Few ingredients and minimal work make this cake a delicious dessert for any occasion. You can make it more or less from scratch (with only store-bought components for an easier recipe). The combination of flavors is wonderful and it can be ready in a little over an hour.
I was introduced to dump cakes a couple of years ago at a summer barbecue and I didn't make it for years. The idea of using boxed cake for some of us bakers is a strong no most of the time.
But I'm so glad I tried it. It's so easy, customizable, and a total crowd-pleaser!
The word cake is loosely used in this title. It's not what you envision when you think of one, it's more of a cobbler in its appearance (don't know what is a cobbler?), but since it uses the boxed stuff it's a little bit of both.
Ingredients
It's interesting that, if using canned filling, this is a 3 ingredients dessert.
- Cake mix: there are different types of chocolate boxed cakes mixes, and any one you like works well.
- Cherry filling: I make my own filling because I can't usually get the canned stuff. But if you use 2 cans this cake is a breeze; simply open the can and dump it.
Easy steps
Three steps is all you need to make this dump cake.
The filling
For this layer you can use store-bought cherry pie filling or mix a few ingredients in a bowl: pitted cherries, orange juice, and zest sugar, and cornstarch.
Cake mix layer
Put the cherry mixture in an oven dish and top with the cake mix, straight from the box.
Butter layer
The easiest way is to slice it into enough pieces to cover most of the cake mix. First, level the cake dry mix a bit so the butter is easier to add.
Frequently asked questions
The butter melts and the juice in the fruit is released during baking and moisten the dry cake mix.
You don't need to unless there are leftovers. A dump cake can be eaten almost straight from the oven.
In theory, you don't have to. BUT, I strongly recommend that you check at about 45 minutes and if there are spots that are very dry, you mix them a little with the juices from the bottom.
Other recipes you might like:
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Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Few ingredients and minimal work make this cake a delicious dessert for any occasion. You can make it more or less from scratch (with only store-bought components for an easier recipe).
Ingredients
For the cherry layer:
- 2 cans (21 ounces each) cherry pie filling
OR make it from scratch
- 2 pounds pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup (50g) sugar
- Zest of 1 orange
- ⅓ cup orange juice
For the cake layer:
- 3 cups (about ¾ of an 18 oz box) chocolate cake mix
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, cold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Have ready an 8x11 inch oven dish (ceramic or glass).
- If using store-bought cherry pie filling you only have to open the cans and dump them in the dish, spreading to cover the whole dish.
Filling from scratch:
- Mix cherries with sugar, orange zest, and cornstarch in a bowl.
- Add orange juice, mix and dump in the prepared dish.
To assemble:
- Add chocolate cake mix with a spoon, making sure it covers all the cherries.
- Smooth slightly but don't mix.
- Cut the butter into thin slices and top the cake. You should cover most of it so that when it melts all the cake mix is moistened.
- Bake for 45 minutes and check by lifting here and there the chocolate top and, if there are very dry spots, mix it a bit with the juices in the bottom. Otherwise, they might never moisten.
- Bake for 15 minutes more (1 hour in total) until the top is dry and the filling bubbles around the edges.
- Serve warm plain or with whipped cream.
Notes
Flavorings: you can use lemon instead of orange, and use other spices or extracts that you like with cherries.
Sweetness: the cake mix has sugar, but if you're into very sweet desserts, you can use up to ½ cup of sugar for the filling.
Keywords: chocolate cherry dump cake
This is such a FUN recipe and it looks incredibly rich and yummy with cherries.
I agree. Have a great beginning of year Angie!