This 3-ingredient fruit dessert is a vintage classic with a layer of canned pie filling and a biscuit topping made with cake mix and butter. It's one of the most popular recipes on this blog and has gone viral several times! It freezes well, and I give you two options for making the topping. I use the classic cherry and vanilla, but you can mix and match different fillings with cake flavors.
Effortless dessert
Dump cake recipes are a family favorite around here and a growing category on this blog, and with good reason: it's a very easy dessert that only needs a few pantry ingredients.
Also known as a cobbler with cake mix or cobbler dump cake, they're like a sweet casserole dish. From an apple dump cake with caramel to a juicy and unique blackberry dump cake (our latest addition), they are perfect desserts for potlucks and barbecues.
Why are they called dump cakes? Because that's exactly what you do. You dump canned fruit filling into a baking dish, sprinkle it with a box of cake mix, then add slices of cold butter or drizzle melted butter evenly over the top. No mixing, no fuss.
Easy dump cake recipes using cake mix became popular with busy home cooks decades ago: simple ingredients, minimal effort, and a vintage dessert everyone's happy to eat, especially warm with a scoop of ice cream!
- Sherry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is absolutely wonderful, one of the best things I have eaten in a long time. Remind me so much of my time spent with my grandmother in the kitchen.
- Carol ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Made this for a neighborhood potluck! It was a HIT!
- Heather ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Little time to make, and oh so delicious!!
Testing Notes
Cake mix distribution: Sprinkle the boxed mix evenly over the fruit so it absorbs juices in all areas. Clumps of dry cake mix are usually from uneven coverage.
Butter coverage is key, and melted butter gives the most even distribution. Pour it slowly and evenly over the surface. A few small dry spots are fine. Large dry patches are not. If needed, drizzle a little extra butter halfway through baking. This is important; you don't want to bite into dry cake mix!
Make sure the topping is fully baked. It may be golden brown and the juices bubbling, but lift some of the dough here and there to check that it's not still wet inside.
Keep leftovers in the refrigerator. You can freeze them for a month, sometimes more. Let it thaw at room temperature and warm it slightly in the oven before eating.
Make-ahead. You can make it up to several days before and have it covered in the fridge. Or freeze it for several weeks. Let it thaw at room temperature and warm it slightly in the oven before eating.
Ingredients
Quantities are listed in the recipe card toward the end of this post. The ingredients page has more details and lists the brands I use.
- Dry cake mix: the type you find in the supermarket or grocery store, whatever brand you want. I use yellow cake mix or White cake mix for this recipe.
- Unsalted butter.
- Pie filling: I'm using canned cherry filling, but a dump cake works with ANY flavor of purchased filling.
Variations & substitutions
- Extra fruit: Enhance the purchased cherry pie filling by adding extra halved fresh cherries. This goes for other flavors, like strawberry and other berries.
- Black Forest: a classic flavor combination also known as chocolate cherry dump cake. Use a chocolate cake mix and serve it with whipped cream.
- Citrus: choose a lemon cake mix for a refreshing twist. It goes well with cherries.
- Nuts: add crunch by incorporating chopped nuts into the topping. Pecans, walnuts, or almonds work well. Sprinkle them over the cake batter halfway through baking so they don't brown too much. They will provide a texture contrast and an extra layer of flavor to your dessert.
- Fall flavors: Cinnamon and almond go very well with cherries, so if you can find a cake mix with either of those flavors, use it. A spice cake mix can also work. Or add some ground cinnamon and pure almond extract to the filling.
How to make a dump cake
Butter for the topping: there are two classic ways of using it, melted or sliced and cold. Both variations are explained below. But I also sometimes stir the melted butter into the cake mix (check out the berry dump cake recipe). It creates a crunchier topping and it's also an option.
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. So choose a nice one you like to showcase on the table. Here are some options for family-style baking dishes.
Filling
The cans of pie filling are dumped into a baking dish. You can enhance it by adding more fresh fruit on top.
Dry mix
It's important to even it out, but don't stir it or mix it with the fruit filling!
Butter topping 1
Adding cold, thin butter slices on top of the cake mix is a traditional way (the other is melted butter, below). The cake mix has to be pretty evened out, so the butter covers the dry mix as much as possible when it melts.
Butter topping 2
Drizzle melted butter over the smoothed top, covering as much as possible. It will probably have a few dry patches before going into the oven.
