This delicious pumpkin dessert is known around the internet as “dump cake.” Hailed for it’s ease, it can be whipped up in mere minutes and tastes like a sweet pumpkin pie topped with buttery crumble topping. I love that it can be served either warm, room temperature, or cold. You can also cut it into nice tidy squares, or scoop it rustically into a bowl with ice cream (my preference). Any way you serve it- this fun dessert is as great for a fancy holiday meal as it is for a weekend treat.
Note: If you’ve been around long enough, you know I used to have a variation of this recipe here with part of the topping being used as a crust. With the ever changing sizes of cake mixes, this recipe got complicated so I’m editing it back to it’s original (easier!) form and giving it a needed update!
Ingredients Needed
- Boxed cake mix – I recommend Duncan hines, yellow, white, or spice
- Butter – I suggest unsalted butter because otherwise it may come out too salty for your tastes. That being said, I like my food on the saltier side and I usually just use regular salted butter because that’s what I have on hand!
- Canned pumpkin – plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Eggs
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Cinnamon
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Ginger
- Cloves
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Chopped pecans
How to Make Pumpkin Crumble
- Make pumpkin layer: mix canned pumpkin, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices until smooth. Pour this mixture into a 9×13 baking pan.
- Pour a standard boxed cake mix over the top of this layer and spread out evenly. This can be pretty much any flavor! I’ve made this countless times and I will say my preferred brand is Duncan Hines. Spice Cake or Yellow Cake are my family’s favorites.
- Sprinkle chopped nuts over the cake mix. If you have an allergy or aversion to nuts, you can skip them, but I love the crunch it adds!
- Pour 1 cup of melted butter over the top of everything. It’s okay to see dry cake mix still. It will take care of itself in the oven!
- Bake and serve!
You can see I left nuts off one end for one of my nut-free kids!
Serving, Storing and Other Tips
- You can serve in a variety of ways. It’s great warm with ice cream, it’s also great cut into squares at room temperature, and it’s delicious cold out of the fridge!
- It’s sweet enough on its own, but a drizzle of caramel sauce over the ice cream is extra delicious.
- For best results, store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator and eat within 3-4 days.
This photo shows a slice made with a spice cake mix. Spice cake is my favorite, but my family all prefers the yellow cake mix!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Any cake mix should work. We love yellow and spice, but white, gingerbread, even chocolate is delicious.
I’ve never tried it, but I imagine you could swap out the cake mix for your favorite gluten-free mix. If you try this, let me know!
You can certainly prep the pumpkin layer in advance, cover, and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours. I would prep the topping fresh, right before you’re ready to bake!
Dump Cake Variations
You can use this trick for any sort of filling. Instead of pumpkin pie on the bottom, you can layer canned pie filling. We love cherry pie with chocolate cake mix, too!
Easy Pumpkin Crumble
Ingredients
Pumpkin Layer
- 15 ounces canned pumpkin puree (one can) not pumpkin pie filling, one standard can
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk one standard can
- 2 eggs
- 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
Topping
- 1 standard boxed yellow, white, or spice cake mix I prefer Duncan Hines
- ¾ cup pecans, chopped
- 1 cup unsalted butter I use salted butter, but if you're sensitive to salt you may want to stick with unsalted!
- Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Coat a 9×13 pan with a light coat of nonstick spray.
- Mix pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt until smooth. Pour into prepared pan.
- Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the top. Sprinkle on nuts.
- Drizzle melted butter all over the top of the dry cake mix. You will still have dry cake mix peeking through and that's okay.
- Bake at 350℉ for about 45 minutes. The topping should be lightly golden brown and set. A skewer put in the pumpkin should come out with no batter attached.
- You can eat it warm, at room temp, or chilled. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are optional, but delicious.
Notes
- This makes a dessert about an inch thick or less. That’s because I like a high topping-to-pumpkin ratio. If you’d like it thicker, use a large can of pumpkin and double the rest of the filling ingredients (Eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices). Leave the rest of the recipe the same.
- Here’s a little something I learned after making the dump cake a gazillion times. Cake mixes all have different amounts in them! Different brands, different flavors, etc. Each one is slightly different in volume. I found one mix to have almost double the normal amount. Measuring the amount of cake mix you’re sprinkling on top will help you get the perfect topping ratio in the last step.
- For best results, store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator and eat within 3-4 days.
Questions & Reviews
Why add pumpkin pie spice and then add additional ginger, cloves and nutmeg? Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice.
I've always really liked your pumpkin dump cake recipe but I like the idea of adding a bottom crust. I can't wait to try it.
I just read through your version better and caught where you made a bottom crust…nice! I'm gonna try your way next time.
~ingrid
I just made this on Monday but got the recipe from the blog Me and My Pink Mixer. It taste best the next day at room temp.
~ingrid
Yum… looks wonderful! Will have to add this to the must-make list!
Beth Ann-
If I'm going to have it sit overnight I refrigerate it, but otherwise I just leave it at room temp.
Looks really really good. I plan to make this for our Thanksgiving get-together. One question though, does it have to be refridgerated?
Yum! Our family makes this all the time (the simpler version) except we call it Pumpkin Pie Cake. I'll have to try yours, though I think my husband might consider the addition of pecans akin to blasphemy. And I agree that "Dump Cake" is a horrible, horrible misnomer.
I've always loved the dump cakes and this is so simular. I LUV pumpkin pie so I know I'll have to try this.
I don't like pumpkin pie either! These look delicious and the top looks really good.