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Strawberry Dump Cake is the easiest 3-ingredient dessert you will ever make. Just dump 3 ingredients into a baking dish for a strawberry dessert that is more like a cobbler than a cake.
This cake is one of those super easy Dessert Recipes that even the kids can make by themselves. The cool thing is that while this is called a cake, after baking it turns into a delicious strawberry cobbler that the whole family will enjoy.
While other Strawberry Desserts, like Strawberry Shortcake, have several ingredients, this one has only three! This is the easiest recipe there is.
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So whether you or the kids are making it for Mother’s Day, a summer picnic, or you just need to throw together a dessert in 5 minutes just because, it is sure to be a hit with the family.
What Is A Dump Cake?
A Dump Cake recipe is typically made from 3 ingredients for the base recipe: Pie Filling, Cake Mix, and real butter. Most Dump Cake Recipes follow this base recipe, such as my Peach Cobbler Dump Cake and my Blueberry Dump Cake recipe. A few recipes, like my Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake recipe and my Pumpkin Crunch Cake recipe, add a few extra ingredients. Just by varying the pie filling, you can change up the recipe.
What Do I Need To Make Strawberry Dump Cake?
Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Strawberry Pie Filling. I use 2 cans of Strawberry Pie Filling. If you want to use a different fruit flavor pie filling, you could do that also. If you don’t want to use canned strawberry pie filling, you combine 5 cups of sliced strawberries with a 1/4 cup of sugar.
- Cake Mix. Use a box of dry cake mix. You can use either a white cake mix, yellow cake mix, or vanilla cake mix.
- Butter. Be sure to use real butter. It makes a difference. You can use either salted or unsalted butter. Either will work.
- Ice Cream or Whipped Topping (Optional). To top the cobbler-style dump cake, try serving vanilla ice cream or refrigerated whipped topping or whipped cream on top of the dump cake.
Instructions
- Dump 2 cans of strawberry pie filling into a 9×13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
2. Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the top of the cake mix. Spread it so it has the same thickness all over the pie filling.
3. Place sliced butter evenly all over the top of the dry cake mix. Try to make sure that it is covered all over. This will help prevent dry spots.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes to 60 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the top is golden brown.
What To Serve With Strawberry Dump Cake
- Serve the Strawberry Dump Cake with vanilla ice cream, or my Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream, or whipped cream, or sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Serve it like you would a cobbler.
Tips For Making Strawberry Dump Cake
- If you don’t want to use canned pie filling, you can combine 5 cups of sliced strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar.
- Make sure the butter is very cold. This makes the butter easier to slice.
- Cut butter thin but not too thin. If you slice it too thick, then you may need to use more than 1 stick of butter. If you slice it to thin, it could just melt into the crust and not brown properly.
- Spread the cake mix evenly over the top of the strawberry pie filling. This is important to help the crust cook and brown evenly.
- Spread the butter evenly over the entire cake try not to miss any spots.
More Dump Cake Ideas
- Peach Cobbler Dump Cake
- Blueberry Dump Cake
- Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake
- Pumpkin Walnut Crunch Cake
- Apple Dump Cake – Just use apple pie filling instead of strawberry pie filling and follow the rest of the recipe.
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 (21-ounce) cans strawberry pie filling
- 1 (15.25 ounce) box cake mix (white, yellow, or vanilla cake mix)
- 8 tablespoons butter (1/2 cup or 1 stick)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish or spray with cooking spray.
- Pour the contents of the strawberry pie filling cans into a 9×13 baking dish.
- Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the top of the pie filling. Make sure the cake mix topping has the same thickness throughout the pan.
- Place the butter slices evenly over the top of the cake mix topping. Cover as much of the topping as possible with butter slices.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 45 – 60 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the top is golden brown. When done, remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Angelina says
As always, this sounds yummy, Michelle. Hope you & yours are doing well during this crisis. Thanks, & stay well.
Michele says
Hi Angelina,
Thank you Angelina for visiting the site and for the nice comment. We are safe and well. I hope you and your family are well too.
Thanks,
Michele
Janet Dillingham says
We used to call this “Cherry Crisp”, with canned cherries, Jiffy white cake mix, and butter. Soooo good! Brings back memories, too.
Michele says
Yes. These are good. I have a version of what you described. It is my Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake. https://flavormosaic.com/cherry-pineapple-dump-cake/
carolyn says
at 82, i have made many cakes. but never what seems to be too easy..ha, i have no help devouring my baking adventures, but probably won’t need..may use several small baking pans to keep me and my spoon from crazyness..i ordered cake mixes(a new thing for me) from walmart, and same with pie fillings…another first!..will have to do early, as up to triples in bakersfield…i avoid the oven..! will let you know how cakes turn out..thanks for making recipe ideas available!
Michele says
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you for visiting my site and for leaving the comment. I bet I could learn a lot about baking cakes from you! I just want you to be aware that if you are used to traditional, made-from-scratch cakes, this Strawberry Dump Cake will be very different. First, you are going to end up with a strawberry cobbler instead of a strawberry cake. The cake mix and butter will form the cobbler crust. The taste and texture may be slightly different than what you are used to with the made from scratch cake or cobbler. The benefit of this method is that it is so easy to make. Let me know what you think after you have made it.
Thanks,
Michele
Sue says
Do you use 5 cups of fresh strawberries for each can of pie filling or is that for both cans? I want to make this tonight and was just wondering…
Thanks for an easy recipe that sounds delicious!
Michele says
Hi Sue,
5 cups of fresh strawberries would replace 2 cans of pie filling.
Thanks,
Michele
Sandra K Hudkins says
Made the cherry pineapple dump cake. Best cake I ever made. Was so tasty. I shared it with 2 neighbors. They loved it too. So glad I found this recipe.
Michele says
Hi Sandra,
I’m so glad you and your neighbors liked it. Please be sure to check out the other recipes as well.
Thanks,
Michele
Tammy50 says
I have made the cherry pineapple dump cake a LOT! So easy and so delicious! I top mine with chopped pecans and pour melted butter on top of them!
DELICIOUS!!!
Carla says
Hi Michelle, well me and my sons wanted something sweet but we didn’t have all of the ingredients. I improvised. I had fresh peaches but no sugar so I used the heavy syrup out of two mixed fruit cans. I poured that in with my cut up peaches. I had the cake mix and butter. It turned out delicious and my boys loved it. Thank you. I am retired military and a new cook in the kitchen. I am learning new things everyday. Thank you again for the quick and easy delicious dessert.
Sarah says
Can I cut my strawberries, add sugar and make my fresh strawberry filling in advance and freeze until I’m ready to make the cake? I want to make it for Mother’s Day next weekend but afraid my fresh strawberries won’t last that long.
Michele says
Hi Sarah,
I have not tried it. However, if you are making a homemade strawberry filling, you can cut and freeze the strawberries in advance.
Michele
Jenny says
I used strawberry cake mix and 3 cans of Strawberry fruit filling. Oh so good.. everything else as the recipe called for.
Mamabear17 says
If I only have one can of the strawberry filling can I just make a smaller dump cake or would one can suffice?
Michele says
Hi,
If you only have one can of strawberry filling then I would make a smaller cake, for example an 8×8 or 9×9 cake, and use half the cake mix and butter. (You can use the slider to reduce the servings from 8 to 4 servings and it will adjust the amount of each ingredient for you.)
Thanks,
Michele