If you haven’t seen the heart-shaped save icon on all our recipes, let me introduce you to MyRecipes, the online recipe box where you can stash all your favorite Better Homes & Gardens recipes. It’s a great tool for saving and organizing recipes. As a BHG food editor, I’m always curious what our readers are loving most. Our lemon dump cake recipe has been saved thousands of times this year, and I can see why. Here’s why it’s a fan favorite, and why now is the perfect time to try it for yourself.
How to Make Lemon Dump Cake
You can have this lemon dump cake recipe assembled and in the oven in less than 10 minutes.
- Start by spraying a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in a can of lemon pie filling and spread it into an even layer.
- Top the pie filling with cubes of cream cheese. No need for them to be perfect; they’ll melt into the cake as it bakes.
- Sprinkle a box of white or yellow cake mix over the cream cheese and top with poppy seeds. Top with thin slices of butter and bake until golden brown. I like it best served warm.
What Makes This Dump Cake Recipe Special?
One of my biggest complaints with dump cakes is they can be overwhelmingly sweet. Here, the cream cheese helps cut through the sugary lemon pie filling. The poppy seeds also add a nod to my favorite lemon-poppy seed quick bread, and I love the nostalgic flavor combination they bring. If you top the cake with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, it tastes like a lemony twist on an orange creamsicle dessert.
Tips for Making a Homemade Dump Cake
Keep these tips in mind when making a dump cake recipe at home.
- Dump cakes are both incredibly easy and endlessly customizable. Try adding sliced strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries after the pie filling layer for a berry and lemon dump cake. You can also get creative with the cake mix flavors. Try using a lemon or strawberry cake mix instead.
- When adding the butter slices, try to layer them on as evenly as possible. This will help prevent any “dry” spots of cake mix after baking. As the butter melts, it moistens the cake mix and forms a cobbler-like crust.
- If you have leftover lemon dump cake, store it covered in the fridge for a day or so. We find it’s best eaten the day it’s made.
- If you don’t have whipped cream or ice cream, try serving this dump cake with a scoop of vanilla yogurt. The tangy flavor of the yogurt pairs well with the sweet lemon filling.
Why You Should Make (and Save!) Our Lemon Dump Cake Recipe
For me, the flavor of lemon reminds me of sunshine and warm weather, and I often turn to lemon bars as my go-to summer dessert, but this dump cake recipe has changed that. I love how incredibly easy it is to make and how the flavors work so well together. It’s a mashup of cobbler, lemon-poppy seed bread, and cheesecake—and it’s absolutely delicious.
