Caramel Apple Dump Cake Recipe (2024)

posted by Lisa on January 24, 2017

Have you ever made a dump cake? I know the name sounds really weird and you probably don’t want to eat anything with the word ‘dump’ in it, but you need to get past the name and give it a try. This caramel apple dump cake is delicious and even more delicious with vanilla ice cream and caramel topping!

Supplies for Caramel Apple Dump Cake:
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2 cans of apple pie filling
1 ½ teaspoons of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon of nutmeg
A little more nutmeg and cinnamon for sprinkling on the top of the cake
11-ounce bag of caramels
1 box of white cake mix
1 stick of butter

Here’s a little video for you!

Enjoy!

My story begins here:

Sometimes I like to dream about food so any cake that’s named “dump cake” gives me a lot to dream about. I have no idea how long this cake has been around or how the tradition of dumping things in a baking pan started, but I have a theory.

I think that many, many years ago some poor mommy worked hard all day and finished the laundry, mopped the floors, washed the windows, fixed dinner, helped the kiddos with the homework, and sat down in front of the fireplace to get warm and catch her breath. Then, she noticed one of her kids standing in the doorway with a sad little look on his face. When she asked him what was wrong he told her he needed a cake to take to school for the bake sale. You see the school needed to raise money for a wood-burning stove so all the kiddos would be warm.

The sweet mommy hugged her little boy and told him she would make a cake so she dragged herself into the kitchen, pulled out a pan, and dumped a bunch of ingredients into that pan, and took a deep breath. As she looked at it she realized she was too tired to even stir anything so she popped the pan into the oven. She sat there for forty-five minutes, pulled the cake from the oven, and went to bed.

The next morning her sweet little forgetful boy took the cake to school and everyone went crazy for it. They wanted to know what the cake was called and asked if they could have the recipe. The mother said she just dumped everything in a pan and baked it so they laughed and all started calling it “The Dump Cake” because let’s face it, everything was dumped into that cake pan.

So absolutely none of that story is true, but that is what lives in my head. Guess what? Now it’s in your head and I’m sorry for that! 😉

No matter who made the first dump cake or why they did it, I’m glad they did because it’s delicious.

Ready to bake?

- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Begin by placing two 21-ounce cans of apple pie filling in a bowl because you need the apple for this amazing cake.
- Next, add 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of nutmeg and stir it well.

Let’s dump this cake into a pan!

Pour the apples into a baking dish.

Oh, how I love caramels!

Top the apples with the caramels because caramels are delicious!

Add the cake part:

Sprinkle the white cake mix on top of the apples and the caramels.

Everything’s better with butter:

Next, place pieces of butter on top of the cake mix so the mix will bake instead of being a powdery topping.

Sprinkle the top with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg because that is what makes this cake delicious!
Bake at 350 for forty-five minutes.
So now add a little ice cream drizzled with caramel topping.

I hope you enjoy this recipe because it’s almost effortless with just a few ingredients to pour and bake for a caramel apple cake you won’t forget!