This 4-Ingredient Caramel Apple Dump Cake Is the Perfect Fall Dessert

Photo byMeatloaf and Melodrama

I love the taste of pumpkin, but for me any recipe that calls for apples is the ultimate fall dessert. This easy dump cake has the rich taste of warm spices, caramel and apples with a crunchy, buttery topping.

Best of all, you only need four ingredients: apple pie filling, yellow cake mix, caramel sauce and butter. If you want to use real apples, just follow the directions in the notes section at the bottom of the recipe.

Both versions are delicious but the four-ingredient recipe is perfect for weeknights when you're short on time. It's also budget friendly. To cut costs I picked up the caramel sauce and cake mix at the dollar store and used Great Value apple pie filling ($2.36 for a 21-ounce container).

As the name implies, all you need to do is "dump" the apple pie filling, caramel sauce and cake mix into a 9x13-inch baking pan. Then top the cake mix with thin slices of butter and stick the pan in the oven. There's almost no clean-up and you don't need to wait for the cake to cool before you can eat it.

Serve this cake warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Drizzle more caramel sauce over the top for a dessert that looks as irrestible as it tastes.

Caramel Apple Dump Cake

Ingredients

2 (21-ounce) cans apple pie filling

1/2 cup caramel sauce, plus more for serving

1 (15.25-ounce) box of yellow cake mix

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

2. Spread the apple pie filling across the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the apples.

3. Sprinkle the cake mix evenly across the top. Cut the unsalted butter into thin slices and arrange across the top of the cake mix.

3. Bake 50-60 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbly around the edges.

4. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream and decorate with additional caramel sauce.

Notes

Be sure to cut the butter into thin slices and spread them evenly across the top. I usually cut 24 slices and arrange them in a 6 slice x 4 slice square to ensure full coverage of the cake mix.

It's a simple switch to use real apples instead of the pie mix. Peel, core and cut six cups of apples then mix them with 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Spread the mixture across the bottom layer of the baking pan.

As always, I use Duncan Hines Butter Golden but any cake mix should work. Spice cake mix is delicious for this recipe.

You can substitute margarine for the butter. It will cut costs even more (butter is now $4.26 a package at my local grocery store) and there's not a huge difference in taste.

The cake will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.