Blackberry Dump Cake With Real Berries

Andrea + Stef — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 02:35:00 +0000

Serving dessert with dinner is a great treat for the whole family. This blackberry dump cake with real berries is the perfect weeknight dessert. It takes less than 10 minutes to prep and then bake to perfection in the oven.

In case you’ve never made a dump cake, then tonight is the night to try it. If you are a big fan of berries and cake, then you’ll love this blackberry cake mix cobbler. Similar to a crumble recipe, it taste best topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream.

Additionally, you can also use another kind of fruit or berry in this scrumptious recipe. Besides blackberries, raspberries, strawberries or peaches are other great options. This yummy and versatile recipe will soon be your new favorite fruit dessert.

What is a Dump Cake?

It will soon become completely obvious why this is called a dump cake. Spoiler alert! You dump everything into a baking pan or casserole dish and bake! It’s that easy. Even though it’s a terrible name, the result is out of this world delicious.

There are many variations of this simple dessert but this is one of our absolute favorites. You will not be disappointed. The combination of sweet and tart and cake is perfection. Each bite is a burst of flavor because of the delicious combination of simple ingredients.

If you love using boxed cake mix you might love this poke cake because it’s so pretty and delicious.

Why You’ll Love This

Notable: easy to make combination of a berry crumble and cake, it tastes amazing topped with vanilla ice cream
Main Ingredients: blackberries, light brown sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, yellow cake mix, quick cooking oats, salted butter
Cooking Method: oven baked
Cooking Time: 10 minutes prep time and 40 minutes baking time
Diets: vegetarian
Special Equipment Needed: small bowl, 9×13-inch baking dish

Ingredients

You may have all of these ingredients for this blackberry dump cake recipe in your refrigerator or pantry and not need to make a trip to the grocery store! If this is your first time making this easy dessert recipe you might want to read the possible variations before deciding on your ingredients.

Easy Blackberry Dump Cake Ingredients

4 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 package yellow cake mix (just the dry cake mix)
½ cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks, melted)

Optional Garnish

scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or cool whip

Variations and Substitutions

Berries: Substitute fresh blackberries with frozen ones, however, make sure to add some extra baking time when using frozen fruit. You can also use other fresh berries such as raspberries, blueberries or strawberries. Moreover, a mixed berry dump cake would also be delicious. You could even dry chopped apples or peaches. Ripe and juicy berries and fruit make the best cake mix cobbler. So pick whatever is in season at the farmer’s market.

Cake Mix: We love using yellow cake mix for this easy dump cake recipe, but you can also use vanilla cake mix or chocolate cake mix

Brown Sugar: The blackberries, whether fresh or frozen, will most likely need some sweetener. If you have especially sweet berries you can omit the sugar or decrease the amount of sugar. If you prefer, you can substitute white granulated sugar for the brown sugar or use a sugar substitute.

How To Make Gluten Free

Use a gluten free yellow cake mix and gluten free oats. This is an easy substitution. If you’re eating gluten free but aren’t sensitive to cross contamination you can use regular oats. If you’ve got Celiac Disease you’ll want to look for specifically gluten free oats. More gluten free desserts you might love.

How To Make Dairy Free

Use a butter substitute such as vegan butter (block) or vegetable shortening to make this dairy free.

WHAT TO MAKE NEXT: If you loved this blackberry cake with fresh blackberries, try our Apple and Blackberry Crumble. You’ll love it because it’s bursting with sweet and tart flavor. It’s the perfect dessert for summer or fall, and a lighter alternative to cake.

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Baking Dish – Use a 9×13-inch baking dish or similar sized baking pan or casserole dish for this recipe.

Instructions

This section shows how to make blackberry dump cake in the oven, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique. For printable instructions, and nutritional information see the recipe in the recipe card below.

Prep: Grease 9×13 baking pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Then preheat the oven to 350°F.

Step 1: Place fresh blackberries in an even layer on the bottom of a baking dish.