Baking dump cakes
This is like a sweet casserole dish; you should treat it as one. The top will bake to a golden brown, and the filling will bubble.
When is it done?
The topping can dry and look done before the interior is fully baked. It may be golden brown and the juices bubbling, but lift some of the dough here and there to check that it's not still wet inside.
More popular dump cakes
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3-Ingredient Dump Cake (Cobbler with Cake Mix)
Ingredients
- 42 ounces pie filling, 2 cans, 21-ounces each; I used cherry
- 15.25 ounces yellow cake mix, 1 box; white cake mix also works
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
- Dump 42 ounces pie filling (2 cans) into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly.
- Sprinkle 15.25 ounces yellow cake mix over the cherry layer, making sure it covers the cherries completely. Don't stir or mix it with the fruit!
- Option 1: Cut 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) into very thin slices and place evenly over the cake mix layer. It should cover almost all of the surface.
- Option 2: Drizzle melted butter lowly and evenly over the surface. A few small dry spots are fine. Large dry patches are not. If needed, drizzle a little extra butter halfway through baking if you see dry spots. This is important; you don't want to bite into dry cake mix!
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling around the edges. Make sure the topping is fully baked. It may be golden brown and the juices bubbling, but lift some of the dough here and there to check that it's not still wet inside.
- Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Store leftovers covered or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days or frozen for a month. Warm slightly before eating.
D Carroll says
Easy and delicious
Shona says
Easy and delicious
Anna says
What temperature????
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Anna, bake it at 350°F. It's all in the recipe card.
Meg says
It was very simple to make and so delicious! I melted the butter and used chopped pecans for the topping.
Jackie Loper says
I used cherries pie filling and peach pie filling it was awesome
Heather says
Little time to make and oh so delicious!!
Carol says
Made this for a neighborhood potluck! It was a HIT!
Sherry says
This is absolutely wonderful one of the best things I have eaten in a long time. Remind me so much of my time spent with my grandmother in the kitchen I had to try the one thing that she always made, and that was a peach cobbler. this was every bit as good as what she would have made
lea says
I used pineapple from a tin and fresh strawberries. really nice with bit of icecream.
Laure says
So goood !
Molly says
Could you use a box of sugar free cake mix ?
Paula Montenegro says
I never heard of it Molly, so can't talk from experience. But there's no reason why you couldn't. Sugar cookie would be denser I'm guessing than cake mix. There are keto and sugar free cake mixes on Amazon from what I checked, and I think they would be fine also. A different flavor and slight change in texture probably.
Tee says
First tried this almost 40 yrs. ago for my first Tupperware party. I had NO idea I'd be making it in every fruit version possible this many years later and people would STILL be loving it! It is THEE easiest, most flavorful and best thing ever, especially for a cook (not a baker) to have handy for company, picnics, potlucks, and just to "have around" in case someone pops in and you feel the "urge to perform" and do the "Mrs. Cleaver" thing, which btw, I am *so not!
But ladies, or gents, this is a total crowd pleaser!
Thanks so much for sharing the easiest and best tasting thing!
Debbie Ennis says
I love making dump cakes, they taste sooooooo good
Kelle Markey says
Very easy to make and delicious
Karen says
Easy and delicious!!
Karen R Pryor says
Is the butter amount correct, please? When I mixed it with the cake mix as you suggested might be done to eliminate dry patches, the mixture is wet not crumbly. It's baking now, so I suppose I'll see.
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Karen, a wetter topping will make it crisper. How did it turn out?
Coralie says
Awsome
Karen says
I love dump cakes! Cheap and easy to make. Try cherry with the Pillsbury almond cream cake mix and slivered almonds and blueberry with lemon cake mix! So yummy.
Joan-n-TN says
I have made this dump cake several times. It was always requested by a nephew at any of the family get togethers. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is my recommendation as this cake is quite rich!
Nancy aka Nana says
This recipe was given to me at a bridal shower...."bring the bride your favorite recipe". It said use any flavor pie filling or pineapple in heavy syrup. Easy for a new bride, busy wife and mother...or to please grandkids.
Claudette Hann says
Hi, I only have 1can of cherry pie filling, can I use frozen cherries?
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Claudette, yes you can. Use them to make a quick cherry filling and mix it with the canned one.
Also, you can halve the recipe and use a smaller baking dish. Happy baking!