This pumpkin dump cake is a creamy pumpkin pie filling topped with a decadent pecan butter cake. Serve with ice cream on top for the perfect end to any fall dinner or holiday meal.
I can’t get enough pumpkin dessert recipes this time of the year, some of my favorites include homemade pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin gooey butter cake and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. This pumpkin dump cake is so very easy to make, and with just minutes of prep you end up with an amazing two layered dessert that’s perfect for feeding a crowd.
When I think fall, I think pumpkin recipes. There are so many amazing treats to be had! This easy pumpkin dump cake happens to be simple to make, but looks really impressive because it bakes up into a layered dessert with tons of flavor and texture.
Table of Contents
Pumpkin Dump Cake Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, yellow cake mix, pecans and butter.
How Do You Make Pumpkin Dump Cake?
Preheat the oven and coat a baking pan with cooking spray. Place the pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Stir all of the wet ingredients together. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the baking dish. Next, mix together the dry cake mix and pecans, then sprinkle it all over the pumpkin layer. Place thin slices of butter all over the top of the cake mix layer, then add another sprinkle of pecans. Bake until the cake is golden brown and the top is set. Cool for at least 15 minutes, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Cake
- Be sure to use canned pumpkin puree, NOT pie filling. Pie filling contains other ingredients and will not set the same way.
- This cake can be served warm, cold or at room temperature. To get neat slices, you’ll want to chill it in the fridge before cutting. Otherwise just use a big serving spoon and scoop it onto plates. You can reheat cold slices of cake for 20 seconds in the microwave if you like to eat it warm.
- Make sure that the butter is sliced thin so that you can cover the entire surface area of the pan with butter.
- If you’re a major pecan fan, you can add a sprinkle over the top for garnish before you serve your pumpkin dump cake.
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in the house, feel free to use cinnamon instead.
Quick Tip
While this cake is perfectly delicious on its own, it’s even better when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.
Recipe FAQs
A dump cake is a dessert where ingredients are layered in a pan and baked – literally everything is just dumped into the pan. This pumpkin cake does use one bowl to mix together the filling, but it’s totally worth the extra dirty dish to take that step.
A dump cake can stay at room temperature for about 8 hours. After that point, I’d recommend refrigerating it.
You do not mix a dump cake because if you did, it wouldn’t bake up into different layers. The hallmark of a good dump cake is a gooey bottom layer and sweet buttery cake layer.
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Flavor Variations
This recipe is delicious as-is, but you can customize some of the ingredients to suit your tastes.
- Cake: Instead of yellow cake mix, try using vanilla cake, spice cake or ginger cake mix.
- Filling: You can swap out the pumpkin for sweet potato puree for a different flavor.
- Toppings: Feel free to add more toppings to your cake before you serve it. Some great options include whipped cream, toasted coconut, chocolate chips, crystallized ginger or toffee bits.
- Nuts: Not a fan of pecans? Try using walnuts or almonds instead.
I am not the biggest fan of pumpkin pie, so I often serve pumpkin dump cake instead for Thanksgiving. I think this cake is much easier to make than pie, which is also a bonus.
As soon as the calendar hits September, I stock up on pumpkin puree so that we can enjoy this pumpkin dump cake for the colder months to come.
More Fall Recipes
No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
2 hrs 1 min
Apple Fries
30 mins
Pumpkin Meringue Pie
1 hr 50 mins
Pecan Pie Bars
1 hr
Pear Custard Pie
1 hr
Pumpkin Dump Cake Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Pumpkin Dump Cake
Ingredients
- 29 ounce can pumpkin puree do not use pumpkin pie filling
- 12 ounce can evaporated milk
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans divided use
- 1 cup butter cut into thin slices
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray.
- Place the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract in a bowl. Stir until smooth.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared pan.
- Place the cake mix and 1 cup of pecans in a bowl; stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the cake mix over the pumpkin layer.
- Place slices of butter all over the cake mix layer. Sprinkle the remaining pecans over the top.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and set. Let cool for at least 15 minutes, then serve. Top with ice cream and caramel sauce if desired.
Notes
- Be sure to use canned pumpkin puree, NOT pie filling. Pie filling contains other ingredients and will not set the same way.
- This cake can be served warm, cold or at room temperature. To get neat slices, you’ll want to chill it before cutting. Otherwise just use a big serving spoon and scoop it onto plates. You can reheat cold slices of cake for 20 seconds in the microwave if you like to eat it warm.
I am baking this today and realized I bought pumpkin pie mix by mistake😱How will it effect the finished product?
I’ve never made it with the pumpkin pie mix, but mix usually has sweetener and spices added to it. So you’d want to omit the spices in the recipe and use less sugar, but I can’t exactly tell you how much sugar because I don’t know how sweet the pie mix will be.
OMG! I must have this for my Thanksgiving dinner!
I too, am not a fan of pumpkin pie, but my daughter loves it. I made this last year and it was a great compromise with everyone loving it especially my daughter and husband.
I made this a couple days ago and it is absolutely amazing!! The BF and I have been chowing down on it non stop since it came out of the oven! And he’s not a big pumpkin fan either
Great recipe!!
So glad you enjoyed it, thank you for reporting back!
These look so damn good ,I am all over pumpkin this month. So rich in flavour and perfect for fall.
I saw this recipe and made it today and it was so amazing! Served it to friends at lunch and what a hit! Thanks
I have never heard of this recipe before but oh my goodness it looks bloody amazing! I am going to ask my partner if we can make it together next weekend – a great autumn treat!
My mouth is watering. This looks SO good. I’m saving the recipe to try later.
Nailil
This looks so good. We are going to try to make this over the weekend.
i’m not huge on pumpkin but i would give this a try. you make it look yummy!
This sounds good! I’m not big on pumpkin, but I’d give it a try anyway. It would probably be really good with vegan ice cream.
This looks delicious! Thank you for sharing.
I have never tried to make a pumpkin recipe cake but this one looks really delicious and looks so easy to make. I will try to make this on this coming weekend and I am sure the whole gang would love it.
This looks delicious! I usually do a pumpkin cheesecake for the holidays, but might have to give this a try instead!
I just sent this to my wife. Gonna have to get this in my belly right asap 🙂
I am not a fan of anything pumpkin but this looks so delicious that I would definitely try. I love that its a dump cake too 🙂
Wow! This one’s a winner. I just love everything about this! Everyone can dig right in!!
This looks SO delicious…you literally had me at butter cake. *drool*
I so want three slices of this now please, look so delicious and very tasty.
MM that sounds absolutely delicious! What lovely flavours. Thank you for sharing – I look forward to trying!