This easy dessert recipe has wonderful warm flavors: caramel, cinnamon and apples. Also called apple cobbler with cake mix, it's like a sweet casserole dish with a layer of apple pie filling and the easiest 2-ingredient topping. A delicious fall dessert everyone will rave about, guaranteed.
Quick Fall dessert
I don't know about you, but in this house, when apple season hits, the combination of apples and caramel is something we consider to be at the top of our list. Case in point: our mouth-watering bread pudding with caramel and apples.
The dessert I'm sharing today is an easy recipe to tackle those cravings and a great recipe we make often.
Dump cakes are one of the easiest desserts that consist of a layer of fruit pie filling and a topping made with boxed cake mix and butter. All pantry staples. And very, very delicious.
If canned pie filling is not easily available, we provide instructions to make an apple dump cake with fresh apples throughout this post. It's not as quick as opening a can but it only takes about 15 extra minutes.
- Make ahead: just like a cobbler or an apple crisp, you can make this dessert a few days ahead of when you're planning to serve it and keep it refrigerated. Or even frozen for a few weeks. Simply defrost and warm it in the oven before eating it.
- Perfect for a crowd: if you have guests or a large family, it's a very easy apple dessert to put together that can be easily doubled, and guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser.
Ingredient list
This caramel apple dump cake is all about simple ingredients, many of them pantry staples.
- Dry cake mix: or boxed cake mix, the type you find in the supermarket or grocery store, whatever brand you want.
- Unsalted butter.
- Apple pie filling: store-bought from a can, or homemade.
Or make it from scratch:
- Homemade apple pie filling:
Apples: the best for this dessert are granny smith apples because they are acidic and balance out the richness and sugar from the rest of the ingredients. But any fresh baking apples you regularly bake with, works.
Brown sugar: works very well with apples and adds to the caramel flavor. You can use white sugar if that's all you have.
Cornstarch.
Lemon juice.
Ground cinnamon.
Vanilla extract.
Quantities are listed in the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
How to make an apple dump cake
Cake mix topping
This is a super simple step, making a dump cake so convenient and easy to assemble.
Put the cake mix in a large bowl and add the melted butter.
Mix both ingredients until crumbly. It will have some floury spots.
Assembling a dump cake
Apple pie filling
- Canned: open the can and dump its contents on the baking dish. You can sprinkle it with additional cinnamon for a more robust flavor.
- Homemade: see steps below.
Spread over the apple pie filling layer, not covering it completely. You want to leave some spots uncovered for the juices to bubble and the topping to bake faster.
The baked dump cake is golden and bubbly. Let it cool down on a wire rack until warm enough to serve.
Vintage Kitchen Tip
Make sure the topping is fully baked. It might be golden and dry but still a little raw inside. So lift it carefully here and there and make sure it's not wet.
Apple filling from scratch
Thickness of the apple slices: making the apple filling lets you adjust the flavor and thickness. Apple wedges - slice them as thick or thin as you want, but consider that thicker wedges will keep their shape more, especially if you cook them first.
Should you cook the apples first? Use raw apples or lightly cook them first in butter and sugar. I like the second option because it adds lots of flavor as the apples caramelize a little.
Apple layer: the apples are dumped onto the baking dish, sprinkled with cinnamon, and drizzled with cornstarch, lemon juice, and water.
Family style desserts
Dump cakes are baked in ceramic or glass dishes and then taken to the table. They are not removed from the pan. Similar to fruit cobblers.
What type of dish to use
Choose a nice baking dish you like to showcase on the table.
For me, ceramic ones are the best. I use my favorite Emile Henry small ceramic rectangular dish or the medium Emile Henry ceramic dish whenever possible, but they can be pricey.
There are several others, from rectangular ceramic dishes, and porcelain bakeware sets, to glass baking dishes or round ceramic baking dishes, that work just fine.
Also, a cast-iron skillet fits this type of dessert if you like a Southern style.
The sauce
A drizzle of it rounds up this incredible dessert.
- Homemade caramel sauce: it's very easy to make at home. Or use a topping like Ghirardelli caramel-flavored sauce.
