This 3-Ingredient Apple Dump Cake Might Be the Easiest Dessert You’ll Make All Year


Something magical happens when cake mix, pie filling, and butter come together in a 9×13-inch pan. We know, we know—it sounds too good to be true. Logically, a dessert made with three shortcut ingredients shouldn’t be this delicious. But Apple Dump Cake defies logic. One Allrecipes Allstar, lutzflcat, called the three-ingredient treat “the single easiest dessert recipe with excellent results” she’s ever made (and we think that’s pretty high praise coming from a home cook that’s reviewed nearly 4,000 recipes).

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How to Make Apple Dump Cake

Simply pour two cans of apple pie filling into your trusty 9×13-inch baking dish, then sprinkle a package of your favorite yellow cake mix over the filling in an even layer. Top the whole thing off with melted butter, then bake in a preheated oven until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. 

Tips and Tweaks

  • This formula (a package of cake mix, two cans of pie filling, and a stick of butter) is endlessly customizable and almost impossible to mess up. Reviewers have had success with all kinds of combos: chocolate cake mix with cherry filling, yellow cake mix with blueberry filling, white cake mix with peach filling, and more.  
  • For a more autumnal twist, opt for a spice cake mix instead of a package of yellow cake mix.
  • “I’ve found that when serving, it’s easier to use a large serving spoon to dollop out a spoonful rather than try and cut it like a cake since pie filling is not a solid base,” says recipe creator Marya Marta Krause. 

Dotdash Meredith Food Studios


Praise From the Allrecipes Community

  • “Delicious! I sprinkled chopped pecans in with the cake mix and also drizzled caramel over it after baking was completed. Served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and BAM! A really easy dessert that was a crowd-pleaser.” —Dawn
  • “Call it cake, call it cobbler, call it a crisp, but just call it good! This may be the single easiest dessert recipe with excellent results that I’ve ever made. I scaled the recipe in half, weighing the Aldi yellow cake mix, so I have half left to make another with maybe cherry flavor. No complaints here, a quick-and-easy dessert that we enjoyed.” —lutzflcat
  • “This recipe is BEYOND easy and really delicious! I’ve made several varieties: apple with both yellow and spice cake mix, blueberry with both yellow and lemon cake mix (I added lemon zest for a great lemony POP!), cherry with lemon, yellow, and chocolate cake mix (Black Forest, anyone??)…the variations are ENDLESS!! Even better, this is a great recipe for young bakers to start their baking skills, just because it’s SO EASY!!” —SDOUGLAS

Get the recipe: Apple Dump Cake


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