Black Forest Dump Cake

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I'm well into my mid-forties and only recently discovered this sweet creation called a "Dump Cake".  While I enjoy my sweets, I've always been more of a "cook" than a "baker".  Cooking, for the most part, doesn't have to be exact. You can add a little broth, a pinch of this, a dash of that and adjust as you go along until you have the exact flavor you're looking for. Baking requires a little more precision. Exact measurements and strictly following the directions. Once it's in the oven there isn't a whole lot of adjusting you can do. Also, I've always found baking to be a lot more time consuming with a much bigger mess to clean up in the kitchen after your delectable makes it's way into the oven. Then I learned about the Dump Cake.  Given it's name since you basically just dump the ingredients into a baking dish and let them do all the work. "That can't possibly work", I said. Lo and behold, it does work and thus was born the sibling to my method of quick cooking. "Semi-Homemade" meet your baby brother, "Lazy Baking"!

Step 1: Grab 2 cans of your favorite pie filling. I'm sure a cooked down fresh fruit will work the same but remember we're going for lazy baking here! Simply dump them into a 9x13 baking dish. You don't even have to grease the dish. But you do have to spread it out evenly over the bottom of the dish.

Step 2:  Take one box of cake mix, your choice. Preferably something that compliments the pie filling you chose. Again just dump that on top of your pie filling and spread it out so your fruit filling is completely covered. Nope don't mix the cake according to directions on box. Just dump the dry mix on!

Step 3:  Cut a stick and a half of butter into pats and place them from end to end of your dish on top of the cake mix.

Put that in a 350 degree oven and bake it for an hour. Let it cool a bit and be amazed that the butter and juice from your pie filling turned that dry cake mix into a crunchy, gooey, cobbleresque cake! It's really great when you serve it up warm!

Seems everywhere I go lately I keep seeing "Chocolate Cherry". Ice cream, brownies, even a paint color! That put me in the mood to try a Black Forest Dump Cake and I'm glad I followed my gut and gave this a shot!

BLACK FOREST DUMP CAKE

2 cans of cherry pie filling

1 box of Betty Crocker Super Moist Triple Fudge Cake Mix

3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 sticks cut into pats)

Preheat oven to 350

Dump cherry pie filling into bottom of 9x13 baking dish and spread evenly

Dump  dry Triple Fudge cake mix on top of pie filling and spread to completely cover the pie filling.

Evenly space your butter pats on top of the dry cake mix

Bake 45-60 minutes. (My oven usually takes right around the 55 minute mark)

Let cool slightly and serve. A little vanilla ice cream compliments this one nicely if you want to indulge.