This insanely easy 4 ingredient vegan cherry pineapple dump cake may be the absolutely easiest vegan cake ever. Simple, delicious and a hit with a crowd!
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Holidays can be hectic and overwhelming and all the in between. Cake helps. Vegan Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake helps even more.
Why you ask?
Because it it quite literally one of the easiest things you will ever make in your entire life.
The biggest thing you need is patience and that’s when it comes from waiting for it to finish.
And also maybe some resilience if you have to wait to try it because you are taking it somewhere or serving it to others.
Literally if you have 5 minutes to prep something, then you have the ability to make it!
Lastly, if you want to pass off some delegation to an older child, they can definitely make this vegan cherry dump cake all by themselves. Give it a try. Then sit back and relax yourself.
What is a Vegan Dump Cake?
Dump Cake is a classic recipe that appears to be from Duncan Hines in the 1980s. It’s called dump cake because all your ingredients are dumped into your casserole dish and then baked. No mixing is needed.
While the original recipe is similar to the one we are making today with cherry pie filling and pineapple, there are endless possibilities around! Give some a try with your favorite vegan-friendly boxed cake mix.
WHAT INGREDIENTS DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THE BEST VEGAN DUMP CAKE?
Below are notes about the main ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make vegan cherry pineapple dump cake:
- canned cherry pie filling – any brand of canned cherry pie filling will work. This is cherries in a syrup. You will use the entire can including all the thick syrup
- canned crushed pineapple – crushed pineapple is so small that everything will be easily evenly distributed. It’s great because you get all the flavor without any huge chunks
- vegan-friendly boxed vanilla cake mix – many yellow boxed cake mixes are vegan-friendly. White cake mixes, not so much. You want to look out for boxes that say contains milk or eggs (some, especially white boxed cake mix, usually contain whey or dairy in some form)
- vegan butter – you want to use sticks of butter that you can place all over the cake after cutting into tablespoon or thinly sliced tabs
- vanilla extract, almond extract, cardamom – these are all optional ingredients, but we love the simple additions to enhance the flavor even more
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
- canned fruits – you can use other canned fruits as well to switch up the flavors. Just make sure you are using 40-50 ounces of canned fruit
- vegan-friendly boxed vanilla cake mix – gluten free boxes can also be used
- vegan butter – do not omit this
- optional toppings: try adding things like shredded coconut or chopped nuts like almonds or walnuts to the top
Tips for how to make the best vegan cherry pineapple dump cake:
See below tips and tricks for making this vegan cherry dump cake perfect!
- Follow the instructions pretty please. Cake baking is a science, especially when making a dairy free/vegan cake. Even one as simple as this Every step has a purpose to ensure the perfect vegan dump cake.
- Make sure to grease your pans. No one likes a cake that can’t come out of the pan. It’s one of the most frustrating things and doing these two things will helps.
- Make sure that you evenly distribute the cake mix on the top before adding the vegan butter. You can gently with the back of a spoon spread the mix out if you have any places where there is too much dry cake mix.
- Do not press the cake mix down and do not stir it together at all.
- It’s best to thinly slice the butter and cover the most area of the cake rather then very large pieces.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Absolutely! The only swap you need is to use a gluten free vegan friendly boxed cake mix.
Besides the flour, that you can use gluten free as recommended above, the only other ingredient is the vegan butter which typically contains soy.
Just choose a soy free vegan butter like Flora Plant Butter. Any dairy free milk can be used that is safe for your allergens.
It’s honestly somewhere in between. It definitely favors a cobbler, but because you are using the boxed cake mix, you can taste those hints of cake mix flavor. You also give some of those cake texture differences when eating this. So I guess more like a cake flavored cobbler?
No. You need the vegan butter to make this bake properly and we have not tested any alternatives to that, so we cannot make this recommendation at this time.
If you get your cake around 45 minutes and see that there’s still a bit of powder in one or two places there’s still a chance to fix it. First, what happened is that there likely was a place without butter tabs near it. The best way to prevent this from happening is thin butter tabs all over with no large gaps in between.
Very VERY carefully, scrape up as much as you can without touching the fruit underneath into a small bowl, add ½-2 tablespoon of melted butter depending on how much you have. Carefully add it back to the same place and spread gently and evenly. Bake for the entire rest of the 15 minutes.
What are other quick vegan desserts I can make?
If you are looking for even more vegan quick dessert recipes, here’s a few ideas:
- No Bake Vegan Chocolate Fudge
- Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge (4 Ingredients!)
- 2 Ingredient apple pie egg rolls
- Vegan Chocolate Covered Almond Clusters
- Vegan Dessert Charcuterie Board
Pin this vegan cherry pineapple dump cake for later!
🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Vegan Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake
Ingredients
- 1 20oz can cherry pie filling
- 1 20oz can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- ½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom, optional
- 1 15.25 oz box vegan-friendly vanilla cake mix
- ¾ cup vegan butter (1 ½ sticks), cut into tablespoon pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish.
- Pour in cherry pie filling, crushed pineapple, and both extracts if using. Stir together and evenly spread out among bottom of pan.
- As evenly as possible, sprinkle cake mix across the top. DO NOT MIX.
- Place tabs of vegan butter all across the top. Place into oven and bake for 45-60 minutes or until it's bubbly along the edges.
Love this vegan dump cake and have made it many times now. l love your all’s channel!
Thank you so much !
Hello. Is the sugar in those cake mixes and that pie filling vegan? Thank you.
Hi! You can definitely find them! It’s always best to either go with an organic option or call/e-mail the manufacturer directly to ask.
This cake is so unbelievably delicious I could LIVE off of it!!! Thank you for this recipe y’all! it is now a staple in my home & tell everyone about it.
I used Duncan Hines French vanilla cake mix & I cannot recommend it enough ♡♡
yay!
I am in no way a baker, but this recipe got me feeling great about my abilities! Made it for Easter and it was a hit. So, easy and tasted great, even though I used tidbits since my store didn’t have crushed pineapple. Will be making again.
So happy you tried it and it is building your confidence! You got this