Cherry Dump Cake

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Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes | Serves: 10
My oldest child loves “Blueberry Dump Cake,” but who can blame him? Dump cakes are so easy and perfectly sweet. Served with ice cream, these “dump” cakes make an amazing and simple dessert. All the ingredients are fairly easy to find. It’s thrown together in a snap in a 9×13” pan, so it easily feeds 10 dinner guests or more. Or, I guess less if everyone is hungry and LOVES this dessert like we do at our house.

I figured if the blueberry filling was such a hit, cherry would be absolutely delicious, too. But, I wanted to use fresh cherries. Of course, you can use the can of cherry pie filling just as you would the blueberry pie filling.  But, I wanted these cherries to shine. I used frozen dark, sweet cherries (which is why the picture looks like blueberries instead of bright red cherries). Fresh cherries were not in season at the time, so I was very happy to use frozen. Lemon zest adds a freshness and slight tanginess against the sweet cherries which is just down-right delightful. Vanilla extract added a mellow sweetness that paired nicely to the cherries, too.

All these ingredients came together in a happy marriage of a fabulous dessert. The Cherry Dump Cake is delicious on its own, but a scoop of vanilla ice cream slowly melting alongside the cherry filling becomes this sauce-like, creamy, velvety, yummy contrast to the cherries. Just heavenly. Enjoy!

Fresh Cherry Dump Cake

Pantry To Table
Fresh dark, sweet cherries fill this "dump" style cake. Serve with vanilla ice cream to make the dessert complete!
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

  • 3 3/4 pound (60 ounces) frozen dark, sweet, pitted cherries, or fresh cherries
  • 1/2-1 cup sugar, depending how sweet you desire the filling
  • zest from one lemon
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in its own juice
  • 1 15.25-ounce box yellow cake mix, I prefer Duncan Hines
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, chopped and lightly toasted, see Notes

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13” dish.
  • In a medium skillet over medium heat, add the frozen cherries, lemon zest, vanilla, sugar, and water. Bring the cherries to a gentle boil, then turn the heat to low and allow the cherries to thaw, simmer, and cook down a little further, approximately 20 minutes.
  • Dump the contents of the crushed pineapple in the bottom of the greased pan. Spread evenly.
  • Evenly spread the warm cherry mixture over the pineapple.
  • Evenly sprinkle the entire bag of cake mix over the cherries.
  • Drizzle the melted butter as evenly as possible over the cake mix.
  • Sprinkle the nuts over top.
  • Bake, uncovered, in the oven for 1 hour. The sides should be bubbling and the top lightly browned.
  • Remove the dump cake from the oven and serve warm in bowls with vanilla ice cream.
  • Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Notes

As I said before, if you’d like to be able to “dump” a can of cherry pie filling, you’re welcome to. No need to cook on the stovetop or add the sugar. Yes, it’s more convenient and will still be yummy, too. If you would still like the addition of vanilla and lemon, place the pie filling, vanilla and lemon zest in a medium bowl, stir, then spread over the pineapple.
If you don’t like Macadamia nuts, you can use chopped or slivered almonds or chopped pecans.
You’ll want your cherry mixture to have some liquid, but not soupy, so that the cake mix absorbs some of the juicy liquid.
Nutrition Facts
Fresh Cherry Dump Cake
Amount per Serving
Calories
623.6
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
30.9
g
48
%
Cholesterol
 
36.4
mg
12
%
Sodium
 
319.2
mg
14
%
Carbohydrates
 
81
g
27
%
Fiber
 
6.3
g
26
%
Protein
 
5.4
g
11
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Keyword Dump cake, dark sweet cherries, cake mix
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