5-Ingredient Pumpkin Dump Cake Recipe

In a world where baking requires precision, dump cakes are an unusual exception. Dump cakes have a long history in the South, dating back to the 1920s when early versions consisted of simply mixing wet and dry ingredients together. The recipe became even simpler with the introduction of boxed cake mixes, which not only offered a shortcut for making fluffy, moist cakes and cupcakes, but also became a clever way to make cobbler-like fruity desserts. Sprinkled (or dumped) on top of fruit and other sweet fillings and covered in butter, the cake mix blooms into a golden, crumbly crust in the oven, giving home bakers an easy way to have a satisfying dessert with hardly any effort.

The beauty of dump cakes is in their simplicity, with just a few ingredients coming together to create something delicious. This pumpkin dump cake recipe requires only five ingredients, many of which you may already have on hand, especially in the fall. Creamy pumpkin puree mixes with sweetened condensed milk and eggs into a velvety custard that we sprinkle with dry spiced cake mix and top with pats of butter. The butter melts and seeps into the sweet-spiced cake mix, creating a dessert that tastes like a crumbly, cobbler version of a pumpkin pie. Unique and nearly foolproof, it's an easy fall dessert that even inexperienced bakers can confidently prepare.

The filling in this recipe is made with pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix), eggs, and sweetened condensed milk. This combination essentially bakes into a custard, which comes together without the need for the stove. The topping (and final two ingredients) consists of spiced cake mix and butter. Several brands sell spiced cake mixes, and you don't have to be picky about which one you choose — most will be fairly similar. The butter is key for the recipe to work, so make sure you have plenty on hand.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with butter or cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, and eggs until completely smooth.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread it into an even layer.

Sprinkle the dry spice cake mix evenly over the pumpkin filling, making sure to cover the entire surface. Do not stir the cake mix into the filling.

Arrange the butter closely together over the cake mix, covering as much of the surface as possible.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the pumpkin filling is set around the edges. The center may still have a slight jiggle.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. The filling will continue to firm up as it cools.

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The most common issue with dump cakes is dry, crumbly spots of unbaked cake batter sitting on top of the cake. This happens when the butter fails to moisten the cake mix, which otherwise has no moisture on its own. Bakers like Ree Drummond fix this by using cold pats of butter on top of the cake, which slowly melt across a wider surface area than pre-melted butter can. Even so, the cake mix can still end up with dry spots, especially if significant gaps were left between pats of butter.

The best way to avoid dry spots is to overlap the butter pats so that none of the batter underneath is exposed, which requires very thin slices to cover the entire cake. If you've already baked the cake and encounter dry spots, brush melted butter over the mix and smooth it into the cake, then bake for 5-10 more minutes (this works best if you notice the dry spots halfway through, so that they can be pressed into butter with enough time to bake properly).

This recipe relies on spice cake for flavor, since the filling is a simple custard of pumpkin and condensed milk. If you can't find spice cake mix, yellow or white cake mix will work perfectly well, but you will be missing the warm spices that are included in the spice cake mix. You can fix this by adding your own spices to either the custard or the cake mix — which also makes it a little more customizable, too.

To make up for the missing spices, whisk 1 to 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice mix into the dry cake mix before sprinkling it over the pumpkin filling. You can also make your own spice mix by combining cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves and stirring it into the dry cake mix. Since you are adding the spices yourself, you can also whisk the spices into the pumpkin puree for added warming flavor (or swap the spices for chai masala), which will add another layer of flavor to the simple cake.

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