Cherry Dump Cake (+Video)
This easy Cherry Dump Cake dessert is made with cake mix, cherry pie filling, butter and a secret ingredient. “Dump” and bake!
CAKE MIX, PIE FILLING AND BUTTER
When it comes to fruit desserts, one of my easy favorites is the humble dump cake. It really has a terrible name but the idea behind it is you “dump” everything in and bake it. The bonus of this cherry dump cake dessert is you can any pie filling flavor you love! I’ve tried nearly all of them and they all work great.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’S)
Yes! This can be done in the crock pot as well. Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
I happen to really love cherry. It not only has a perfect sweet/tart combination but it just looks pretty! I love the bright red color and is nice to make around the holidays. But you can absolutely switch the cherry out for any flavor: peach, strawberry, blueberry, apple and on and on. Whatever you love!
Some folks add more tartness to this by adding pineapple. You could certainly do that but I find that I like it best as straight-up cherry with a little almond extract added. That’s my little twist in this recipe. Almond flavor and cherries go together perfectly.
For added crunch, try sprinkling some sliced almonds or chopped pecans on top or under the cake mix before baking.
Absolutely! You could use a chocolate cake mix along with the cherries for a “Black Forrest” style dump. cake. You could do vanilla and blueberry pie filling together to make a Blueberry Dump Cake. Or try my Apple Dump Cake or Pumpkin Dump Cake versions! version! So many combinations with this recipe!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- yellow cake mix – you can also use French Vanilla cake mix. This recipe works even though cake mix sizes are changing. Some are 13 ounces, some are 15 ounces, etc. It works with both.
- cherry pie filling – I personally love the one that has extra cherries but you can use any brand you like. As you see below, I think the store brand is just fine.
- almond extract – as I stated already, this is optional but almond goes so well with cherry and I think it keeps it from tasting like you just used cake mix.
- salted butter – it has to be butter, not margarine.
HOW TO MAKE CHERRY DUMP CAKE:
Preheat oven to 350f degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Stir 1/2 tsp almond extract into each can of pie filling and stir.
Pour both cans of cherry pie filling into prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle yellow cake mix evenly over cherry pie filling.
Slowly pour melted butter all over the top of the cake mix. Note: you could also slice the butter up into a bunch of squares and then evenly place them all over the top of the cake mix rather than melting the butter and pouring on top.
Do your best to drizzle it all over. It won’t cover all the cake mix.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes (until topping is golden brown.)
Serve warm! A scoop of ice cream on top is always nice too!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Cherry Dump Cake (+Video)
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon almond extract (divided use – optional)
- 2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick), melted (see notes below)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Stir in half of the 1 teaspoon almond extract into each of the 2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling and stir. (So half a teaspoon of almond extract into each can)
- Pour both cans of cherry pie filling into prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle 1 box yellow cake mix evenly over cherry pie filling.
- Slowly pour 1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick), melted all over the top of the cake mix. Note: you could also slice the butter up into a bunch of squares and then evenly place them all over the top of the cake mix rather than melting the butter and pouring on top.
- Bake for about 50-60 minutes (until topping is golden brown)
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
- This can be done in the crock pot as well. Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
- Some folks add more tartness to this by adding pineapple. I think it personally makes it too tart but do what you like!
- For added crunch, try sprinkling some sliced almonds on top of the cake mix before baking.
- Instead of melting the butter you can cut it up into a bunch of squares and evenly place it on top of the cake mix layer.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I have made this with one can of cherry and one can of crushed pineapple and sprinkle chopped walnuts on top. It was a hit at the family gathering..
I had a large can of peaches and added a small box of Vanilla instant pudding to the peach juice. mixed this with the peaches in a pan and then add white cake mix and a stick of butter in the crock pot. It was to die for!!!! very very good.
I wish you would put SERVINGS PER recipe.
I am a diabete & want to make sure SERVINGS PER recipe are correct. It just helps me.
I USED vanilla extract,as I had no almond extract in the house. After the butter, I used drained pineapple chunks & sprinkled w/5 spices mix (cinnamon, anise, dextrose, ginger, and cloves)
Really delicious cake.
