Easy Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake Recipe

There aren’t very many fruits that pair better with chocolate than cherries, so if you have a weakness for this duo, this is going to become your go-to dump cake recipe. I love making Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake for a summer barbecue because it’s so good topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but what’s great about a dump cake is that it’s easy enough to make on a weeknight so you can surprise your family with an unexpected dessert after dinner.

Really, the hardest part about making Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake is waiting for it to finish baking. It needs about 45 minutes in the oven, so be sure to plan accordingly!

(For more cherry goodness, make my Cherry Fluff Salad!)

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake:

Cherry pie filling – The whole point of a dump cake is that it’s a super easy dessert, so we use canned cherry pie filling here—two cans, to be exact. Just open ‘em up and dump ’em out.
Devil’s food cake mix – Fun fact: devil’s food cake got its name because it used to be made with shredded beets, giving it a deep red color. (Of course, the richness of the chocolate probably played a role too!)
Butter – You’ll need to melt a stick and a half of butter.
Whipped topping or vanilla ice cream – Technically, this is optional, but I say go big or go home.