
doesn’t burn.

Your roommate is awfully quiet. He’s stirring away like a
pro and hasn’t broken anything. Ask him if something is
wrong.

“Just thinking about whether it would be cooler to be Chip
or Dale from the brilliant ’80s cartoon program “˜Rescue
Rangers.'”

“Excuse me, what?”

“I know it seems obvious,” he continues, gesturing
with the stirring spoon. “You’re thinking Dale, because
of the awesome Hawaiian shirt and chill attitude.”

Notice that he’s dripping pudding all over the floor.

“But I’m also way into solving mysteries, right?
Since I’m so hyper-observant. Dale’s a total slacker.
Maybe I’m more like Chip.”

Pondering, he scratches his head with the same hand that’s
holding the spoon. Chocolate softly drops into his hair.

“Then again, Dale’s like Magnum, PI, who is my
ultimate hero. … What’s that smell?"

“It’s burning. Stir! Stir!”

But it’s too late. Normally when the pudding starts
bubbling, you’d notice and turn the heat off immediately.
Because he took a long break from mixing, though, a thick, inedible
layer has congealed at the bottom of the pot.

Reassure your roommate that even though pudding cake tastes
better when made with cooked pudding, instant pudding works nicely,
too. He can start over easily: All he has to do is stir it up
according to the directions on the box; no risk of burning
involved.

While he makes the new batch of pudding, line the bottom of an
8-inch square baking dish with graham crackers. Whole ones
won’t cover the entire surface, so shatter some and fill the
empty spaces with a mosaic of cracker chunks.

“Chip dresses like Indiana Jones. Is he also afraid of
snakes?” your roommate asks.

“Maybe,” you allow. “Do snakes eat chipmunks?
Because in that case, definitely.”

“But Thomas Magnum fears nothing!” he exclaims,
flailing his spoon in the air, splattering pudding everywhere.
“Dale, then. Definitely Dale. Oh, and the pudding’s
ready.”

Pour a third of the pudding into the dish and smooth it down
with a spoon. Cover with another layer of graham crackers. Keep
alternating until you run out of pudding ““ there should be
three layers.

“Do you think we should get a snake for the
apartment?” wonders your roommate. “Because that could
be cool.”

“Maybe we should just watch cartoons instead,” you
reply.

Refrigerate the pudding cake for at least four hours. Cut into
squares and eat with whipped cream.

Raab would much rather read a letter from you than work on
her essays. E-mail her at lraab@media.ucla.edu.

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