This Cherry Strawberry Dump Cake is the best of both worlds! Made with fresh strawberries, cherry pie filling, cream cheese, and cake mix topped with a buttery topping. This dessert is reminiscent of a homemade cobbler and is truly one of the easiest desserts you’ll make. Perfect for gatherings and celebrations!
If you love this recipe, be sure to check out my Watermelon Basil Breeze Cocktail, Strawberry Butter Golden Dump Cake, Berry Cheesecake Trifle, and this delicious Southern Peach Pie!
Cherries and Strawberries. Never in a million years did I think I would ever fall in love with these two together. My goodness. This combination is absolutely divine!
Cherry Strawberry Dump Cake
It’s giving cobbler meets cheesecake vibes. It’s such an easy dessert to make and so perfect as we transition from spring to summer. But let’s be real, you can enjoy this dessert all year round—and I encourage you to. Spring and Summer is the perfect time to share the love especially since it is officially Cherry and Strawberry season, with Easter, and Juneteenth being celebrated as well. Following spring will be summer holidays and Family Reunions galore. This “cake” will be one of the easiest desserts you will ever make, and it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare. My family absolutely loved it! This year I wanted to create something to enjoy for Juneteenth.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth Day is a time of reflection, gratitude, prayer, religious services, and events. It is observed annually on June Nineteenth (Juneteenth), and this celebration is an integral part of America’s history, not just African American history. On this day, June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Major General Gordon Granger, a U.S. Army officer and Union general, declared that all slaves were free. You can read more here.
We celebrate Juneteenth with family gatherings, festivals, music, food, dancing, and giving thanks to our Ancestors. Red foods and beverages are a must for Juneteenth, so I knew this dessert featuring fresh strawberries would be perfect to serve again for Juneteenth. You can read more about the history of Juneteenth foods here.
What is a Dump Cake?
It’s basically a “cake” where you dump all of your ingredients into your baking dish. For a Dump Cake made with fruit: pour your fresh fruit or canned pie fruit filling (ex. apple, blueberry, cherry, strawberry, etc.) into a baking dish, sprinkle cake mix over the fruit layer(s) to cover, then add thin slices of butter to cover the entire pan (this will help give it that buttery, cobbler-ish topping), then bake. You can even add more toppings or ingredients because dump cakes are totally customizable. See below how the layers will look.
Dump Cake Ingredients
- Yellow Cake Mix: Combined with the butter will give it a cobbler-style topping.
- Butter: is the icing on the cake to give you that butter-rich taste with each bite.
- Cream Cheese: When softened, the creaminess of cream cheese adds a fun element to this dump cake and its flavors.
- Strawberries: Fresh, sliced strawberries are only half of the duo that makes this dump cake so special. Fresh berries are such a great element because it gives you another texture to marry with its other half.
- Cherry Pie Filling: This filling is so insanely delicious and also the other half of the unlikely duo. These two flavors together are LOVE at first bite.
Cake mix to use for Dump Cake
I’m old school so I stick with Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker. Pillsbury will also work. I’m sure other varieties not mentioned will work the same, but I haven’t ventured off of those three yet. Also, White, French Vanilla, Vanilla, or Butter Golden cake mix will work if you can’t find yellow. I don’t have a problem finding a Yellow cake mix, but you can switch it out for one of the others mentioned. I personally would use the Yellow and Butter Golden cake mix because it produces the perfect, buttery crust.
Can I Use Canned Strawberry Pie Filling?
Absolutely! I will say…since I started making dump cakes, there’s something so special about the fresh fruit element added. Feel free to swap out the fresh strawberries for Strawberry Pie filling.
If I Am Attending a party or gathering, can I make it the day of?
You sure can! This cake will not last long. I REPEAT. This cake will not last long. This is also one of those desserts that you can make the morning of and it will be perfectly cooled by the time you get to your destination.
Tips & Tweaks
- You can eliminate the sugar altogether if you’re using a can of Cherry Pie filling and Strawberry pie filling (instead of using fresh strawberries).
- You do not have to add 1/4 cup of sugar to sliced strawberries. Totally optional. The cherry pie filling is sweet and the strawberries are naturally sweet. Taste your strawberries to make sure they are sweet to your liking. Adjust accordingly.
- If you find that there are areas of your crust where the butter did not distribute evenly or saturate, melt 1/4 cup of butter and pour over the areas to ensure the entire topping is covered with no dry spots.
- Feel free to swap out the butter for dairy-free butter and dairy cream cheese for dairy free.
More Strawberry Recipes and Favorites!
Berry Blast Keto Smoothie Bowl
Strawberry Butter Golden Dump Cake
We Can’t Forget About the Cherries!
This dessert will make an excellent addition to your family gathering, cookout, or summertime celebration. If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating as well as a comment. Tag me (@myprettybrowneats) on social media. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok as well as using the #myprettybrowneats hashtag on IG and TikTok.
Cherry Strawberry Dump Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
- 1½ Cups Strawberries, fresh sliced
- 1 Can Cherry Pie Filling, 21 oz
- 1 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened – see picture (optional) you may also use softened, whipped cream cheese. You will add dollops on top of your fresh strawberries to cover "cake"
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter (1 Stick) use additional ¼ (if needed for topping)
- ¼ White granulated sugar, optional used to mix with sliced strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Spray baking dish with cooking spray.
- In a bowl, mix sliced strawberries with 1/4 cup of sugar. Set aside.
- Pour Cherry Pie filling in the bottom of baking dish to cover the bottom.
- Add sliced strawberries evenly on top of Cherry Pie filling.
- Then you will drop softened cream cheese on top of the strawberries to ensure you will cover all areas of the "cake". See photo above. About 16 + 24 dollops will work.
- Next, sprinkle the box of yellow cake mix evenly to completely cover the sliced strawberries and cherry pie filling.
- Slice unsalted butter into approximately 20 thinly sliced squares to evenly distribute over the cake mix. The butter will create a delicious, buttery crust for your topping as it melts.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until your topping is golden brown and your filling is bubbling. You can use a fork to test if your "crust" is ready. Get ready to grab your ice cream!
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- If you make this recipe using canned filling, use two (2), 21-ounce cans and eliminate the sugar that would have been used for the fresh strawberries.
- Make sure you check out the Tips & Tweaks section.
Oooooh, gimme this and a gallon of vanilla bean ice cream and I’ll look like a little human blimp! Wow, this looks awesome Ma’am!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! I’ll be making it again soon for the fam, so have your tastebuds ready! I hope to see you there.
This sounds wonderful, but my question: Cream cheese is listed in the ingredients, but it’s not listed anywhere in the instructions. How is the cream cheese incorporated into the recipe?–
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I accidentally deleted the instruction line. It is updated now. You just add dollops of softened cream cheese (regular or whipped) to cover the enter “cake”. Whipped probably distributes better. Just make sure it is softened so it can melt into the dish. See picture in post. :)
This was such a yummy way to use our summer cherries and strawberries! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Such a fantastic dessert for summer! It definitely is the best of both worlds. Those flavors sound amazing.
I absolutely love making easy desserts like this that taste amazing. ThisCherry Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake did not dissapoint.
Oooh! I want this right now! Looks so decadent and delicious. Love it and can’t wait to give it a try!
This feels like a cross between cobbler and a cheese cake, which I absolutely love. Such a simple recipe with great flavors.
Yes, indeed! So perfect for summer. Enjoy!