5 ingredients, 5 minutes prep for this rhubarb dump cake recipe is made without Jello for a tiny bit healthier and oh-so-delicious dump cake recipe. Use fresh or frozen rhubarb, your choice. It is an easy dessert you will make over and over again.
Raise your hand if you love rhubarb. Mine is raised high; I adore rhubarb recipes. There are so many great ways to use this versatile, tart, and tangy spring-to-summer vegetable—yes, vegetable, more on that later. And if you have tons of rhubarb, then you are going to love this recipe.
We love rhubarb around here, as do my readers, try my popular old-fashioned rhubarb bread, Strawberry Rhubarb Salad, Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars or this simple old fashioned rhubarb cake.
I enjoy giving precise details in my recipe posts to lead my readers through any questions. If you’re just here for the printable recipe, use the Jump to Recipe to head straight there!
What’s to love about Rhubarb Dump Cake
- 5 minutes of prep—seriously, it is not a pretty cake and has a most unappetizing name, but it is a favorite dessert in the summer months.
- Use fresh or frozen diced rhubarb; either way, the end result is the same.
- No Jello (most recipes have Jello) and only 5 ingredients – doesn’t get any easier!
Rhubarb 101
What is Rhubarb?
Even our country struggles with whether or not rhubarb is a vegetable or a fruit.
Fun Fact: While rhubarb is technically a vegetable, the USDA classifies it as a fruit. Read more about this below.
The perennial Rhubarb plant has a pretty short season for a vegetable, abundant in the spring and some yield another crop in June.
Rhubarb can be red to pink to even slightly green. The stalk is the only edible part of this summer fruit, uh, vegetable — the leaves are poisonous.
Rhubarb is super sour, like cheek puckering sour, and so is typically cooked with sugar, since it is super sour on it’s own.
What does rhubarb taste like?
Rhubarb when raw, is crunchy and super sour. It is typically cooked with sugar, softening and sweetening it up into a wonderful sweet-tart treat.
The bright red stalks of rhubarb have a stronger, sweeter more robust flavor than green stalks, but both are totally fine to cook with, which means you don’t have to do a lot of guessing when it comes to harvesting.
When is Rhubarb Season?
Rhubarb season begins in late spring through early summer, rhubarb season might be short, but rhubarb freezes extremely well and can easily be used in this strawberry rhubarb dump cake or any of your favorite desserts.
Is rhubarb a vegetable or fruit?
Well even our government was a bit confused about this, at least with regard to import tax purposes. In 1947 the US Customs Court in Buffalo, NY ruled that while rhubarb is legally a vegetable, for customs and tariff purposes ruled it a fruit since the majority of consumers used it in rhubarb desserts.
Healthy Twist
I am not sure I would go very far in calling rhubarb dump cake without Jello healthy, but since we are omitting refined sugar and red food coloring by making without Jello, that is a healthy twist-ish. 🙂
When recipe testing, I tested using regular cake mix and all-natural cake mix; I have to admit we all liked the taste and texture a bit better with the regular cake mix, but they both work. Remember it’s about balance in life, we don’t eat these every day or even once a month!
Simple Ingredients Rhubarb Cake with Cake Mix
- Rhubarb | Fresh or Frozen, if using frozen rhubarb do not thaw.
- Cake Mix | I used Yellow cake mix, White cake mix and Vanilla Cake mix in my testing, I personally like Vanilla the best.
- Sugar | I used organic cane sugar, but you may use regular white sugar.
- Cornstarch | Just a touch to help create a thick slurry with all of the rhubarb juices.
- Butter | Use a good quality butter here, you may melt and pour it over, or slice into ⅛ inch slices and layer across the top of the cake.
- Nutmeg | this ingredient is optional, but I believe adds a sweet nuttiness to the rhubarb cake.
- Strawberries | (optional) use sliced fresh strawberries, frozen, because we know strawberries and rhubarb go together!
Get the full recipe in the recipe card below.
How to Make Rhubarb Dump Cake Recipe
Heat oven to 350 degrees F and using nonstick cooking spray, spray 9×13 inch pan, or 2 quart casserole dish — the smaller casserole dish will take a bit longer to bake, and might be slightly gooey in the middle, but it’s still amazingly delicious!
Lay the fresh or frozen (do not thaw) rhubarb in the bottom of the baking dish, sprinkle sugar and cornstarch evenly over the top, then gently toss to coat the rhubarb with the sugar and corn starch mixture. Sprinkle with fresh grated or ground nutmeg if desired.
