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If you’ve got five minutes and a can opener, you’ve got time for this cherry dump cake. It’s the kind of easy dessert that always gets polished off—juicy cherry filling, a golden, buttery topping, and a texture that’s just right. The secret? A small tweak that fixes the one thing most dump cake recipes get wrong.
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Cherry Dump Cake Ingredients
You Will Need
- 2 x 21 oz cans cherry pie filling
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 x 15.25 oz box yellow cake mix
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup whole milk
Ingredient Substitutions
CAKE MIX: Try to stick with a yellow or white cake mix rather than a chocolate cake mix for this recipe. Try our chocolate cherry dump cake recipe, if you’d like that flavor profile. Our cherry pineapple dump cake recipe is another great ingredient swap.
Full and complete recipe at the end of the post in the recipe card!
Get The Best Results
Most dump cakes don’t fail because of what’s in them—they fail because no one bothers to fix the obvious flaws. This version? It’s easy. AND it’s reliable. You get soft cherries, a golden buttery topping, and not a single dry bite of cake mix. It’s a one-dish wonder that actually delivers.
Here are the differences:
You whisk the melted butter with milk before pouring.
Most recipes call for drizzling butter over the dry cake mix. That never fully coats it. Some spots get soaked, others stay raw. Whisking with milk turns it into a pourable, even coating that actually reaches everything.
A splash of vanilla.
You won’t notice it until it’s missing—but once you taste that slight upgrade from canned cherry to “this kind of tastes like pie filling from scratch,” you’ll never skip it again.
Cooking Tips
❎ Don’t stir the layers. It’s a dump cake. Stirring will give you a gummy center instead of that layered scoop-and-serve effect.
✅ Watch the top: Dump cakes don’t bake like sheet cakes. If it looks golden and crisp and the edges are bubbling, it’s done—even if it hasn’t hit the 50-minute mark yet.
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Serving Suggestions
Serve with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. You could also serve it with fresh whipped cream or Cool Whip if you would prefer.
Storage Instructions For Dump Cakes
Cover and store at room temp for up to two days, or refrigerate for up to five days. Reheat in the microwave, or in the oven if you want to bring back the crisp top.
More Dump Cake Recipes
- Lemon Dump Cake – Sweet, tangy lemon filling with a buttery cake topping.
- Peach Dump Cake – Juicy peaches baked under golden cake crust.
- Apple Dump Cake – Warm spiced apples with crisp cake mix topping
- Pecan Dump Cake – Rich, buttery cake with delicious pecan bottom.
Cherry Dump Cake
Ingredients
- 42 ounces cherry pie filling (two 21-ounce cans)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 15.25 ounces box yellow cake mix
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup whole milk
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
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In a medium bowl, mix both cans of cherry pie filling together with the vanilla and pour into the baking dish. Use a spatula to make sure the entire dish is covered in an even layer.
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Pour the dry yellow cake mix evenly over the top of the cherries.
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In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter and milk.
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Slowly pour the butter and milk mixture over the top of the entire dry cake mix layer making sure there are no large pockets of dry cake mix showing. If there are, take a spoon and gently push the dry mix under the butter mixture. Do not stir the layers together.
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Spread the almonds over the top.
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Bake for 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
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Serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping.
Video
Notes
- To make in an 8×8 pan instead, simply halve the recipe!
- Sometimes a pit sneaks into your canned cherry filling. I suggest taking a quick glance when pouring your cherries out to be sure there isn’t a pit inside.
- Because dump cakes are so gooey and moist, it can be hard to determine if they’re done. It’s normal to see some wet spots and some spots that are more crisp and done. The fruit mixture should be bubbly around the edges of the pan when it’s finished baking.
Nutrition
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