The 4-Ingredient Dessert My Mom Prepares Every Summer

Growing up in Texas, summer break always kicked off with the excitement of peach season. One of my favorite traditions was visiting a local orchard with my mom and sister on one of the first days of vacation to pick fresh peaches.

The trip was always worth it for the homemade peach soft serve we’d treat ourselves to after a lunch of pulled pork sandwiches drenched in peach sauce. But the real joy was bringing home all that fresh fruit to savor.

With so many peaches on hand, my mom would teach my sister and me to make every peach dessert imaginable. As a lifelong lover of peach cobbler, this was a dream come true. But inevitably, there came a time when our peach stash was larger than our energy to cook. To avoid wasting any fruit, we needed the simplest recipe we could find. Enter: Peach Dump Cake.

How to Prepare Peach Dump Cake

A delicious blend of cake and cobbler, peach dump cake is far more delightful than its odd name suggests. Made with just a can of peaches (or a few fresh ones with some sugar), a box of cake mix, a dash of cinnamon, and some butter, it’s as easy as it gets.

All you need to do is literally “dump” the ingredients into a pan and bake. No stirring, no mixing—just place everything in the pan and let the oven work its magic. In fact, stirring at any stage of the process is a big no-no. It’s such an important rule, it’s practically part of the recipe name.

My mom usually sticks to the recipe, but this dessert is so straightforward that I can’t recall the last time she actually followed the instructions. Don’t worry though, we’ve got a recipe to help you get started until you can make it from memory too!

This dessert was the perfect solution for days when we didn't have the time to bake a peach pie or make bread, but still craved that peachy goodness. Topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, it’s like summer in a bowl. I even have memories of my mom serving it at barbeques and dinner parties. Despite its simplicity, there was never a single bite left. Its charm lies in its effortless perfection.

Even better, this recipe doesn’t require fresh peaches to taste amazing. So, when our peach cravings returned long after the season had passed, we’d still indulge using canned peaches. The beauty of this dessert is its foolproof nature.

It’s not just great with peaches—cherries and apples work wonders too. The options are endless. I’m already thinking about how I can make this easy dessert for different seasons (Pumpkin Dump Cake this fall, anyone?). But the peach version will always have a special place in my heart.