Next, evenly sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the rhubarb mixture. DO NOT MIX! Use your fingers to even out the cake mix without pressing it down.
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As evenly as possible, drizzle the melted butter over the top of the dry cake mix, or you may slice the same amount of cold butter and layer it evenly over the cake as in my Caramel Apple Dump Cake.
Bake for 45 – 60 minutes in preheated oven, until golden and bubbly.
Pro Tip
If at the 45 minute mark there are still some dry cake mix patches, try using the back of a spoon to gently push them down into the liquid or add tiny slivers of butter to the dry spots and continue baking for 15 more minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool about 15 minutes before serving.
It was a toss up with my recipe testers, some loved it warm (I did) and others loved it cold!
No matter how you enjoy it, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, you will fall in love with this easy dessert.
Recipe Test Results for Rhubarb Cake with Cake Mix
This super easy dessert took me 3 tries before I was satisfied! Not because there aren’t some great recipes out there, but I wanted to use less sugar, make without Jello and have it still be delicious.
- My first attempt I used water, cornstarch and an all natural cake mix, covered with foil — resulting in a cake that was spongy, gooey and the rhubarb too gummy.
- Second test, I used regular cake mix, water, baked in a smaller dish, omitted the cornstarch, the cake topping was perfect, golden with a slight crunch — however the inside was liquid! It tasted amazing, but would get soggy in a heartbeat.
- My final attempt, I baked in a 9×13 dish, omitted the water, used less sugar, (it’s already quite sweet) a little cornstarch and added an additional quarter cup of butter — I loved this one the best!
Variations & Substitutions
- Strawberry-Rhubarb Dump Cake – If you are set on a strawberry flavor, but do not want to use strawberry gelatin, then I suggest, tossing up two cups of sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen) into the fruit mixture.
- Nutmeg and extra spices as well, try adding cinnamon or a touch of cloves, enhances the flavors of tart rhubarb.
- Have a bag of frozen cherries or blueberries? Add up to two cups and stir into the rhubarb.
- This would be delicious with raspberries or blackberries as well for a blackberry dump cake, either replace the rhubarb with like amounts, or add up to two cups.
- Change up the Cake Mix | I used vanilla and yellow cake mixes in my testing, however; you can also use white cake mix, try lemon cake mix or or try spice cake mix or even butter pecan!
Storage Tips
Cool on the counter, then store in the refrigerator covered tightly with plastic wrap. On the counter for 1 day, in the fridge up to 7 days, this dump cake recipe freezes well too. Seal well nad freeze up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
The biggest difference is a dump cake is made in the pan it’s cooked in (win!) and cobblers are typically made using several bowls.
Dump cakes use cake mix as the topping; whereas cobblers use a biscuit or even pastry topping over the fruit.
A very inelegant name for a super tasty dessert. Dump cakes received their name from the process in making them, typically using canned fruit or pie fillings and dry cake mix all dumped into a pan, then drizzled with butter.
Dump cakes are also known as Lazy Cakes, for the obvious reasons — open, pour, dump, bake – slurp!
High Altitude Rhubarb Dump Cake
The only adjustment needed for this recipe for high altitude is you may have to bake this a bit longer at higher altitudes.
More great Dump Cake Recipes
- Caramel Apple Dump Cake with fresh apples
- Lemon Dump Cake with a creamy cream cheese layer!
- Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake
- Fresh Peach Dump Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Dump Cake
Easy dessert recipes
- Oreo Dessert Pudding
- Bake Banana Pudding (Magnolia Banana Pudding)
- Moose Tracks Ice Cream Recipe
- No Bake Lemon Icebox Pie
- Award Winning Key Lime Pie
- Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
I hope you liked this Rhubarb Dump Cake — Please rate and comment below and be sure to share your creation on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest?
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Rhubarb Dump Cake Recipe
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Ingredients
- 4-6 cups rhubarb diced, fresh or frozen (unthawed)
- ¾ cup sugar I used organic cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch I like non-GMO
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg optional
- 1 box cake mix vanilla, yellow, white, see notes for others
- ¾ cup butter 1 ½ sticks, melted
- 1-2 cups strawberries or other berries, fresh or frozen (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Spray a 9×13 inch pan with baking spray or 7×12 or 2 quart casserole dish.
- Lay fresh or frozen (unthawed) rhubarb 4-6 cups rhubarb (optional strawberries 1-2 cups strawberries) in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle the sugar ¾ cup sugar evenly over the top, then the cornstarch 2 tablespoons cornstarch and nutmeg ¼ teaspoon nutmeg. Gently combine to coat the rhubarb.
