Cha-Cha-Cha Cherry Cake is a really fun cake named after the famous quick-step dance. And honestly, I think it's a better name than "Cherry Dump Cake" which is what it is. This version just happens to be a little different because it includes cherry gelatin powder. It's what I'd call a "family cake" and not something I'd enter in the state fair. It is easy to make and smells really good as it bakes.
Five Ingredient Dump Cake
This is classified as a 5 ingredient cake, but 6 if you count the water. You only need 5 grocery store ingredients for the dessert: frozen cherries, cherry flavored gelatin, white cake mix, butter and nuts. The recipe calls for a 9-inch pan, but you can also stretch it across a 9x12 or 9x13 inch pan. You can also halve it easily (which is what I did) and bake in an 8-inch square pan. You could even bake it in an oval casserole .
To make your Cha Cha Cherry Cake , you layer frozen cherry flavored Jell-O powder, cake mix, butter and nuts in a pan, then bake it into a cake that can be served cobbler type with ice cream or cooled, chilled and sliced, thanks to the gelatin.
Here are some pictures of my 8-inch pan cherry cake adventure. Behold the cherries layered and slightly tossed with the Jell-O! I took an extra step and lined the pan with parchment paper so that I could lift the whole cake out after chilling.
Cake mix, butter, a little water and nuts go on next. There is a lot of dry cake mix, and it's likely some of it will show up floating on the top after the bake. The only way to truly avoid that is to toss the dry cake mix with melted butter before sprinkling. I opted to just drizzle melted butter over the top and not worry too much about bits of dried cake mix. And for the butter amount, I do use one stick. I don't see why you couldn't use a little more if desired.
Serving the Cake
Cha-Cha-Cha Cherry Cake comes out of the oven looking like a cobbler, and you can serve it like a cobbler (preferably with ice cream). But if you want a cake you can slice, then let it cool. When cool, chill to set the gelatin. If you used parchment paper, you can lift the whole cake from the pan and cut into neat pieces. If baked in a 9x13 inch pan, the slices are thin/shallow. A smaller pan such as a 9-inch will give you thicker slices.
Peach and Other Variations
It's not exactly peach season, but I saw a variation made with frozen peaches and peach gelatin. Peach gelatin might not be as widely available at grocery stores, but it exists. You could sub apricot flavor gelatin which is probably even more niche. The whole point of this cake is to have fun making little variations.
Recipe
Cha-Cha-Cha Cherry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter (114 grams)
- 2 bags frozen cherries (24 oz total, 12 oz each) (672 grams)
- 1 box cherry gelatin (4 serving size)
- 1 box white cake mix (15.25 oz) (427 grams)
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- ¼ cup water plus a little more if needed (60 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square or a 9x13 inch baking pan generously with butter. If you are planning on lifting this from the pan, you can also line with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter gently and set it aside to cool. Alternatively, cut it into very thin slices.
- Spread frozen cherries across the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle the gelatin powder evenly over the cherries and lightly toss the cherries in the powder so that some of the powder blends in with their juices.
- Sprinkle the cake mix as evenly as possible over the cherries, shaking the pan gently so that it falls down and around them.
- Drizzle the butter slowly over the cake mix, doing your best to cover it. It won't cover it completely. Alternatively, spread very thin slices of butter evenly over the cake. Drizzle water over the cake as evenly as possible.
- Sprinkle nuts over the top of the buttery crumbs.
- Cover the pan tightly with foil.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes total, removing the foil after the first 30 minutes.
- Serve warm as you would cobbler, or let it cool, then chill and slice. Or serve part now and the refrigerate the leftovers for sliceable leftovers.
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