Step 2: Afterwards, add brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and cardamom on top of the rinsed blackberries. Then mix together with the berries. Make sure to evenly distribute the mixture at the bottom of the pan.

Step 3: Sprinkle a box of cake mix evenly on top of the berry mixture.

Step 4: Add rolled oats on top of the cake mix.

Step 5: Use your hands or a spoon to gently combine the oats and cake mix. Try not to mix the berries into the cake mix.

Step 6: Afterwards, melt 2 sticks butter and pour over the top of dry cake mix in the cake pan. Make sure it’s evenly distributed and cover as much area as possible. That way you avoid large dry patches.

Step 7: Bake for about 45-50 minutes in the preheated 350 degree oven. Make sure to start checking your dump cake at the 45 minute mark. The baking time varies depending on whether you used fresh or frozen fruit.

Step 8: Bake until the blackberry filling is bubbling and the topping is browned and baked through. Let cool for a couple of minutes. Then serve with a scoop of ice cream on top of the fruit cake.

WHAT TO MAKE NEXT: If you love everything blackberry flavored then you’ll love our Blackberry Cocktail. This easy cocktail recipe, with sweetened fruit, a splash of bubbly, and a sprig of thyme, is delicious whether you make it with alcohol or without alcohol.

Stef says….

Dump cake recipes are seriously one of the easiest cakes to assemble. Simply “dump” each layer at a time in a cake pan, then let the oven to do the rest of the work! Besides blackberry, I also love making Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake, Lemon Dump Cake and Lemon Pineapple Dump Cake.

Recipe Tips

Follow these tips to make the best blackberry dump cake with real berries.

Tip: In order to avoid overly sweet dump cake, adjust the amount of sugar to the sweetness of your berries.
Tip: Make sure to cover the cake mixture evenly with the melted butter to avoid dry spots.
Tip: Let the cake cool for a couple of minutes before serving. Then top with vanilla ice cream.

More Fruit Dessert Recipes

The easiest desserts are often the most delicious. We love these great recipes with fresh fruit or pie filling because they come together in only minutes and taste absolutely divine:

How To Store

Refrigerate: After the fresh blackberry cake has completely cooled, transfer it to an airtight container or wrap tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Then store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Freeze: You can freeze any leftover dump cake with blackberries in a freezer safe container or freezer bag for up to 1 month.

Defrosting: Thaw blackberry dump cake leftovers in the fridge or at room temperature.

How To Reheat

You can reheat leftover dump cake in the microwave or eat it cold.

Common Questions

Can I use frozen blackberries when fresh aren’t in season?

Of course. Using frozen blackberries may take a bit longer to cook completely. If you defrost first we recommend defrosting in a strainer to get rid of excess moisture.

What other fruit can be substituted?

Any berries make a great substitute. Use less sugar for sweeter berries, like strawberries. You might also consider diced apples mixed in with the blackberries.

How long does it take to make easy blackberry cobbler?

In case you are trying to organize your baking and cooking time for dinner, I recommend putting the ingredients into the dish before starting your dinner. From the time you start gathering your ingredients until it’s ready for the oven is a maximum of 10 minutes. Once you have it in the dish it will take 30-50 minutes to bake. If you’re using fresh berries it will cook on the lower end of the time frame. Consider this when deciding what time to put it into the oven.
Once you remove it from the oven it will take 5-10 minutes to sit and cool enough to serve with a scoop of ice cream.

What is the best way to serve this delicious dessert?

Firstly, let the dish sit for 5-10 minutes to cool slightly and to let the juices thicken up a little more. Then serve the dessert while it’s warm. We recommend pairing with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream though it’s delicious all by itself!
You could even make individual desserts in their own baking cups. Cook them at the same time on a baking sheet. This is a fun way to serve to guests. Just add a scoop of ice cream on top of each of the baking dishes.

blackberry, butter, cake mix, cinnamon, dump cake