Food and Recipes Desserts Cobblers Peach Dump Cake 4.8 (19) 13 Reviews This peach dump cake is somewhere between a buttery cake and a luscious cobbler. By Southern Living Test Kitchen Southern Living Test Kitchen The Southern Living Test Kitchen has been publishing recipes since 1970, four years after the first issue of Southern Living Magazine appeared on newsstands. The Southern Living Test Kitchen team includes a team of professionals with deep expertise in recipe development, from pastry chefs and grilling experts to nutritionists and dietitians. Together, the team tests and retests, produces, styles, and photographs thousands of recipes each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on July 30, 2024 Rate PRINT Share Active Time: 5 mins Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Servings: 8 Moist, gooey, and sweet, peach dump cake is a simple and delicious dessert bursting with late summer flavor. Featuring two shortcut ingredients—canned peaches and yellow cake mix—this indulgent cake comes together in a flash but tastes like you spent hours simmering peaches and mixing batter. Here, everything you need to know about this luscious peach dessert, plus how to make, serve, and store it. Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Stylist: Christina Dailey What Is Peach Dump Cake? With a fluffy body from the cake mix and gooey indulgent filling from the canned peaches, this peach dump cake is somewhere between a cake and a cobbler. Unlike a cobbler, which typically features a layer of fruit and a layer that's more crust- or biscuit-like, a dump cake is soft and cakey, and the fruit is mixed throughout. Dump cake also uses canned peaches packed in syrup, where a traditional cake or cobbler usually calls for fresh fruit. Most people trace the origin of the dump cake to a recipe published by Duncan Hines in 1980 in a holiday baking brochure, though it was also found here and there in articles and reader-submitted recipes in local newspapers during the 1960s. Peach Dump Cake Ingredients You only need six ingredients to make peach dump cake—though you could also get creative and toss in add-ons like fresh or frozen raspberries or chopped pecans or walnuts. Here's what you need: Canned sliced peaches in syrup: Utilizing the sweet syrup the peaches are packed in nixes the need to add additional liquid to this recipe. You could also try it with canned cherries or blackberries.Yellow cake mix: Any brand of boxed yellow cake mix will do—the fruit is the star of the show.Spices: This is how you jazz up the store-bought cake mix. We use salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but you could also try cardamom or cloves.Butter: Let's face it, no baked dessert is complete without butter. We like to melt it and the drizzle it on top of the other ingredients to ensure it's distributed evenly. Why Is It Called Dump Cake? Dump cake gets its name from the cooking method: All the ingredients are dumped in the pan, then you bake! Is Dump Cake Supposed To Be Gooey? Yes, mixing the juices of the canned peaches and the yellow cake mix will result in several delicious textures, from gooey, sugary fruit filling to crispy, buttery topping. How To Serve Peach Dump Cake Since peach dump cake can't be sliced like a standard peach cake, we recommend scooping it out of the baking dish with a big spoon while it is still warm and serving in bowls. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream to really wow your crowd. Does Peach Dump Cake Need To Be Refrigerated? Just as it's incredibly simple to make, peach dump cake is also easy to store and reheat if you have leftovers. It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple days, after which you can pop it in the microwave before serving warm. Can You Freeze Peach Dump Cake? You can freeze it in an airtight container, and it will keep frozen for a few months. To eat, thaw it in the fridge then reheat in the microwave or in the oven until warm. Editorial contributions by Alyssa Sybertz. Ingredients 2 (15.25-oz.) cans of sliced peaches in syrup 1 (15.25-oz.) box yellow cake mix 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/2 cup butter, melted Directions Add peaches to pan: Preheat oven to 375°F. In a 13 x 9-in. baking dish, add 1 can of peaches with the syrup. Drain the second can. Add the peaches to the baking dish, and discard the additional syrup. Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Stylist: Christina Dailey Combine dry ingredients, add to pan: Mix together cake mix, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle evenly over peaches. Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Stylist: Christina Dailey Pour melted butter evenly over the surface of the cake mix. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, 55 minutes to 1 hour. Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Stylist: Christina Dailey Test Kitchen Notes After a few cooks submitted reviews noting issues with this recipe, we retested this recipe. Our dump cake worked perfectly. However, our Test Kitchen noted that adding butter into the cake mix before spreading it over top of the peaches will work and help prevent any dry spots. Frequently Asked Questions Do you refrigerate dump cake? There's no dairy in this recipe, but we'd still recommend you refrigerate dump cake. It'll help it last longer in the fridge. Cover the dish in plastic wrap, and store it in the fridge 4 to 5 days. How long does dump cake last? If stored in the refrigerator, dump cake will last 4 to 5 days—if it's not all eaten first. Should a dump cake be runny? Once baked, a dump cake's fruit filling should be thick and syrupy, not runny. Let the dump cake stand a few minutes after it comes out of the oven, and the sugary syrup should thicken up nicely. Rate It Print Additional reporting by Alyssa Sybertz Alyssa Sybertz Alyssa Sybertz has nearly a decade of experience writing about food, cooking, and cookbooks for print and digital publications, developing recipes, and cooking for her family. learn more