How To Make A Delicious Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake With Just 3 Ingredients

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The wonders of dump cakes exceed their rather unappealing name to create a delicious dessert that requires both minimal effort and ingredients. If you're a fan of black forest flavors — that is, chocolate and cherry –  then turning the dynamic duo into a mouthwatering dessert is easier than ever. Simply grab the three ingredients of cherry pie filling, your favorite brand of boxed chocolate cake mix, and either melted or sliced butter for the ultimate tasty treat.

It's a cardinal rule that you should never break when making a dump cake, not to mix your ingredients. Though this seems suspect, it's all in service to the convenient process of making a classic cake recipe. The basic elements and method for this cake are what make it so unique. Pie filling, boxed mix, and a hearty helping of butter are all easy to find and relatively affordable, and the limited labor means you'll have more time to enjoy and share the sweetness.

Starting with a prepared baking dish, pour in two cans of cherry pie filling before topping it with a layer of your favorite packaged chocolate cake mix, taking care not to mix the ingredients whatsoever. From there, lay down slices of butter in a single layer over the cake mix or gently pour ½ to ¾ of a cup of melted butter over the top, tilting your pan just slightly to ensure full and even coverage before popping the dish into a preheated 350-degree Fahrenheit oven to bake.

You can make your chocolate cherry dump cake as basic or complex as you like, depending on your taste and ingredient preferences. For example, with so many boxed chocolate cake mixes to choose from, you can pick anything from a standard milk chocolate offering to a decadent devil's food cake, and much more. This also goes for your cherry pie filling and choice of butter.

Whether you go classic, organic, or change up the flavors with a tart cherry pie filling, this will work well with any of your favorite boxed chocolate cake mixes. A dark chocolate cake mix will be slightly less sweet and play well with extra sweet cherry pie filling, or add more zing to a sour cherry fruit filling. The richer your butter and the more even coating it gives your cake mix on top, the more moist and enjoyable your dump cake will be.

The ease of preparation remains largely the same regardless of the style or type of each of the three ingredients you choose, yet there is still a lot of room to play with complementary flavors. And you can make your dump cake look and taste as pretty as you want it to be. If you truly have a sweet tooth, you might consider grabbing a can of Duncan Hines Dolly Parton's Favorite Chocolate Buttercream Flavored Cake Frosting to dress the top of your cake and add accents of chopped or whole maraschino cherries for more aesthetic appeal.