Growing up there was nothing like strawberry picking in the summer time and having all those sweet, juicy strawberries to snack on- in addition to the cakes and jams my mom would make from the harvest. I haven’t been to a strawberry patch in decades, but I still love these berries as much as I did when I was a kid. This strawberry cobbler dump cake is as easy as can be and you can make it any time of year since we’re using frozen strawberries.

To begin making this cake you’ll need to let your strawberries thaw and then mix the juice and the berries with some sugar and vanilla extract. If you’d rather use fresh berries then you absolutely can. Trim each berry and cut it half in half and add the sugar and vanilla. Then let them sit for 30-60 minutes.

Add the berries to the bottom of a greased pan. Then simply sprinkle your box cake mix over the top. There’s no mixing of batter here. It doesn’t seem like it should work, but this technique really does produce a wonderful cake in the end.

Dot the top with butter then bake it. If after 20 or 30 minutes you notice some spots are still dry add a couple spoonfuls of milk over the dry areas. That’s it for this simple cake.

The finished product lands somewhere between a cobbler and cake and has a rich vanilla flavor. I used a cake mix with no artificial flavors and that real vanilla flavor came through in every single bite.

The berries on the bottom do make a sort of juicy compote that goes well with the vanilla. I like to add a bit of whipped cream to this cake when I’m feeling extra indulgent and it’s the perfect finishing touch. I think vanilla ice cream would be great here, too.

This easy cake takes very little effort, but you end up with a tasty, rich, fruit cake that will have you dreaming about strawberries for days. Yes, it’s that good!