🍓🍰 Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake

A super-easy dessert with sweet strawberry filling, creamy cheesecake, and a buttery golden cake topping. It has the delicious flavor of strawberry cheesecake but comes together with very little effort.

🥣 Servings

10–12 servings

⏱️ Prep & Bake

  • Prep: 10–15 minutes
  • Bake: 45–55 minutes
  • Total: About 1 hour

🛒 Ingredients

Strawberry Layer

  • 2 cans (21 oz each) strawberry pie filling
  • 1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced (optional but highly recommended)

Cheesecake Layer

  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional, for a fresh cheesecake flavor)

Cake Topping

  • 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix or white cake mix
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted or salted butter, melted

Optional Toppings

  • Fresh strawberries
  • Whipped cream
  • Powdered sugar
  • Vanilla ice cream
  • Strawberry sauce

The basic combination of strawberry pie filling, cream cheese, cake mix and butter is commonly used for this style of dump cake.

👩‍🍳 How to Make It

1. Preheat the oven

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or a little butter.

2. Add the strawberry filling

Open both cans of strawberry pie filling and spread them evenly across the bottom of the baking dish.

Make sure the filling reaches the corners so every serving gets plenty of strawberries.

3. Add fresh strawberries

If using fresh strawberries, slice them into small pieces and scatter them evenly over the pie filling.

This gives the dessert an extra fresh strawberry flavor and more fruit texture.

4. Make the cheesecake mixture

Place the softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl.

Add:

  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Beat with a hand mixer for about 1–2 minutes, until smooth and creamy.

Tip: Make sure the cream cheese is softened first. Cold cream cheese can leave lumps.

5. Add the cheesecake layer

Drop spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture over the strawberry layer.

You don’t have to make it perfectly even. Try to distribute the cream cheese throughout the dish so that each scoop gets some cheesecake filling.

You can gently spread it with a spatula, but don’t mix it into the strawberries.

6. Add the dry cake mix

Sprinkle the entire box of dry cake mix evenly over the cheesecake layer.

Do NOT prepare the cake mix according to the box directions.

Just use the dry powder.

7. Add the butter

Melt ½ cup butter and slowly drizzle it over the entire surface of the dry cake mix.

Try to cover as much of the cake mix as possible.

This butter combines with the dry cake mix while baking to create the golden, buttery crust.

Important: Don’t stir the layers together.

8. Bake

Place the dish in the preheated oven.

Bake for approximately 45–55 minutes, until:

  • The top is golden brown
  • The strawberry filling is bubbling around the edges
  • The cake topping looks cooked and slightly crisp

Some versions take closer to 55–60 minutes depending on the oven and baking dish.

9. Let it rest

Remove the dump cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 15–20 minutes before serving.

This gives the strawberry and cheesecake layers time to thicken slightly.

10. Serve 🍓

Spoon warm portions into bowls and serve with:

🍨 A scoop of vanilla ice cream
🍓 Fresh sliced strawberries
🥛 Whipped cream
🍓 A drizzle of strawberry sauce

⭐ Tips for the BEST Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake

Use softened cream cheese: It creates a much smoother cheesecake layer.

Cover the cake mix with butter: Try to drizzle the butter across as much of the surface as possible. Areas of completely dry cake mix may remain powdery.

Don’t stir the layers: The separate layers create the strawberry-cheesecake-cobbler texture.

Don’t serve immediately: It’s delicious warm, but letting it sit for 15–20 minutes makes it easier to scoop.

For cleaner slices: Chill the completely cooled dessert in the refrigerator for several hours before cutting.

🍓 Easy Variations

🍫 Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake

Use chocolate cake mix instead of yellow cake mix for a chocolate-covered-strawberry version.

🫐 Mixed Berry

Replace some of the strawberry filling with blueberry or raspberry pie filling.

🥜 Strawberry Crunch

Sprinkle ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts over the strawberry layer before adding the cheesecake mixture.

🍋 Lemon Strawberry

Add 1 teaspoon lemon zest to the cream cheese mixture for a bright lemon-strawberry flavor.

🤍 White Chocolate

Sprinkle ½ cup white chocolate chips over the strawberry layer before adding the cheesecake mixture.

🧊 Storage

Because of the cream cheese, store leftovers covered in the refrigerator.

  • Refrigerator: Up to about 4 days
  • Freezer: Freeze well-wrapped portions for about 1 month
  • Reheating: Warm individual portions gently in the microwave.

For the best texture, you can also enjoy it cold straight from the refrigerator.

❤️ Best Serving Combination

Warm Strawberry Cheesecake Dump Cake + vanilla ice cream + fresh strawberries + a little whipped cream = absolutely irresistible! 🍓🍰🍨