With just three simple ingredients you can have a delicious and easy baked dessert with this recipe for Crock-Pot Cherry Dump Cake. Make it any time of the year without heating up the whole house! Serve it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream for a slow-cooker dessert that will impress!
Slow Cooker Cherry Dump Cake
Recently I bought myself a new Casserole Crock-Pot on Amazon because I wanted to add this new size of slow cooker to my collection. And I have to admit that it is slowly becoming on of my favorite crock-pots to use.
The size and shape is so versatile and I have been working on some recipes that will be coming soon to the blog here at Crock-Pot Ladies (be sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you can get an update whenever we have new recipes and stuff to share).
So, the other day I was rooting around in my pantry looking for something to make for dessert. Over in the corner I spotted a box of yellow cake mix. Digging around in the canned goods I first spied some pineapple and immediately thought of making a pineapple upside down cake.
But then…I spotted them…two lonely little cans of cherry pie filling that I had picked up on clearance after Easter. And I immediately thought of doing a Crock-Pot Cherry Dump Cake!
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Cherry Dump Cake Recipe:
- 3.5 Quart Casserole Slow Cooker OR 4 Quart, 4.5 Quart Or 5 Quart Slow Cooker
- Can Opener
- Microwave Safe Bowl
Frequently Asked Questions
Dump cakes are really versatile and you can experiment with just about any type of fruit you want.
Our readers have reported great success using gluten-free yellow cake mix in this recipe.
Yes, using sugar free yellow cake mix will work in this recipe. In fact you can use sugar free or low sugar cherry pie filling too to make this is a much lower in sugar dessert.
No, slow cooker dump cakes are more like a cobbler with fruit on the bottom and a topping on the top.
You can use any flavor of boxed cake mix that you think will pair well with the cherry pie filling. Chocolate cake mix, lemon cake mix, white cake mix are all great options?
If you find that there is water condensation that is collecting on the lid of your slow cooker that is dripping onto the top of your dump cake you can place a clean kitchen towel or a couple layers of paper toweling between the lid and slow cooker. The towels will collect the condensation.
Canned cherry pie filling comes in several different sized cans, as such, we used ounces in the recipe. For this recipe we used 42 ounces of cherry pie filling. That can be 2 small cans or 1 large can. The ounces do not need to be exact but you want to get in that 42 ounce range.
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Crock-Pot Cherry Dump Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 42 Ounces Canned Cherry Pie Filling ((Two 21 Ounce Cans))
- 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter ((1/2 Cup))
Instructions
- Open the two cans of cherry pie filling and dump the contents into a 3 to 5 quart slow cooker.
- In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter (or melt on the stove top).
- In a medium mixing bowl add the dry yellow cake mix and the melted butter and stir to combine (mixture will be crumbly).
- Dump cake mix & butter mixture over the top of the cherry pie filling and spread evenly.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours or on HIGH for 2 hours.
- Serve warm (with ice cream if desired) or cold.
Nutrition
Just wanted to alert you to (I believe) a typo in the top part of this :
In the written/conversational part of the recipe you state
“To make this recipe gather your three ingredients….1 can cherry pie filling, 1 box of yellow cake mix and 1 stick of butter.”
But in the recipe part, it states 2 cans of cherry pie filling.
Since you found two lonely cans, I believe the top part where it lists only one can, is a typo.
Thanks for your wonderful recipes.
Dottie
Thanks Dottie for catching that for me…I am off to edit the blog post now!
It’s still only 3 ingredients. Butter, cherry pie filling, and cake mix.
can this be done with fresh cherries or other fruit? i dont do canned fruit.
I have not tried this recipe with fresh cherries or other fruit. Without testing it I cannot say for sure how it will come out. If you test it out please come back and let us know how it turns out for you!
I have made dump cake with frozen and fresh fruit. Cut up your fruit. Toss the fruit in a heated pan with melted butter. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally until the fruit softens. Toss brown sugar over the top and stir in. To thicken, mix cold water and cornstarch in a bowl. Drizzle cornstarch mix into cooking fruit and sugar mix. Bring to a boil, stirring often, careful not to burn it. Turn heat back down to a simmer for a few minutes, until thick like pie filling. There you go. Use this fruit mix in place of the pie filling in a dump cake, pie, cobbler, etc.
