Slow Cooker Apple Dump Cake Recipe

Slow Cooker Apple Dump Cake is a five ingredient dump cake recipe. If you want to give your boxed cake mix a makeover, try this recipe today!

If you haven’t made a dump cake before, you might think this is a bit crazy! They are meant to be easy and frugal. They come from the era when families didn’t have as much, so they literally “dumped” ingredients into a pan and cooked it. 

There is a lot of flexibility with the types of cake mixes used for the filling. Just make sure you use that butter (not to sound too much like Paula Deen, right?) that makes the topping come together.  

🍏 Why This Works

Easy | This is a quick prep with simple pantry ingredients. I bet you already have everything at home.

Great for a fun dessert or potluck treat | This doesn’t taste like a Dump-And-Go recipe. It is delish and will be the star of the potluck.

🍎 Ingredients

With just five simple ingredients, there isn’t much you need, or that could go wrong with this easy dessert. Let’s take a peek at the main ingredients:

Spice Cake Mix: The flavor of a boxed spice cake mix works wonderful here. It is so simple to work with and tastes fantastic.

Apple Pie Filling: You can slice and cut a bunch of apples for a homemade apple pie filling, or just but a can. I had an extra can and not a lot of time, so it was an easy choice.

Chopped Pecans: The crunchy pecans take the cake to the next level. They are the perfect ingredient to finish the recipe.

🍽️ Instructions 

Spray the inside of a 4 – 6 quart slow cooker with non stick spray. 

Step One: Pour in one can of apple pie filling and the vanilla extract. This can be substituted with other pie fillings if you want to be a rebel! (Hint: try cherry pie! YUM!) 

Step Two: Pour about ⅔ of the box of the apple spice cake mix over the pie filling.  Substitute white or yellow cake mix for a more mild flavor.

Step Three: Pour the melted butter and cover. 

Cook for 2-3 hours. About two hours in, I like to go in and make sure the cake mix is fully immersed in the apple/butter mixture.

I use a spoon and dab the dry parts down a bit and make sure they end up mixed in.

I have served this with ice cream, cool whip and homemade whipped topping. All of them make this scrumptious dessert with zero effort!

🍲 Expert Tips

• For an extra gooey dump cake, try using two cans of apple pie filling. It is so good! The filling to cake mix ratio is incredible when you do it this way! 
• To mix up the flavor, try the white or vanilla cake mix instead of the spice. To add a bit more flavor, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to give it just a tad extra flavor! 
• Consider making your topping a crumb topping. To do this, combine the cake mix with the melted butter to make little pebbles or balls and clumps. Spread that out over the apple pie filling and cook as instructed. Delish! It’s the same ingredients, but you changed up how you used them.
• Look at Trader Joe’s or some specialty stores for cake mixes that are a little bit less traditional than what you might find at the local grocery store. 
• Use the good ol’ Jiffy Cake Mix. Yes!! Jiffy will work here. I recommend using two boxes for the one called for in the recipe! 
• Always think of using a cherry pie filling for a cherry dump cake. That is a classic. Substitute frozen fruit for a peach or mixed berry dump cake. Mix it up and have fun with this easy and inexpensive dessert.

📌 Recipe FAQs

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