Bomb Shelter Chocolate-Cherry Delight Cake

The other day we were talking about Disaster Drills we were subject to as children. When the alarm went off at school, we were instructed to get under our desks with our hands over our heads. Some schools had the children go into the halls, because there was more protection there. What a time. We were kids, and we believed it would help, but what were the adults thinking? I lived in the suburbs where houses came with a bit of land, and some of my classmates had bomb shelters built in their back yards. One of my favorite movies, Blast from the Past, parodies the situation. So for today's post, I thought I'd repost a recipe for Bomb Shelter Chocolate-Cherry Delight Cake which my friend BV Lawson found in Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads (University of Chicago Press).

Food for a Nuclear Winter:
"Not all the instant food being served up carried fancy French names. This “party-pretty dessert” could be made ahead (weeks probably) to save “hostessing time,” according to the Better Homes and Gardens Guide to Entertaining."

Bomb Shelter Chocolate-Cherry Delight Cake

Ingredients
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (20-ounce) can cherry pie filling, undrained
1 (3.9-ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 package dessert topping mix (or use Cool Whip), enough to make 2 cups whipped topping
Maraschino cherries for garnish

Directions
Prepare and bake two 8- or 9-inch layers from the cake mix according to the package directions; cool. Whirl the pie filling in a blender for a few seconds, just until the cherries are chopped. Stir the pudding mix and cocoa into the pie filling. Prepare the dessert topping according to the package directions; fold into the cherry mixture. Spread about 1/2 cup of the cherry mixture on the bottom cake layer; top with the second layer. Spread the rest of the cherry mixture on the top and sides of the cake. Garnish with maraschino cherries. Chill until serving time.