The cherry filling provides sweetness and fruit flavor without any added sugar. The dry cake mix creates a soft, cobbler-like topping with a mild buttery taste, and the melted butter binds it together as it bakes. White cake mix works just as well as yellow, and salted butter is a perfectly acceptable substitute if that’s what’s on hand.
One important rule: the dry cake mix goes in as-is. There’s no need to prepare it according to the box directions — no eggs, no water, no mixing. The dry powder is the ingredient.
How to assemble and bake it in under an hour
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spread the cherry pie filling evenly across the bottom using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
Sprinkle the dry cake mix in an even layer directly over the cherry filling — without stirring or mixing the two together. Keeping the layers separate is what produces the cobbler-like texture.
Drizzle the melted butter slowly over the entire surface, aiming for even coverage. A few dry spots are acceptable, but the more evenly the butter is distributed, the more uniformly golden the topping will be. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden-brown and the cherry filling is visibly bubbling around the edges. If the top begins to brown too quickly, loosely cover the dish with foil for the remaining baking time.
Once out of the oven, let the dessert rest for about 10 minutes before serving. The filling is extremely hot immediately after baking, and the short rest also gives it time to thicken slightly.