Thanks for the tip Melissa!
I am diabetic so I made it with fresh cheeries(made my own pie filling with Stivia) and sugar free cake mix. It was to die for.
So glad you were able to modify the recipe to meet your dietary needs Lynne!
I have to use the sugar free cake mix also could you please tell me if you used the whole box and how much butter did you use, thanks
I made the Cherry one and it was do good! I did make another one with peaches and it was great! NOW J am making one with a Strawberry 🍓 cake mix with Strawberry’s.
I am trying to ‘introduce’ my youngest daughter to crock pot cooking and bought her a 1.5 quart crockpot (she’s single). Anyway, you can put up some recipes for such a small crock pot? I’d love to send her this recipe, but am pretty sure it won’t fit in her little crockpot, and I’m not positive on how to ‘reduce’ it for her (other than tell her like 1/2 or 1/3 of the boxed cake mix – and she’s a bit particular about such things). Thanks!
We will try out best to try and introduce more recipies that use the smaller crock-pots. It is a bit harder for us since we all have larger families to feed. You might want to try some of the Crock-Pot for 1 or 2 cookbooks that are available out there in the meantime.
This recipe for Cherry dump cake can be halved though with 1/2 a box of cake mix, half the butter and one can of cherry pie filling. Some of our other recipes are a bit harder to scale down.
You can make this smaller with less cherries and Jiffy cake mix. I used two boxes, could have done one. Depends and how “cakey” you want it. I have also make it in a large crookpot using three cans of cherry for cherry lovers.
Different fruits and different flavors of cake are good to. Canned Apples and Spice cake, etc.
It looks delicious!
Thanks Rebecca! This Cherry Dump cake made in the slow cooker not only looks good, but tastes amazing too. I hope you will come back and let us know how it turned out for you!
Can you add the pineapple?
Can I use a box of white cake mix instead? or does it need to be yellow? Thanks
You can use a white cake mix just fine…chocolate cake mix works too!
Does this have to cool afte the two hours of cooking on high?
You can eat it warm or cold. Either way it is delicious! I like it warm myself with some ice cream.
It’s. even better with dark chocolate cake mix. Who doesn’t love chocolate cherries?
I am going to be trying a couple of dump cake recipes using chocolate cake mix…and cherry is at the top of my list because I LOVE cherries and chocolate!
Can I use angel food cake mix from a box?
Hi Felicia, I have not tried this recipe using a boxed angel food cake so cannot comment on if it will work or not. However, if you try it, please come on back and let us know how it turned out for you!
I’d like to double the recipe and cook in a 6 quart crockpot… Do I need to adjust the cooking time?
Hi Sandra, we have not tested this recipe doubled. But if you do double it I would guess that it would take a little additional cooking time. Perhaps another hour or so.
was thinking of doing this recipe…but trying blueberry pie filling?! Thoughts?
Blueberry pie filling will work just great!
I am always asked to make my special “Chocolate Cherry Supreme Cake” for special occasions. I use a Devil’s food cake mix, 2 cans of Comstock Cherry Pie Filling and the butter. When ready to serve, I stick a can of Chocolate Fudge Frosting in the microwave to make it pourable and plate up a serving with the frosting drizzled over the cake. Everybody raves about it.
YUM! That sounds very similar to this cake. I bet the chocolate frosting takes it over the top!
What difference does it make margarine vs. Butter for the cherry dump cakr.
Probably not a whole lot. We are just not margarine users and prefer real butter in most of our recipes.
Tried and didn’t thrill me, bubbled for 6 hrs and cake never got to cake life, mostly wet pudding, and not appealing. Box Cake was new, so it wasn’t old. Any thoughts?
I am sorry this dessert didn’t thrill you James. The cake mix in this cake doesn’t quite get cake-like but more like an ooey gooey butter cake…I am not sure how to really explain it.
I would buy another can of pie filling.
I had the same issue the first time I tried this. I found it made a big difference if I put a couple of layers of paper towels over the top of the crock pot and held them in place with the weight of the lid. They should NOT be touching the food. The condensation that was falling back onto the food, making it soggy, was now caught by the towels. I changed them once or twice during cooking.
