Sweet Fall Treat : Pumpkin Dump Cake

I made this easy cake on Halloween and totally forgot to post about it. Luckily, it is not just a Halloween-appropriate dessert. This Pumpkin Dump Cake is the perfect fall treat. It tastes like pumpkin pie, but it is so much easier to make. That's the thing about dump cakes. While they don't have the most appetizing or elegant name, they are simple, quick and delicious. You basically dump the ingredients in a pan and bake. Even better? You probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry and fridge already. So if you're craving something sweet this weekend, give this cake a go.

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Recipe via Tablespoon, with a few minor changes

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 60 minutes | Serves 16

INGREDIENTS

1 (29 ounce) can pure pumpkin

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk

3 whole eggs

1 cup white sugar (I used half white, half brown for a deeper, molasses-like sweetness)

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 (18.25 ounce) boxed cake mix (instead of the suggested Betty Crocker Supermoist Yellow Cake Mix, I used a Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix for extra fall-time flavor)

1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but highly recommended)

3/4 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and cinnamon until well blended. Spread pumpkin mixture in prepared baking dish. The mixture will be very wet! This is OK.

3. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the top of the batter. If adding pecans (please do!), sprinkle them over the cake mix. Pour melted butter on top, evenly distributing over the dish. Bake 50 minutes.

4. Let cake cool, then cut into slices (which may fall apart like mine did, but it still tasted good!). For extra decadence, top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I used Talenti Tahitian Vanilla Bean gelato and it was heavenly.

My husband loved this cake, saying it tasted just like pumpkin pie, and even a friend who watched our dogs over the weekend (while we were in Miami) enjoyed the leftovers. I will warn you: this makes a lot of cake! We were unable to finish the whole pan. So it is ideal for an autumn dinner party, or even to cap off a Thanksgiving meal.

If you give this recipe a whirl, I'd love to hear how you like it!