Is it better baked or in crockpot?
yep mom used to add coconut and pecans to the top. She started out using fruit cocktail then changed to cherry pie filling and crushed pineapples but I have tried them all. As someone said you can’t mess up a dump cake lol. Merry Christmas y’all!
I put chopped pecans on top of mine..
I add roasted pecans on top too. .also. I also use blueberries instead of cherries.
It was great. Everyone loved it!
I am going to try this for the forth of July. I am going to make with cherry and white cake kitchen top before serving with a scoop of ice cream and blueberries.
I prefer making it with white cake mix and gave done so for almost 50 years now!
Made this for my family with a big scoop of French vanilla ice cream to top it off and they absolutely loved it. Also followed the same steps using canned peaches in juice (all I had in my pantry but it’s probably better if you have the canned peaches in syrup), added some brown sugar to the canned peaches to thicken it up and then a little almond extract and it was delicious! .. thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
That sounds delicious!
Does this need to be refrigerated or can it be left on the counter?
This is the most versatile cake recipe, cherry with chocolate or fudge cake is good, and apple pie filling with spice cake is really good, I sometimes sprinkle nuts over the pie filling before putting on the dry cake mix. No matter what you do it would be hard to ruin this recipe.
Have been making for years. Also good with spice cake and apple mix
I am using strawberry rhubarb pie filling. I love using almond extract, however I’m afraid it won’t work with the strawberry rhubarb filling. Thoughts?
Hi Maureen! I would skip the almond extract for that particular pie filling flavor. I think it’ll be great 🙂
Can you use vanilla extract instead ?
Yes you can. You can also skip the extract all together 🙂
What can you add to make topping a little thicker. Can you make this I’m a smaller dish or pan??
Hi Judy – you could but you’ll probably need to adjust the cooking time. 🙂
Yes it can be made smaller. It was just me and my mom, a widow showed me how to make this for us. It is 1 can pie filling (cherry, blueberry is also good) 1 Jiffy Cake Mix, 1/2 stick butter (we did not add extract, I think the Almond would be good). I searched this hoping to make my own cake mix since I didn’t have a cake mix in the house. I will make the smaller one and try adding a 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, since my baby is off to college.
Yummy, cherry dump cake is my favorite! I make it with pineapple too, and add coconut and pecans on top of the butter. it is so rich and delicious!
My mother always added pineapple and coconut and pecans on top. I would not change a thing.
Thank you
I am assuming that the Almond extract is optional?
When using fresh peaches do you use van or almond ext and what do you do for peach juice.
My husband loves to make this on campouts in a dutch oven. I have all of the ingredients to make one tonight and I think I will! Might add some sliced almonds and I think some Blue Bell ice cream…yum! Thanks for the reminder – yours looks really good!
I love cherries! Looks so yummy!
Made this today and added a little brown sugar on top with the sliced almonds. It was ao good.
Can I use one can cherries and one can pineapple?
We make our with crushed pineapple, we drain the pineapple juice into a saucepan, add the stick of butter and then over medium heat, heat until the butter is melted. We spread the pineapple between the pie filling and the dry cake mix. Then spoon the juice/butter evenly over the cake mix. Seems to be more moist that way.
I am going to try this, adding the juice to the batter. Sounds really good!
Hope you love it!
Sounds like a good idea! I’ll also use some brown sugar and crushed almonds on top.
Sounds delicious! I have made this with Apple pie filling. Its so good! I like the idea of melting the butter in the pineapple juice.. I’m making it today for a family get together. Thanks for the tip????
I’ve made it with other Fruit pie filling i learned how to make Dump cake when i was in the 7th grade in Jr.High school in 1977. Been eating making them ever since.
That sounds like an awesome way to make sure everything is moist! I have my future in laws coming and I wanted to make something sweet to go with fresh vanilla ice cream from a farmers market. I’ve never made this before so wish me luck!
I have also made this with chocolate cake, to make a black forest dump cake. YUMMY
That's a great idea!
I was just thinking that myself! Add some whipped cream and it’s done!
I add pecans and after it has cooled, drizzle with thinned buttercream frosting.