Dump Cake in the Pellet Smoker
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Wade Smith, a newsletter subscriber, sent me his dump cake recipe and I (of course)cooked it in the pellet smoker. It could easily be cooked in the oven as well but I figure this is a great thing to do in the pellet smoker and keep the heat out of the kitchen.
Because it's cooked at a higher heat, there is no smoke to speak of and you don't end up getting smoke flavor in the cake.. this may disappoint some and make others happy. Regardless, it's one of the easiest desserts I've ever made and everyone who tried it, admitted it was pretty darn good!
Some of you may be wondering why it's called “dump cake” and I'll tell you what I told my 5 year old grandson.. “because you dump everything in the bowl and cook it just like that without any fuss”.
This one is peach but it's just as easy to make it apple, cherry, blueberry, etc. by simply using a different pie filling!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45-60 minutes
- Smoker Temp: 375°F
- Meat Finish Temp: N/A
- Recommended Wood: Any flavor of pellets will work
- Yellow cake mix (15.25 ounces or similar)
- 2 cans (20 ounces each) peach pie filling (or apple, cherry, etc.)
- 1 stick of butter (¼ lb)
- ½ teaspoon all spice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pour pie filling into a 9 x 13 dish.
I didn't actually “dump” it.. I sort of poured it all over the top of the fruit as evenly as I could but I figure you can probably take as little pains as you like with this part.
As you can see it certainly was not even but then, it doesn't have to be;-)
Press it down firmly all over.. I opted to use a potato masher for this and it worked perfectly!
Cut a stick of butter into a bunch of smaller pieces. I ended up with 16 pieces but don't count them or you're missing the whole point of the dump cake.
Lay the pieces all over the top of the pressed down cake mix.
I forced myself to NOT make even rows.. that was difficult but I persevered!
I poured what looked like ½ teaspoon each of all spice and cinnamon into my hand, mixed the two together and sprinkled the mixture all over the top of the cake mix and butter.
Preheat the pellet smoker to 375°F using whatever pellets you have available.
This preheating step should probably be done before you even start putting the ingredients into the dish.. depends on how efficient you want to be.
Place the dump cake into the smoker and let it begin it's 45-60 minute vacation in the smoke and heat.
I was using a Pyrex dish and, based on past experiences, I opted to NOT lay the cold dish directly onto the very hot grates.
When I was ready to insert the cake, I placed a pan with a Bradley rack on the grates and sat the Pyrex dish on top of that. In this way it could heat up more slowly and evenly and no exploding glass.
In case you haven't figured it out, I've had bad experiences with glass dishes changing temperature too quickly!
Unlike meat, we are not looking for a certain temperature but rather a pleasing golden brown color.
Check it at 30 minutes, then again at 45 minutes and sort of go from there.
Mine took 60 minutes but depending on your smoker and perhaps the type of pan or dish that you use, this could vary for you.
Set it on the counter and let it cool for a few minutes before serving, or serve it right away if you insist.
I served myself a piece and, in that moment, there was nothing more perfect!
Dump Cake in the Pellet Smoker
Ingredients
- 1 box Yellow cake mix (15.25 ounce box)
- 2 cans Pie filling (20 ounces each) (peach, apple, etc.)
- 1 stick Butter (1/4 lb)
- ½ teaspoon All spice
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
Instructions
- Pour Pour pie filling into a 9 x 13 dish or pan
- Press Pour cake mix evenly over top of pie filling and press down firmly all over. I used a potato masher for this.
- Cut Cut butter into a lot of pieces and place all over the top of the pressed cake mix.
- Sprinkle Sprinkle all spice and cinnamon all over the top of the butter and cake mix.
- Cook Place into 375℉ oven or smoker and cook until top is golden brown or about 45-60 minutes.
- Serve Remove the dump cake from the smoker or oven and serve right away.
Jeff, I just read a month ago that Pyrex is a different glass than PYREX (all capitals). May have been your problem, check it out.
Thanks for all your work!!!
Dale, thank you!– I had no idea. I appreciate you sharing that information!
The peach dump cake is outstanding and so, so easy to make. When served, add some vanilla ice cream and get wowed! It’s really good! Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Jeff, could I put this together Thursday night, and pop in smoker next morning?
Sammy, That’s a great question. I’m thinking yes but I don’t know for sure since I’ve never tried it.
I am confused with the smoke. Is there a taste benefit to smoking the dump cake? I have a Masterbuilt that goes to 240
I don’t mind a little smoke flavor however, when cooking at 375 in a pellet smoker, you get very little smoke flavor, if any. It’s really an oven replacement at that point. It’s more about “what else can I cook on this thing?” than it is smoke flavor in my opinion.
If I only had a Masterbuilt smoker, I would probably just cook it in the oven since there’s no huge flavor benefit. (my opinion).
I reset my phone and lost all my recipes. Please continue to send recipes and that dump cake.
Thanks