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Simple and delicious pumpkin dump cake preps in minutes. With so many spices and sweet flavors, it’s perfect all fall long!
We love dump cakes—because of the simplicity, but also the TASTE! Our favorite flavors include peach and cherry, but in the fall, this pumpkin dump cake is the only cake we need!
A Perfect Fall Dessert!
It’s PUMPKIN time!! It’s that time of year when pumpkin and soup recipes start popping up everywhere and fall is on its way!
Today’s pumpkin recipe was shared by a family member. We stopped by on Thanksgiving to say hi and after they fed us this fall dessert, we fell in love and had to give it a try!
It’s called pumpkin dump cake, because you literally dump it, bake it, and enjoy it! It is so simple, and literally is the BEST fall cake.
making a Dump Cake
“Dump” cakes are as easy as they sound! Just mix and dump layers in a pan. Hence the name. Dump cakes are similar to cobblers, but a cobbler uses a biscuit or pie crust as the topping.
PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F.
BATTER. Mix pumpkin, milk, ginger, cloves, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Pour into a greased and floured 9×13 pan.
TOPPING. Sprinkle cake mix and chopped pecans on top. Cut butter very thin and cover all over the cake mix.
BAKE + ENJOY! Bake for 1 hour. Serve warm topped with Whipped Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream, and even a caramel drizzle if you’re feeling extra fancy.
Additional Topping Ideas
The pecans are totally optional on this easy pumpkin dump cake, but if you aren’t a fan of pecans try:
- crushed graham crackers
- toffee bits
- substitute for another type of chopped nut
recipe tips
Although we love this dessert as is, you can change up this pumpkin pie dump cake with a few of these suggestions.
Cake mix alternative. You are only using the dry cake mix, and not making it into a cake batter. If you don’t have yellow cake mix, use a pumpkin spice cake mix, or make a homemade mix.
Here’s how:
- Whisk together 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1½ cups granulated sugar, 3½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt plus 4 tbsp butter (½ stick).
- Use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter, and you’ve got a homemade yellow cake mix.
Variations.
- Replace the ginger, cloves, and cinnamon with an equal amount of Pumpkin Pie Spice.
- Forgo the Whipped Cream and add a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.
- Drizzle with Caramel Sauce.
- Sprinkle on mini chocolate chips.
Pumpkin puree. Note that this pumpkin cake with yellow cake mix calls for a can of pumpkin puree and NOT canned pumpkin pie filling. The pie filling already has spices and other ingredients mixed into it. Whereas pumpkin puree is only pumpkin.
Storing Info
STORE. We like to serve this pumpkin dump cake recipe warm, but you can store leftovers, covered, in the fridge. It should last for at least 2 days.
Reheat a slice by microwaving in 30-second intervals until it is the desired temperature.
FREEZE. To freeze a whole baked cake, wrap the entire pan with plastic wrap and again with foil.
For the leftover cake, divide it into individual freezer containers. Thaw overnight in the fridge and serve chilled or reheat the slices in the microwave.
Recipe FAQ
The bottom layer of this cake will be a bit gooey, but it should still be set enough to hold its shape when cut. The top section will have a more cake-like texture.
Canned pumpkin is pumpkin puree combined with sugar and extra spices. Pumpkin puree is pure pumpkin. Be sure to use pumpkin puree in the pumpkin dump cake recipe.
For More Pumpkin Recipes, Check Out:
- Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Magic Pumpkin Cake
- Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Bars
- No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecakes
- Libby’s Pumpkin Roll
Pumpkin Dump Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix pumpkin, milk, ginger, cloves, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Pour into a greased and floured 9×13 pan.
- Sprinkle cake mix and chopped pecans on top.
- Cut butter very thin and cover all over the cake mix.
- Bake for 1 hour and serve warm with whipped cream. ENJOY!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you for the pumpkin dump I need to make something different for the Thanksgiving dinner for a huge crowd and am going to make this as I know it will be wonderful. So thank you very much. Looks like a five so am going to rate it five .
Awe, thank you!! Your guests will love it! At least, we do 🙂 Good luck!!
Please, please make recipes so they can be pinned to Pintrest!
They can be 🙂 I know at least for me, on my computer the Pinterest button appears when my cursor is over the picture. Not sure how it is on your computer. Also, you can find most of them on Pinterest.
I am not a fan of pumpkin, so I was just thinking about using sweet yams instead, this sounds very good. I love making dump cakes.
Let me know what you think 🙂 Hope you like it!
I fixed this about a month ago and it was delicous!! Thank you for sharing it!!
I’m glad you liked it!! We love it! Thanks Mary!
The pumpkin part was really good! The cake mix, nuts, butter not as great. There was too much topping. Next time I’d like to try mixing the cake mix together first and maybe putting half on the bottom and prebaking? That would take away the “quick” part but make the top more crumbly.
Thanks for giving it a try!! 🙂
In this Pumpkin Poke Cake recipe, do you use pumpkin pie filling or the pumpkin puree as it doesn’t say. Just want to make sure before I make it for Thanksgiving. Thank you.
You can buy a can of pumpkin. That is what to use. You could google it, so you can see what you are looking for, but it’s a can of pumpkin. Hope that helps 🙂
I’m from the UK, what is yellow cake mix, do you know what our equivalent is? Thank you
I just found this on google…it is pretty much a plain cake mix that doesn’t contain an extra flavor. It is called yellow not plain because there are two types of plain, white and yellow. The difference is that white uses only egg white while yellow uses the yolks. There is also a slight difference in the type of flour used. Also a white cake taste a lot better & is loved more than a yellow cake but both of them are very good. You could google to find a homemade recipe, too, if that helps 🙂
The recipe and picture look fantastic.
Thanks so much!! Hope you’ll give it a try 🙂 It’s delicious!
With the one cup of sugar in the pumpkin mixture in addition to the sugar in the cake mix, does the cake turn out very sweet? I don’t like desserts that are excessively sweet hence I’m considering cutting down on the sugar in the pumpkin.
I don’t think it is 🙂 But, you could always cut it down, if you prefer.
Hi..the pumpkin dump cake was delicious. Do you store covered on the counter or in the fridge?
I just store mine in an air tight container, with the lid. You can also put it in the fridge. Whichever you prefer 🙂 Glad you liked it!