13 Dump Cake Recipes for When You Need an Easy-to-Make Dessert (2024)

FAQs

What is the biggest mistake to avoid when making a dump cake? ›

Dump cake is a nearly foolproof dessert recipe but there's one big mistake to avoid. You don't need to stir dump cake. Doing so will impact the texture of the finished cake. Simply layer the ingredients into the pan as directed and bake.

Do you refrigerate dump cake? There's no dairy in this recipe, but we'd still recommend you refrigerate dump cake. It'll help it last longer in the fridge. Cover the dish in plastic wrap, and store it in the fridge 4 to 5 days.

For plated dessert size portions we recommend cutting the cake into slices of 1”x2”x6”. Couples tend to keep the cake flavour to one or two choices and serve the plated cake portion with a quenelle of fresh whipped cream or ice cream.

For some reason, nearly every dump cake recipe insists that the ingredients are not to be stirred. (In fact, most recipes add extra emphasis to this instruction by writing it in all-caps: DO NOT STIR!!!) The result of this laissez-faire approach is a half-baked cake.

Once baked, a dump cake comes out like a cross between fluffy cake and melty cobbler. Soft ooey-gooey bars come to mind, except more scoopable. Many people choose to use store-bought pie filling or canned fruit as the base, but you can really customize it to fit your taste.

Sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the fruit. Slice the butter into tablespoons and distribute evenly over the surface of the cake mix. Bake until the tops are brown and bubbly, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Serve with whipped cream.

For the uninitiated, a dump cake (also sometimes called a drop cake) is exactly what it sounds like: a cake that asks you to dump all of its ingredients into a vessel, give things a quick stir, and bake.

If you've baked your dump cake and there's still cake mix powder on the top, it's likely because the butter wasn't evenly distributed on top of the cake. When assembling your dump cake recipe, be sure to spread the cake mix in a thin even layer and space the pats of butter evenly across the top.

In general terms, a cobbler usually has a topping that has been mixed together in some way, like a biscuit topping or a batter topping. On the other hand, a dump cake is just that—ingredients are dumped on top of each other in the same dish that the dump cake is baked in.

Simple and elegant decorations often work best. You can use items like table runners, banners, balloons, or flowers. Make sure the decorations don't overcrowd the table. There should be enough space for the desserts to shine.

What makes a good dessert? ›

A dessert needs to have the same variety and balance of textures, flavors, temperatures, colors, shapes and heights as any other dish.

Balance is everything in life, and easier to attain in the kitchen than out of it: Sweet cake is made instantly more interesting, less unsubtle, with a dollop of crème fraîche to accompany it; smetana, whole milk Greek yogurt, and sour cream also work.

The sinking of your cake during cooling occurs due to various factors, such as excessive mixing of the batter, inadequate leavening agents, and oven temperature fluctuations. These issues can result in an uneven rise and subsequent collapse in the center of the cake as it cools down.

Besides the cringe-worthy name, most dump cakes are way too sweet and can be kind of a one-note experience. Using canned pie filling and cake mix also means loads of preservatives and who knows what else going into your cake. Also, sometimes when you just "dump" things into a pan, they don't always bake evenly.

This is because too much batter in one cake tin may result in the weight of the batter being too much for the cake to support, causing the cake to collapse and sink in the middle as it bakes. This is especially true for cake recipes which have a more softer, delicate structure to them, which many of my cake recipes do.