- Dulce de leche: if you never tried this delectable sweet jam, you certainly should! I use it regularly since it's our most popular spread here in Argentina. I use my dulce de leche recipe from scratch or this easy 1-ingredient dulce de leche, but you can easily buy it online. Links are in the Notes section of the recipe card below.
- How much should you add? Oh, as much as you want, probably! I drizzle about half a cup on top of the cake and then pass a small jar with more sauce so everyone can flood the bowl with as much caramel or dulce de leche as they want.
Kitchen notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
- Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Cake mixes: white and yellow cake are the most common flavors for topping an apple dump cake, but you can also use a spice cake mix or even a chocolate one if you're a little more adventurous (like with the chocolate apple crisp recipe).
- Butter: the original recipe calls for putting thin slices of butter on top of the cake mix. After several tries, I find that melted butter is the best option to fully moisten the cake mix resulting in a doughy and crumbly topping. If you want to go the original way, there are images in the chocolate cherry dump cake post.
- Store-bought filling: this is the original idea, dumping a can of apple pie filling on a baking dish, so take advantage of this alternative if you love a favorite one. It is, after all, an easy apple dump cake recipe.
- Flavorings: we use a mix of ground cinnamon and vanilla extract, but feel free to use apple pie spice mix. Also, a lemon or orange zest grating in the filling will add an extra citrus tone if that's your thing.
- Serving it: we are partial to eating it warm with a scoop of ice cream (or whipped cream) and a heavy dose of caramel sauce or dulce de leche. But you can eat it at room temperature or warm with only the sauce on top.
Related recipes you might like:
One last thing
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Apple Dump Cake (with caramel sauce)
Ingredients
- 2 cups white cake mix, about half an 18oz box
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 large can apple pie filling, 21 oz can
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
If making a homemade apple filling:
- 4 pounds Granny Smith apples, about 10 medium
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons white sugar, or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 cup caramel sauce , homemade caramel or dulce de leche, for serving
Instructions
- Have ready a rectangular 11x7-inch ovenproof dish in which you will serve the pudding. I like ceramic dishes, but glass ones also work. Remember, this delicious apple dessert will be served directly from the baking dish, so choose one you like to put on the table.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Open the can and dump the apple pie filling into the prepared dish. Sprinkle with the extra cinnamon if using.
For the topping:
- Mix the cake mix with the melted butter until you have a crumbly mixture.
- Top the apples with this, spreading it out slightly. It will not cover the filling completely and will be very rustic-looking, which is fine. Don't stir and mix it with the apples; simply smooth it out.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden and dry on top and the filling bubbles around the edges, making sure the filling is fully baked inside. Check by lifting the topping here and there. Bake it longer, if necessary.
- Serve warm, drizzled with caramel sauce or dulce de leche or with whipped cream/scoop of ice cream in addition to the sauce.
- Refrigerate leftovers covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container.
If making homemade apple filling:
- Peel, core, and cut the apples into wedges.
- Choose one of the two options below:Raw apples: mix the wedges in a bowl with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Heavily butter the dish (use the amount in the ingredients) and arrange the apples.Partially cooked apples: melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples and sprinkle sugar on top. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula and cook for about 3 minutes, until they begin to brown and caramelize here and there. Do not let them turn too dark or too soft. Remove from heat, add the cinnamon and lemon juice, and arrange them in the prepared dish.
- Mix cornstarch with the water in a small bowl until no lumps remain, and pour over the apples (for both options). It will not cover them completely, at all. You can mix everything lightly before adding the topping.
Lynne says
I would love to make this but I don't see the oven temperature to bake it? Thanks.
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Lynne, it's 350°F. Happy baking!
Paula Montenegro says
I hope you do Maca, it's so easy to put together and so delicious!
John / Kitchen Riffs says
Love apple season -- they're so good in desserts (savory dishes too, but they really shine in desserts). Fantastic looking cake. Thanks!
angiesrecipes says
This looks like a streusel cake, but better because of extra caramel sauce 🙂