This is a great question. Let me first caution you that making big changes to any recipe without testing makes can be tricky.

But because I’ve made a lot of different dump cakes over the years, I think you do have some options.

The first thing that comes to mind is to use chocolate fudge. Chocolate and pecans go well together (I have a Chocolate Pecan Pie on the blog). So, using (heated) chocolate fudge would probably be my first choice.

After that using a combination of molasses and maple syrup. Maple syrup and pecans are a delicious flavor combination so you might like that.

As for quantities it’s hard to guess for me (and if you are using maple syrup, please don’t use pancake syrup). So, I’d start with molasses being the base and a good quality maple syrup as the second ingredient.
It’s a really interesting question and I’d love to do some testing to maybe create whole new ‘Thanksgiving Pecan Pie’ but sadly it’s too late to do it this year.
If it was me, I’d probably go with the chocolate fudge because you are dealing with just one ingredient swap. Good luck, I hope it works out.

Good luck, if you are tying it, please let us know how it works out out.

I haven’t tried it but I can’t think of a reason why it shouldn’t. If you try, please let us know how it turned out. 🙂

Thank you! You’re right, that was a typo on my end. I just fixed it. Of course it’s cups. 🙂 Happy Baking!

Should it be “3 cups pecan halves” instead?