This ridiculously easy recipe for a caramel apple dump cake will be a fall favorite in your house! Five ingredients combined make a delicious fall cake that is best served warm a la mode!
A few years ago I fell in love with "dump cakes". These simple and easy dessert recipes are perfect for a backyard party or a simple Sunday night family dinner. The concept is taking some sort of fruit topped with a full cake mix then drizzled with butter. So there are multiple flavor combinations. The first one I made was my peach dump cake recipe. Most people use a can of fruit pie filling but I prefer not to use a pre-made mix.
I find you get even better results doing it a little more homemade, and it's still quick and easy! When I started thinking about how I wanted to make this caramel apple dump cake I remembered my caramel apple crisp, the bottom fruit layer is literally just caramel and apples mixed together. I knew this would be the perfect, simple but delicious way to go for this cake!
It's seriously like a bite of warm fall flavor!
Let's get to the recipe
Ingredients
You only need a few things for this dump cake recipe:
- Apples. I like to use Granny Smith any cooking apples will work great.
- Caramel Sauce. I alwasy have a batch of my homemade salted caramel sauce in the fidge so I use that but you can use a jar of store-bought caramel sauce too! Use the thicker kind not super runny.
- Salted Butter. The butter is going to be cooked to brown it, this caramelizes the milk solids which creates a gorgeous flavor that pairs beautifully with apples and caramel.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. Just a little bit adds the beautiful warmth vanilla provides.
- Yellow Cake Mix. Any brand will do! A spice cake mix would be delicious too!
- Nuts. Sometimes I add some walnuts or chopped pecans and sometimes I don't, so its totally optional! They add a nice crunch but the kiddos don't love nuts so thats why we omit sometimes!
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Lightly grease a 9"X13" baking dish.
Peel the apples and slice them into medium-sized wedges.
Add apples to the prepared dish and pour caramel over the apples and stir to combine.
In a medium pot over medium heat brown the butter. Here is a post with step-by-step photos to brown butter. Once the butter is browned pour into a heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking then add the vanilla extract, mixing to combine.
Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly on top of apples, add nuts now if using, making sure to cover every spot.
Pour the butter on top of the cake mix, make sure it's evenly over the cake mixture.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake, is fully cooked through, the top is golden brown and bubbling.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. Store leftovers in the fridge.
More caramel apple recipes
You have got to try my upside caramel apple cake, albeit a bit more work than this dump cake, the upside-down cake is gorgeous!
For weekend labor of love bake, my caramel apple cheesecake is fantastic. It's not actually that hard, it's just time-consuming!
My friend Tanya makes a delicious caramel apple cocktail!
For a party, you gotta make this caramel apple dip.
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Caramel Apple Dump Cake
This ridiculously easy recipe for a caramel apple dump cake will be a fall favorite in your house! Five ingredients combined make a delicious warm cake that is best served warm a la mode!
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 Servings 1x
Ingredients
- 7 medium Granny Smith or Cooking Apples
- 6oz Caramel Sauce, cold homemade salted caramel sauce, or store-bought
- 9oz Salted Butter
- 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1- 15.25oz Yellow Cake Mix
- ½ cup Nuts, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Lightly grease a 9"X13" baking dish.
- Peel the apples and slice them into medium-sized wedges. Add apples to the prepared dish and pour caramel over the apples and stir to combine.
- In a medium pot over medium heat brown the butter. Here is a post with step-by-step photos to brown butter. Once the butter is browned pour into a heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking then add the vanilla extract, mixing to combine.
- Sprinkle the cake mixture evenly on top of apples, add nuts now if using, making sure to cover every spot. Drizzle the butter/ vanilla mixture evenly over the cake mixture.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake, is fully cooked through, the top is golden brown and bubbling.
- Serve with ice cream. Store leftovers in the fridge.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 40
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: caramel and apple dump cake,
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