So after 2 hrs., how do I know if its done?
Never mind. One for the garbage can. After 2 hrs. I had pie filling bubbling up thru the cake mix. So I turned it off to let it cool. Reminds me of raw, wet, cookie dough. EWww! No thanks. I’ll make mine in the oven from now on. At least I’ll know when its done. The cake mix is turning golden brown and is slightly crisp.
Ooey Gooey Butter Cake…Not even close.
I dixnt have cherries so i used strawberries & pineapple.. hope it turns out… idk we shall see….
Be sure to come back and let us know how it turned out for you with strawberries and pineapple Lisah!
Question: I am new to slow cooker cooking. My slow cooker is 6 qt but the recipe calls for 5 qt. Do I need to make any adjustments to the recipe for the size difference? Thank you!
Hi Dana, the recommended size of slow cooker for this particular recipe is 3 to 5 quart. However if you wish to try cooking this in a 6 quart slow cooker it should be okay. I would suggest cooking this recipe on LOW for the 4 hours per the instructions (rather than on HIGH) and just watching it a little bit more to make sure the edges don’t get overcooked.
Just want to share that I have a hubby who LOVES dessert and dessert of all kinds. I tried the first dump cake with cherry filling and only had a lemon cake mix…. through it together and we both loved it. Second one, I made with peaches. This time, I added walnuts and same lemon cake mix. GRAND. Today, I mixed cherries, crushed pineapple and, yes, lemon cake mix with pecans on top. We’ll see how that turns out. Excited to see how that turns out. Like I said, hubby is the dessert king, BUT he is not picky and loves that I’ve tried different ingredients together….. I am sure it will be fabulous.
Using lemon cake mix sounds amazing Paula. I never would have thought of that flavor combo but cherries and lemon sound great together to me!
So is one can or two of cherries, I only have one can
Depends on the size of your can of cherry pie filling. This recipe calls for 42 ounces. If you have 1 large can that is close to that many ounces you are good to go.
This is more like a cobbler , delicious , but if you are looking for a layer cake ,this isn’t it !
Lauren, yes this is definitely more like a cobbler, most dump cakes are. Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I followed the recipe but it turned out HORRIBLE – I cooked it for 2 hours on high and the cake is wet, uncooked and doughy. It was just horrible. I started cooking it again, for another hour its still uncooked tasting. the only thing I did different was stirred the cake mix and butter really long that made it into a cake mix instead of crumbly. it was very doughy when I spread it on top where the recipe said it should be crumbly it was not crumbly.
I am sorry this recipe did not come out for you Molly. However, following the directions of the recipe is important for you to replicate the results of the cherry dump cake recipe. The instructions clearly state on line 3 “In a medium mixing bowl add the dry yellow cake mix and the melted butter and stir to combine (mixture will be crumbly).”
The cake mix and butter mixture should be mixed until crumbly and then added to the top of the cherry pie filling.
I’m going to try making this with one can 21 oz of cherry pie filling and half the cake mix and half the butter,, hope if works out!
Let us know how it turns out for you Dorothy!
Can I add pecans?
Hi Stephanie, I think the addition of nuts like pecans or almonds would be lovely. If you give it a try come back and let us know how it turned out for you!
Cherry crock dump cake is sooo easy. It actually works.
I agree Nicolette. One of my favorite dump cakes!
Just made this and it taste great ! Thanks so much. Do I store this in the fridge or leave it out on the counter ?
I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe Katie. Thank you so much for your 5 star rating and review. As for how to store this you can leave it on the counter for a few days (covered of course) or refrigerate it. I find that it doesn’t last long enough in our house for us to have leftovers for too long.
My family and my “extra children” (kid’s friends), absolutely love when I make these dump cakes. We have tried all kinds of different flavors of filling and cake. The most recent one was strawberry filling and banana cake mix (Dolly Parton cake mix) and it was delicious. Thanks for inspiring our flavor buds!🥰
You are most welcome Candy. That banana/strawberry flavor combination sounds AMAZING. I may have to give that a try! Thanks for the kind review!
Want to try cherry crock pie