- Next, evenly sprinkle the cake mix 1 box cake mix over the rhubarb, DO NOT MIX! Use your fingers to even out the cake mix a little bit.
- Then drizzle the melted butter ¾ cup butter over the remaining dry parts of the cake mix.
- Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 45 minutes, until golden and bubbly. If at this time there are still some dry cake mix patches, gently push them into the liquid using the back of a spoon – baking for an additional 15 minutes until the cake is golden brown if needed. Bake a little longer at high altitude.
- I enjoy this fresh fruit dessert warm with ice cream, my husband likes it refrigerated with fresh whipped cream. Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.
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Notes
- Strawberry-Rhubarb Dump Cake | Stir in up two cups of sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen) into the fruit mixture.
- Nutmeg and extra spices as well, try adding cinnamon or a touch of cloves, enhances the flavors of tart rhubarb.
- Have a bag of frozen cherries or blueberries? Add up to two cups and stir into the rhubarb.
- This would be delicious with raspberries or blackberries as well for a blackberry dump cake, either replace the rhubarb with like amounts, or add up to two cups.
- Change up the Cake Mix | I used vanilla and yellow cake mixes in my testing, however; you can also use white cake mix, or try spice cake mix or even butter pecan!
- Add ½ to 1 cup chopped pecans to the top of the cake before baking.
Nutrition
Heather
Perfect quick summer dessert, quick to prep and love the fact it does not require jello! Thank you!
That was my goal! Thanks so much!!
Harriet Young
Absolutely delicious! I love the sharp sweetness of the rhubarb here. So tasty.
Thanks so much Harriet!
Ieva
Thank you for this easy recipe – so quick to put together that it may be the tastiest and easiest dessert I’ve ever made! Perfect for the rhubarb season!
YAY! So glad you loved it!
Kerri Middleton
This was such a yummy dessert!! I love dump cakes and the rhubarb tasted perfect and easy!
So glad you loved it Kerri!! Thank you for your kind comment!
Gianne
The tartness of the rhubarb perfectly complemented the sweet, buttery cake, creating a wonderfully balanced dessert. Best of all, the recipe was incredibly simple to follow, making it a new favorite in my household.
Yay!! Love hearing that!!
Rachel Galey
Thank you. Finally a recipe that doesn’t require strawberries. My daughters and I have an allergy to strawberries.
So glad you found it!!
Angela
The cake part was dense and disappointing. I wish I could say that I liked it; I wonder if it would come out better mixing the cake mix per instructions and pouring over? Plus, cake mix is so sweet, I think that the rhubarb would be better with only a dusting of cornstarch with no additional sugar.
Gina Abernathy
I love dump cakes and this one was perfect for our dessert tonight. I didn’t have fresh rhubarb so I used frozen. Perfect.
The beauty of this recipe, these work amazing using fresh or frozen!
Claudia Lamascolo
Very tasty cake everyone loved this and wanted a second piece!
Love hearing that, thank you!
Tara
Ooooh, such a wonderful and easy use for rhubarb! It looks fantastic paired with that scoop of vanilla ice cream.
So so good with vanilla ice cream!
Ieva
If you are looking for an easy, no-fuss dessert with simple ingredients – this is THE recipe to use! A great bake, with minimal hands-on time and not much washing up after, and most importantly, it tasted delicious, especially with a scoop of ice cream on top!
Thank you so much! So very true!
Sarah James
I love rhubarb and always looking for new recipes to try. My rhubarb patch is finished for this year now but saving your recipe to try next season. Thanks for sharing.
You will love it!! Our Sprouts sells frozen rhubarb year round!!
Toni
Such a delicious cake!! My whole family really enjoyed it!
YAY! So glad you enjoyed it!
Cam
I had a whole harvest of rhubarb given to me by a friend and this was the perfect recipe to use it! So easy to make and SO delicious!
Love hearing that, thanks so much!
Jess
Both my hands are raised high over here!! Love it.
Haha, love it!!
Janessa
Such a fabulous summer dessert! I’ve been looking for a dump cake recipe without jello and I’m glad O found this one!
So glad you found it too! Thanks so much!
Julie
I forgot to leave you some star love for that amazing rhubarb dump cake!
Aw, you are so sweet to come back and do that!
Julie
I love rhubarb anything and dump cakes are the best! I had some rhubarb just waiting for this recipe and we all loved it. With ice cream of course!
With ice cream, of course! 🙂