Easy Apple Cranberry Dump Cake (No Butter or Eggs)
Meet your new fall favorite! This Apple Cranberry Dump Cake isn’t a slice-perfect-squares kind of dessert. Instead, it’s warm and super moist, so you scoop portions right from the casserole dish with a large spoon. One bite and you’re hooked.
Save This Recipe
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Chopped apples and dried cranberries bake into a cozy dump cake that tastes like Thanksgiving week, with only four ingredients and ten minutes of prep. The sparkling water is the clever part, with no eggs, butter, or oil needed!
I use cran-raspberry flavored sparkling water because it ties the apples and cranberries together, but you can easily swap in any berry-flavored variety. I love how it turns the cake mix into a soft, spoonable treat. The dried cranberries plump up instead of bursting, so you get chewy, sweet-tart bites in every spoonful. It’s a great dessert for the holidays, whether you top it with whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream… or enjoy it straight up!
Prefer a more traditional cake texture? Let it cool, then pop it in the fridge. It firms up as it chills, so you can cut it into squares. Best of both worlds!
The recipe calls for spice cake mix, which brings warm holiday vibes like cinnamon and nutmeg (and OMG, the kitchen smells incredible as it bakes!), but you can easily swap in a vanilla mix.
A little prep, a lot of YUM
- Four ingredients and one pan…almost too easy. Everything gets stirred together right in the baking dish, so cleanup is also easy.
- A shortcut with a seasonal spin. Spice cake mix supplies the cinnamon-and-nutmeg goodness, while apples and dried cranberries bring texture and sweet-tart flavor.
- Scoop and serve. Get messy! Spoon it into bowls and finish with whipped cream or a little vanilla ice cream.
- Glass or metal pan? I bake mine in a glass 9×13 casserole dish. I also tested it in a metal pan, and it was done about 15 minutes sooner, so if you’re using metal, start checking early!
Wondering why I’m calling this a dump cake and not a cobbler or mud pie? If you’ve made my 3-Ingredient Berry Cobbler or my Chocolate Cherry Mud Cake, you’ll recognize the easy method: cake mix, fruit, and sparkling water, all stirred together in one pan. But the apples and dried cranberries don’t burst into a jammy filling the way berries do, or create a rich, chocolatey texture like the cherry mud pie does. They stay in soft pieces throughout a super moist, spoonable cake, which feels to me like classic dump cake territory.
Since this recipe uses only half the box of cake mix (I deliberately do this to lower the flour and sugar content), you can put the leftovers to work in my single-serve mug cakes. Try my Microwave Pumpkin Mug Cake, which is made for leftover spice cake mix, or my 5-Minute Carrot Mug Cake, another easy single-serve treat that uses just ¼ cup.
Ready for your next apple-solutely delicious treat? Try my 5-Minute Apple Pie!
Easy Apple Cranberry Dump Cake (No Butter or Eggs)
Ingredients
- 3 cups chopped apples, cut into small ½-inch pieces (about 3 medium)
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1½ cups boxed spice cake mix, or vanilla, about ½ (14-ounce) package
- 1 cup cran-raspberry sparkling water*
- Optional garnish: whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Liberally mist a 9- x 13-inch casserole pan with oil spray.
- Add the apples and dried cranberries to the bottom of the pan and toss to distribute them evenly. Sprinkle 1½ cups of the dry cake mix over the top (save the rest for mug cakes!).
- Pour the 1 cup cran-raspberry sparkling water evenly over the top (NOTE: it is not the entire can—just one cup!) and mix really well, scraping the corners of the pan, until you have a thick batter with no flour streaks or dry pockets of cake mix.
- Bake for about 55 minutes, until the cake on top is firm, lightly browned, and crackly, with apple pieces scattered throughout. A fork should slide easily into the apples. If the top is browning before the apples soften, loosely tent the pan with foil.If baking in a metal pan, start checking around the 40-minute mark!
- Cool for at least 10 minutes to let it firm up slightly. The texture will be soft, gooey and spoonable, so scoop portions with a serving spoon into ramekins or small bowls. Top with optional whipped cream or ice cream and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon, if desired.
