This 3-ingredient apple dump cake cooks in the Instant Pot, for a simple fall dessert.

You’ll love how easy it is to make Instant Pot apple dump cake using a can of apple pie filling, some cake mix, and butter!

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Dump cakes have long been a tradition in many families, thanks to their simplicity and ease of preparation.

All it takes is some pie filling, some cake mix, and some butter. These three ingredients combine to form a sweet but ever-so-slightly salty crust over the gooey pie filling, for a delightful cobbler that begs for a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Since I love making Instant Pot apple cake and Instant Pot apple crisp, I decided to try my hand at Instant Pot apple dump cake.

The result was a sweet, cinnamon-spiced dessert that’s ridiculously easy to make and perfect for fall!

More Instant Pot Apple Recipes:

• Easy Instant Pot Applesauce
• Homestyle Instant Pot Cinnamon Apples
• Instant Pot Apple Butter
• Easy Instant Pot Applesauce Cake

Pot-in-Pot Pressure Cooker Apple Dump Cake

To make this easy apple dump cake, I used the pot-in-pot method of cooking in the Instant Pot.

If you aren’t familiar with this method, you essentially combine the ingredients in a smaller dish that fits into your Instant Pot (check out my list of recommended dishes for pot-in-pot cooking).

You’ll add water to the bottom of your Instant Pot, then lower the dish of ingredients onto your trivet. So the Instant Pot heats up the water, creating pressure, which cooks the food in the smaller dish.

This is particularly helpful when you don’t want the water to combine with your food, which is the case in this recipe. Nobody wants watery dump cake!

One thing to be mindful of when making desserts in the Instant Pot is that the environment in a pressure cooker is moist, as opposed to the dry heat of an oven.

So the top cake layer doesn’t really brown or crisp up like it would in the oven.

Since the dump cake is made in a separate baking dish, it’s super easy to transfer it to the oven for a few minutes to brown the top. Or, if you have an air fryer lid for your Instant Pot, you can use that to crisp up the top.

How to Make Instant Pot Apple Dump Cake

It’s really easy to make this simple pressure cooker dessert.

Ingredients You’ll Need:

• Canned apple pie filling
• Spice cake mix
• Unsalted butter

How to Make It:

(Full printable recipe is available below)

Add water. First you’ll pour a cup of water into the insert pot of the Instant Pot and set the trivet in place.

Prepare dump cake. Next, you’ll spread the apple pie filling into a 1.5-quart baking dish that fits in your Instant Pot.

I use this Corningware baking dish. It works great, fits in my 6-quart Instant Pot, plus it’s pretty enough to serve from (plus, it can be used for plenty of other things, too)!

You’ll sprinkle 1 cup of the spice cake mix over the apples. It’s important here that you don’t use the whole package of cake mix, otherwise the layer will be too thick for the butter to soak all the way through.

Then, drizzle the melted butter over the cake mix, trying to cover as much as possible. It’s okay if there are small areas that aren’t covered.

Pressure cook. Then, you’ll lower the baking dish onto the trivet in your Instant Pot.

Close the lid and cook at high pressure for 30 minutes. I don’t cover this one with aluminum foil, but you can if you’d like.

After a 5 minute natural release, you can perform a quick release and carefully lift the dish out.

Brown the top. This last step is optional. If you’d like, you can transfer the dish to the oven and bake at 450F for about 5 minutes, allowing the top to crisp up a bit. You can also use an air fryer lid for your Instant Pot, if you have one.

Just be sure to empty the water from the insert pot first if you’re using your air fryer lid!

Whether you choose to brown the top or not, I do recommend letting the dump cake sit for 5-10 minutes afterward. This will allow it to set up a bit before you serve it.

After you’ve let it cool for a few minutes, go ahead and scoop it out into some dessert bowls while it’s still warm. It’s like eating a warm apple cobbler!

How to Serve Apple Dump Cake

I serve dump cake the same way I serve cobbler, because they really are so similar.

Although you can eat dump cake cold or at room temperature, I definitely recommend serving it warm.

It’s simply delicious served “a la mode” with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or with a generous dollop of whipped cream!

Notes and Adaptations:

• You could use a yellow cake mix if you prefer, but I like the pairing of the spice cake with the cinnamon apples.
• Because cake mix has some salt in it already, I suggest using unsalted butter.
• Feel free to change it up and use different pie filling, too!
• I recommend refrigerating leftovers.