How to Bake Cherry Dump Cake

Yields: 1 cake

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 mins

Ingredients needed to make Cherry Dump Cake:

• 2 lb frozen dark cherries, pitted
• ½ fresh pineapple
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 2 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp fresh orange zest, minced
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 ¼ cup refined sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
•  ½ cup water
• 10 tbsp cold butter, plus more for buttering the pan

Cooking instructions for Cherry Dump Cake:

• Place the cherries in a large saucepan and add a splash of honey into it.
• Pour in half of the water and heat it over moderate heat.
• Meanwhile, whisk in cornstarch in rest of the water until well combined and keep aside until necessary.
• Bring the cherries to a simmer, while stirring occasionally and continue to do so over gentle flame.
• Slice the pineapple into small chunks and set aside.
• Grease the sides and base of a 13’’x9’’ baking dish with small knob of softened butter and scatter the pineapples on it; set aside.
• Drizzle the cornflour mixture into the simmering cherries and continue to cook while stirring them continuously to prevent the formation of any lumps.
• Simmer further for one more minute and turn off the heat.
• Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and stir in the baking powder, sugar and a dash of salt until well combined.
• Dice the butter into small cubes and scatter it onto the dry mixture.
• Work them together with your fingers, crumbling the butter cubes with your fingers and stirring them into the dry mixture until they blend together to form a flaky mixture, resembling the texture of a cornmeal.
• Fold in the orange zest until they are mixed thoroughly and set aside.
• Spread the cherry mixture over the layer of pineapple chunks in the dish and tip the flaky mixture over it.
• Spread it over the cherries to cover them completely and place the dish in the preheated oven to bake for about 15 minutes.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake further for another 45 minutes.
• Remove from oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes.
• Slice and serve.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons