Old Favorite: Fruit Cocktail Cake
I love and adore this cake. This is another one of those long ago recipes that we’ve been making in my family for as long as I can remember. Having not had it in ages, today seemed like a good day to satisfy my weekend sweet tooth with a taste from my past.
This is one of my mother’s favorites. Made from scratch, the ingredients are simple and the recipe itself is not fussy at all, a combination I enjoy when its hot as Hades outside and my two kids are feeling whiny! If you’ve never had fruit cocktail cake before, you cannot imagine how delicious it is. I especially enjoy it warm. Then again, I also enjoy it room temp…and cold…and…oh darn it. I just love this cake any way you can give it to me. It is a very unique and moist flavor, unlike anything you’ve ever had!
For the cake you’ll need : Self rising flour, vanilla, sugar, eggs, and a can of fruit cocktail in heavy syrup. Easy Peasy!
Add vanilla
Hang on to your hats.
Stir. Bring to a boil, while stirring, over medium heat.
Boil for one to two minutes.
This icing will remain pretty runny, which will be great when you pour it over your hot cake and it soaks all in.
Pour hot icing over hot cake, spreading as you pour. Work fast now because this is going to immediately soak down into the cake and you don’t want coconut to be concentrated in one area and completely absent in the other. Spreading it as you pour it will help avoid this problem!
Ingredients
- CAKE:
- 2 Cups self rising flour
- 1 can fruit cocktail
- 2 unbeaten eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ Cup sugar
-
-
- SAUCE:
- 1 stick margarine
- 1 can coconut
- 1 Cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Cup evaporated milk
- 1 Cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Mix all cake ingredients at low speed. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 in pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Boil sauce ingredients in pan for one to two minutes. Pour over hot cake.
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Ingredients
- CAKE:
- 2 Cups self rising flour
- 1 can fruit cocktail
- 2 unbeaten eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ Cup sugar
- SAUCE:
- 1 stick margarine
- 1 can coconut
- 1 Cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Cup evaporated milk
- 1 Cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Mix all cake ingredients at low speed. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 in pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Boil sauce ingredients in pan for one to two minutes. Pour over hot cake.
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Please let me know if you try this!
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Aug 2 2008. Filed under Cake, Dessert, FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Southern Classics.
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That really takes me back…in our family we call it dump cake! I will have to try your recipe – looks delicious.
Yeah, that looks good! If I hadn’t just made cookies this afternoon, and if I weren’t going to be gone all evening, I would totally make this tonight! I’ll have to scrounge together the ingredients and give it a go soon!
I’m so happy with the response I’ve gotten to this cake! This is another recipe that I almost didn’t post! I mulled it over all week, thinking it just wasn’t something others would be interested in. LOL!
I will learn, eventually!
Thank you both so much for commenting!!! Let me know if you make it!
White Lily flour? Oh my gosh! They just closed the plant where I live. I’ll miss that just like I did the smell from JFG coffee roasting in the same area until a few years ago.
That recipe makes me laugh and brings back such happy memories. I made it many, many times as a bride. My mother-in-law gave the recipe to me. It was “new” like Watergate Salad a few year later.
The funny thing is, she cooked with gas; my oven was electric. Every Fruit Cocktail cake I made was white. Her’s were amber as was her icing. In the 40+ years she was my mother in law, we never figured it out. The mention of it brought laughter.
I’m so happy to find this!! I had lost my recipe that I had from my Aunt many years ago. This looks like the same and sounds the same. I LOVE this cake!!
A friend gave this to me &I had lost this recipe. Thanks so much for posting it. She didn’t give the frosting, and yours is a bonus!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to post it.
I hope you enjoy the recipe Kathryn!!
I am an avid follower of your great blog. I have nominated you for an award. Pop over to my blog for the details!
HUGS!
Rose: WOW! Thank you firstly for being an avid follower! I appreciate each and every person who takes the time to read southern plate!
Secondly, THANK YOU for the award!! That was so very kind of you!!!
I’ll get it up soon! I swear my brain has melted in this Alabama heat this weekend! Humidity of over eighty percent and heat index of 110+
WHEW!
Thank you!!!!
Christy
Hey Christy! I know this cake as dump cake too. Except you don’t mix it and you add Sprite (or Pepsi if you’re doing chocolate).
And girl, you need to stop worrying whether we’ll be interested in your recipes! Everything you do is great. You can do no wrong!
Just made this cake and it is absolutely delicious! It probably won’t last the day in my house! I’m in Alabama too and it’s HOT so I think I’m going to refrigerate the cake and serve it cold.
