Apple Dump Cake - Super Easy Favourite

Name: Apple Dump Cake Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1.2kg/2.6lbs tinned pie apples; 90g/3oz caster or superfine sugar (omit if pie apples are sweetened); 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (omit if pie apples are already spiced); 350g/12.3oz vanilla box cake mix sachet; 180g/6oz melted butter; 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (optional); 50g/1.7oz chopped pecans (optional)

This apple dump cake is one of those recipes that sounds far too easy to actually work, but somehow it does! Just layer apples, cake mix and melted butter, then bake until golden and bubbling. It tastes like a cross between apple cobbler and apple cake and takes just 5 minutes to prepare. I'll also show you how to make it with fresh apples or homemade cake mix, plus a few easy upgrades.

About This Apple Dump Cake

An Apple Dump Cake is hands down one of the easiest cakes to make using just a few ingredients with 5 minutes prep TOTAL! A layer of tinned pie apples are "dumped" into a baking dish, then a box cake mix is sprinkled on top and then melted butter. And that's it! Honestly I did not expect it to either work or taste as good as it did but I loved it and it tasted just like an apple cobbler!

Why This Recipe Works and Why You'll Love It

I made this out of curiosity but I LOVED the result. It does not, I repeat does not taste like it took you less than 5 minutes to make it!
I've tested this so many ways, sometimes with fresh apples, sometimes without a boxed cake mix. It's always delicious.
I'll show you how to make the basic apple dump cake but also easy upgrades to give it an even better finish. Y'all know me, I am a bit extra!
Don't want to use box cake mix? I've got you. I'll show you how to make it with a homemade box cake mix with just 5 easy ingredients in 1 minute.
Don't want to use tinned apples? I'll also show you how to make it using fresh apples! Obviously this will add to the prep time but it will still be a quick recipe.
I'll show you how to adapt this recipe for outside of America. In America tinned pie apples are already sweetened, spiced and suspended in a gel sauce. However in Australia our tinned pie apples are just made of apples and nothing else so you will need to add some sugar and spices to the apples.

Video How To Make Apple Dump Cake

Ingredients For Apple Dump Cake

Pie apples - A dump cake requires 1.2kgs or 2.6lbs of tinned pie apples. In America you use 2 x 21oz/600g tins of pie apples. In Australia, tinned pie apples come in two sizes: 800g and 400g so you need one of each sized tin to get the required amount.

Box cake mix - Use a vanilla, butter cake or spice cake mix for best results. A typical cake mix weighs around 450g/1lb. Please note you won't be using the powdered sugar sachet so the weight will be less than what is on the box which is the total weight of both the cake mix and icing sachet together.

Butter - Salted butter! ;)

My additions to a simple Apple Dump Cake:

Cinnamon sugar - To sprinkle on top. You can buy cinnamon sugar or mix it yourself using 1 part ground cinnamon to 4 parts caster/superfine sugar.

Pecans - Chopped pecans (or walnuts) for crunch on top.

Tips For Making Apple Dump Cake

1 - The most important thing to do with an apple dump cake is to not mix it! It goes against all sense and nature when baking a cake but I PROMISE it will work!

2 - Serve this with vanilla ice cream or cream while warm.

3 - Storage: An apple dump cake will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. Either cover the dish with cling film or foil or decant into an airtight container.

4 - To reheat your apple dump cake, either microwave it for 30-40 seconds or heat in a 180C/350F oven for 10-15 minutes.

5 - If you want something a bit more pastry based, try this apple galette or this French Apple Cake for something a bit more fancy.

6 - How To Make your own Vanilla Box Cake Mix in 1 minute. Whisk all of these ingredients together.

1.5 cups/220g/7.7oz plain all purpose flour
3/4 cup/165g/5.9oz caster or superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Apple Dump Cake Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 40-45 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients Needed

1.2kg/2.6lbs of tinned pie apples
90g/3oz-120g/4oz caster/superfine sugar* (omit if pie apples are sweetened)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (omit if pie apples are already spiced)
350g/12.3oz Vanilla Box Cake Mix sachet
180g/6oz melted butter

Optional extras

1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar
50g/1.7oz chopped pecans

*If you use Granny Smith apples you may need the extra 30g/1oz of sugar as they are more tart than other apple varieties.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 LAYER - Preheat oven to 175C/347F. Take a 32x22/13x9inch baking dish and add pie apples (1.2kg/2.6lbs) to it and mix with the sugar (90g/3oz-120g/4oz) and cinnamon (1 teaspoon) (if using). Press down with spatula so that you get an even surface.

Step 2 SPRINKLE- Sprinkle with the box cake mix (350g/12.3oz) so that it is evenly dispersed. Then drizzle butter (180g/6oz) over the cake mix (do not mix in!) trying to cover as much of the dry parts as possible.

Step 3 BAKE - Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar (1 tablespoon) and chopped pecans (50g/1.7oz). Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then serve with vanilla ice cream.

How To Make Apple Dump Cake with Fresh Apples

Peel and cut 1.2kgs/2.6lbs of apples into bite sized pieces (not those big wedges of tinned apples). Mix with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 90g/3oz sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and then proceed with step 2 onwards. You will not need to add extra baking time if the apples are cut into bite sized pieces.

Substitution notes:

This can be made with any tinned fruit like pears, peaches, cherries and plums.

Personal Note

Mr NQN had a good birthday this year. I am trying to make his birthdays special because growing up, birthdays were a little weird. This year we stayed at The Tiny Mile and then had a birthday baked potato party at our house. Every year I bake Mr NQN an apple cake of some sort. There's the German Apple Cake, Invisible Apple Cake and the Thousand Layer Apple Cake.

During Mr NQN's birthday party, his mother Tuulikki announced that she was going to be reading an excerpt from her autobiography. It is a self published tome of which there are only two printed editions and it goes through her life from a child to now. She decided to read out a chapter about Mr NQN's birth which she said "the most difficult birth".

She told us a tale of how he was an enormous baby that had rolls of fat on his arms and legs that his now long and skinny limbs would betray. It was a difficult labour that she would soon not forget.

It was a little like Seinfeld's "airing of the grievances" as she recounted how greedy he was and how much he breast fed and how he refused to share his milk with his younger sister when she was born. It was quite a choice to make for his birthday and I can really see how his birthday growing up was a bit weird!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you a fan of quick cakes like this? Have you ever tried an apple dump cake?

Apple Dump Cake - Super Easy Favourite was written by Lorraine Elliott and published on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 in American, Apple Recipes, Easy Cakes, Desserts, Easy Recipes and Delicious Recipes.