Yellow cake mix goes on sale all the time where I live. For under $10, you can usually score 15 or more boxes! This is great if you’re making cakes, but what if you just don’t have an occasion for frosting a celebration dessert?

Growing up we ate “dump cake” quite often. Ignoring the name for a moment, dump cake is delicious. The best part is that it takes no baking skill or more than 7 minutes to make. And most people have everything they need to make one hiding in their pantry. The main ingredient: Yellow cake mix. Here’s a classic recipe that will aim to please:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 (29 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained, juice reserved
  • 1 (6 ounce) package peach flavored gelatin mix
  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Place peaches in bottom of 9x13 cake pan. Sprinkle dry peach gelatin over peaches. Sprinkle dry cake mix over gelatin. Cut up butter and distribute over cake mix. Pour 1 cup of reserved peach juice and 1/2 cup of water over the top.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until the top is browned.

Can’t get much more basic than that, can it? For some variety, try a different canned fruit and pudding combo (apples, pears, mandarin orange, cherries or even pumpkin!) You can top it off with whipped topping or ice cream. No one will ever know you didn’t even have to mix it!

There are also some very delicious and easy cookie recipes that use yellow cake mix as the main ingredient. Because you don’t have to mess with sifting flour or melting butter, this is totally the way to go. Check out my favorite cookies made from yellow cake mix:

INGREDIENTS

  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 cups quick-cooking oats (or instant oatmeal, same thing)
  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup yummy stir-ins of your choice (pecans, walnuts, chocolate chips, raisins, etc.)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Stir together all ingredients. Spoon 1 teaspoon drops of dough onto baking sheet (ungreased).
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 13 minutes, or until golden brown and not gooey in the middles.