Our classic cherry dump cake recipe starts with two cans of purchased pie filling and one box of vanilla cake mix. You'll need just one more ingredient to assemble this easy dessert recipe. The beauty of a dump cake recipe is that no one will guess just how easy it was to make. The results are similar to a fruit crumble but with a tender, buttery topper.
For this dump cake recipe, you'll want to use canned cherry pie filling rather than just canned cherries. Cherry pie filling is often made with tart or sour cherries, sugar, corn syrup, and a thickener. It's all ready to add to your baking dish and you won't need any other ingredients to make the dump cake filling—unless you'd like to add flavor with an extract. We used almond extract when our Test Kitchen developed the recipe but you could swap in vanilla extract, cake batter extract, or even coconut extract.
When baked, the cake mix topper on this dump cake recipe doesn't rise or get fluffy like a traditional boxed cake. Instead, it becomes crisp and buttery. Our tasters compared it to shortbread. It's the perfect texture and flavor complement to the sweet, juicy cherries. Don't stress if there are a few spots of cake mix powder on the baked cake, the liquid from the cherries will absorb it. To help prevent this, be sure to evenly space the sliced butter on the top of the cake.
Ingredients
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2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling
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1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract (optional)
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1 package (2-layer-size) yellow cake mix
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3/4 cup butter, sliced into 24 pats
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Vanilla ice cream (optional)
Directions
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Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour the cherry pie filling into a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Stir in the extract (if using) and spread evenly in the dish.
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Evenly sprinkle the cake mix over the cherries. Arrange pats of cold butter evenly over the cake mix.
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Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the dump cake is golden brown and bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature. If desired, serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Test Kitchen Tip: Cherry dump cake is best served the day its made but you can refrigerate leftovers for 3-4 days. Wrap the cherry dump cake with plastic wrap and store in an airtight container.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
| 379 | Calories |
| 13g | Fat |
| 64g | Carbs |
| 2g | Protein |
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings Per Recipe 12 | |
| Calories 379.1 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 13.1g | 17% |
| Saturated Fat 8g | 40% |
| Cholesterol 30.5mg | 10% |
| Sodium 427mg | 19% |
| Total Carbohydrate 63.6g | 23% |
| Dietary Fiber 1.1g | 4% |
| Total Sugars 18.9g | |
| Protein 2.1g | 4% |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Vitamin C 3.6mg | 4% |
| Calcium 106.5mg | 8% |
| Iron 1.1mg | 6% |
| Potassium 128.1mg | 3% |
| Fatty acids, total trans 0.6g | |
| Vitamin D 0IU | |
| Alanine 0.1g | |
| Arginine 0.1g | |
| Ash 2.1g | |
| Aspartic acid 0.3g | |
| Caffeine 0mg | |
| Carotene, alpha 0mcg | |
| Choline, total 4.8mg | |
| Copper, Cu 0.1mg | |
| Cystine 0g | |
| Energy 1585.3kJ | |
| Fluoride, F 0.4mcg | |
| Folate, total 34.1mcg | |
| Glutamic acid 0.6g | |
| Glycine 0.1g | |
| Histidine 0.1g | |
| Isoleucine 0.1g | |
| Leucine 0.2g | |
| Lysine 0.1g | |
| Methionine 0g | |
| Magnesium, Mg 11.6mg | |
| Manganese, Mn 0.1mg | |
| Niacin 1.2mg | |
| Phosphorus, P 153.7mg | |
| Pantothenic acid 0.2mg | |
| Phenylalanine 0.1g | |
| Proline 0.2g | |
| Retinol 95.2mcg | |
| Selenium, Se 1.8mcg | |
| Serine 0.1g | |
| Theobromine 0mg | |
| Threonine 0.1g | |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 0.7mg | |
| Tryptophan 0g | |
| Tyrosine 0.1g | |
| Valine 0.1g | |
| Vitamin A, IU 558.4IU | |
| Vitamin A, RAE 107mcg | |
| Vitamin B-12 0.1mcg | |
| Vitamin B-6 0.1mg | |
| Vitamin K (phylloquinone) 2.3mcg | |
| Water 76.1g | |
| Zinc, Zn 0.2mg | |
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.