This apple dump cake is incredibly delicious and very easy to make. This sweet and savory dessert is warm and comforting making it a perfect fall treat. Dump all ingredients on top of each other into the baking dish and bake until brown and bubbly.

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Apple dump cake recipe
Apple dump cake is a cozy fall treat. One got to love dump cake recipes as their easy to make and delicious. One can’t miss a chance to make an apple dump cake recipe. It’s seriously very easy to make. Simply dump all ingredients into a pan and bake. It resembles apple pie but is simpler to make.
Tart apples mixed with sugar and spices, simply dump all ingredients and baked to perfection. What you get is gooey and moist apples at the bottom which taste like apple pie filling and crispy buttery golden cake on top. These are truly irresistible!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need-
- 8 Granny smith apple, peeled cored and diced
- ½ cup white granular sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeeze (optional)
- 1 box yellow cake mix (about 1 ¾ cup)
- ¾ cup butter, cold cut into thin slices
- ¼ cup melted butter
- Granny smith apple – these are the best variety of apples to use. The tart taste of the apples balances the sweetness and tastes delicious!
- Sugar – I used a mix of both white and light brown sugar.
- Spices – apple pie spice and cinnamon powder add warm savory flavors to the cake.
- Lemon juice – optional. It helps diced apples from turning brown.
- Yellow cake mix – I used a yellow cake mix. There are other flavors of cake mix that will work in this recipe like spice cake mix, vanilla cake mix, and white cake mix. Chocolate cake mix won’t work here.
- Butter – use 1 cup of butter divided. Use ¼ cup melted butter and ¾ cup cold butter cut into thin slices.
Ingredients additions and substitution
Additions-
Add nuts as topping. Chopped pecans, and walnuts are best.
Drizzle caramel on top of the cake.
Substitutions-
Granny smith apples can be substituted with canned apple pie filling or you can use other varieties of fresh apples like gala, and honey crisp.
Substitute yellow cake mix with other cake mix varieties like spice cake mix, white cake mix, and vanilla cake mix. I won’t recommend a chocolate cake mix.
How to make apple dump cake
Making a cake does not get easier than this. Dump, bake and enjoy!
Start by peeling, core, and dice apples into smaller bits. If using canned apple pie filling, use apple pie filling directly.
Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to diced apple and toss. This step is optional. Lemon juice prevents the apple from turning brown.
Grease a baking pan with a generous amount of butter.
Add white sugar, light brown sugar, apple pie filling, and cinnamon powder to diced apple. Mix until the apple is coated in the mix.
Transfer spiced apple to baking pan. Spread apple evenly.
Sprinkle yellow cake mix evenly on top of the apple.
Arrange cold butter cubes/slices evenly on top of the cake mix and drizzle melted butter between cold butter cubes.
Bake the cake in preheated oven at 350F for 50 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Dump cakes are moist and gooey and it’s normal to see wet spots.
Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. BLISSFUL!
Tips to make best apple dump cake
- Fresh apples give the best texture and taste. Gala, honey crisp, and Granny smith apples are best. Highly recommend using fresh apples over canned apple pie filling.
- Be sure to sprinkle cake mix evenly on top.
- 9×13 inch baking dish works best for mentioned temperature and baking time. If you use a different-sized pan like an 11×7 inch pan, the baking time might vary. Also with a different pan, the cake will turn out too thick.
- Dump cakes are moist and gooey and it’s normal to see wet spots.
FAQS
Dump cake is one of the easiest desserts you can make and enjoy in the fall. The name says it all, dump ingredients all at once and bake. Fresh apples or canned apple pie filling is added to the baking pan, then topped with dry cake mix and butter on top.
The Apple dump cake recipe gives you a gooey and moist cake that is incredibly delicious. It’s a warm, cozy, and comforting treat, serving great with or without a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Both are most favorite fall dessert that is easy to make. Both have fruit (fresh, canned) as the main ingredient which is topped with some form of crumb.
Though both looks almost the same dump cake is made by sprinkling dry cake mix on top whereas cobbler has more crumb topping than dump cake and it has pie crust topping or biscuit topping on top.
Add nuts as topping. Chopped pecans and walnuts are best.
Drizzle caramel on top of the cake.
Any leftovers can be stored in:
Room temperature – You can store leftover apple dump cake in airtight containers and leave it on the counter for 1 to 2 days.
Refrigerator – place leftovers in a container with a tight lid and store in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
I won’t recommend storing the cake in the freezer. It will turn crumbly and alter the texture of the cake. Don’t freeze!
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📋 Apple Dump Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 Granny smith apples peeled cored, and diced
- ½ cup white granular sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice freshly squeeze (optional)
- 1 box yellow cake mix about 1 ¾ cup
- ¾ cup butter cold cut into thin slices
- ¼ cup melted butter
Instructions
- Start by peeling, core, and dicing apples into smaller bits. If using canned apple pie filling, use apple pie filling directly.
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to diced apple and toss. This step is optional. Lemon juice prevents apples from turning brown.
- Add white sugar, light brown sugar, apple pie filling, and cinnamon powder to diced apple. Mix until the apple is coated in the mix.
- Grease a baking pan with a generous amount of butter.
- Transfer spiced apple to baking pan. Spread apple evenly.
- Sprinkle yellow cake mix evenly on top of the apple.
- Arrange cold butter cubes/slices evenly on top of the cake mix and drizzle melted butter between cold butter cubes.
- Bake the cake in preheated oven at 350F for 50 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
- Dump cakes are moist and gooey and it’s normal to see wet spots.
- Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Notes
- Fresh apples give best texture and taste. Gala, honey crisp and Granny smith apples are best. Highly recommend using fresh apples over canned apple pie filling.
- Be sure to sprinkle cake mix evenly on top.
- 9×13 inch baking dish works best for mentioned temperature and baking time. If you use different sized pan like 11×7 inch pan, baking time might vary. Also with different pan, cake will turn out too thick.
- Dump cakes are moist and gooey and it’s normal to see wet spots.
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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Jyothi Rajesh is the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail. She lives in Bangalore, India and is the mom of two beautiful kids. Her passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. She’s been blogging since 2007 and many of her recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
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