Caramel Apple Dump Cake

  It's fall so apples are on my mind. I recently visited Crossroad Orchard in Miamisburg and bought half a peck of Honeycrisp apples which I turned into Apple Crisp. I found mom's recipe in the book she specially put together for me and it's far better than the commercial recipe I've  been using.

 But this weekend - for our Saturday morning card game - I wanted a different sweet treat. I saw a recipe for an Apple Dump Cake on Facebook and I was intrigued with how easy it was. The "Dump" in the title refers to how easily everything is poured together.

 So I bought two cans of apple pie filling at Meijer and I picked up a squeeze bottle of Hershey's caramel syrup (the kind for ice cream topping) at the Germantown grocery.

 First, here's the recipe.

 I made the cake in a 9x13" metal pan. I baked it for the entire 50 minutes.

 A few notes:

1. The two sticks of butter (I used margarine) seemed excessive but it's not. The dry cake mix needs that much butter to wet it atop the pie filling. Anything you miss stays dry. It's not difficult, though, and I just spread the melted butter direct from a Pyrex measuring cup.

2. The brand of yellow cake mix you chose probably affects the taste of this dessert. I used Pillsbury and it adds a hint of vanilla flavor.

3. I think the chopped pecans are absolutely necessary. They add a nice flavor, of course, but also a crunchy texture.

4. This would be fun to try with other pie fillings as suggested.

 How is it? It's really very good. It's sweet as can be but that's always my goal. It's incredibly easy and I'll bet kids would eat it up.