Rachel, I’m so glad you like it! I bet it would be divine cold!!
What part of Bama are you in? Its a rare treat to have an Alabamian among my readers!!!
You gave me a great idea just now! I have a few cold cake recipes built up that I haven’t posted yet and I just LOVE refrigerator cakes in the summer time! Stay tuned, I’m going to post them ALL this week thanks to your inspiration!
Christy
Sweet I love icebox cakes and pies! We are in Alabaster…or as my husband likes to call it….”just south of Birmingham”
Pat said…Was so glad to find this recipe. My mom used to make it alot. It was one of my favorite cakes that she made. Can’t wait to make it.
I visit every single day and LOVE your site and recipes. How much is a can of coconut? I usually buy it in a bag.
I made this several times, years ago. The woman who shared the recipe with me placed the cake, icing and all, under the broiler for a few seconds before serving.
My husband’s grandmother used to make this cake all the time. And it is his absolute favorite! His mother gave me the recipe several years ago and it was a disaster. It turns out you can’t use and electric mixer on a can of fruit cocktail. Who knew? Of course, my mother-in-law got a huge laugh out of that. So, I gave up. Until I came across the recipe here. I made it a couple of weeks ago as a surprise and my husband said it was just like Nanny’s. Success! And know he wants it again for his birthday cake. Thanks!
My mother used to make this cake… She is blind now and cant make it but she asked me to make it for my Dads 76th birthday. We couldnt find the recipe but yours is perfect. You saved the day and I will make this cake many times in the future. Thanks.
Just made this for my husbands birthday. Huge hit with the adults, not so much with the kids……..mainly b/c they wouldn’t even try it. Their loss.
I was called upon to make a dish to a funeral dinner. I got to thinking about ingredients I had in the house and fruit cocktail cake came to mind. So I got on line and found this wonderfully delicous recipe. And it’s also easy to make, now I get request for potlucks to bring “the cake”.:)) Thanks for the recipe.
This is a great cake. I made it for the first time years ago (around 30 actually) and won a blue ribbon in a 4H contest with it. But the name I know it by is interesting. When I found the recipe and made the cake it was called Ugly Duckling Cake and in my mind that is what this cake will always be to me. It is a yummy cake and very easy to make. I have also used a yellow cake mix for the cake portion of the recipe and it turns out great that way too. Thanks for the memories.
Ugly Duckling Cake has brown sugar and nuts sprinkled over the batter before baking. Just a little different- the recipe came from Baker’s Coconut many years ago.
I just returned from a family reunion in Alabama(I live in North Carolina). I have always known it as “Big Mama’s Fruit Cocktail Cake”. She made it in the 40′s & 50′s. I made it for the reunion & it was devoured!! Few people & especially the younger generation had never heard of fruit coctail cake. Now they know what a treat it is!!
Baking at 375 for 45 minutes is way too long for this cake. I only baked mine for 30 minutes at this temperature and it was so dry we could not eat it. Try 325 for 30 minutes.
Hey Lily!
I’m so sorry you had problems with this. My recipe actually says to bake at 350 for forty five minutes, rather than 375, so I can see how it would have been overdone. I’m sorry you misread that.
Also, if you can bake a 9×13 inch cake at 325 and have it done after thirty minutes, your oven might be baking a little hot. It sounds like the temperature is off by about twenty five degrees, meaning that if you baked the cake at 375, it actually got about 400 degrees for that time.
I always check my oven at least once a year to see if it is baking properly or if the temperature has gotten a bit off. You can do this buy buying a simple oven thermometer at Wal Mart or some other store. They sell for a few dollars and hang on the oven rack. For more information on calibrating your oven, check out my cookie challenge video at the link below.
Thank you so much and good luck!
Gratefully,
Christy
http://www.southernplate.com/2008/12/the-cookie-challenge-can-i-teach-1stopmomcom-to-make-cookies.html
Actually I mistyped the 375. I did bake it at 350 for 45 minutes in 9 x 13 pan. My oven may be running a little hot, but I’m going to stick with recipe I’ve used in the past that suggests 325 for 30 minutes.
Thanks
You sound like a smart woman! As long as it works for you, that is the most important thing.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to let me know! I really appreciate you reading and hope to hear more from you, Lily!
Gratefully,
Christy
Hey Christie,
I want to do this cake for my friend whose birthday is coming up – her mom always made it for her as a layer cake. How long do you think it should stay in the oven if I do two 9 inch round pans instead of the 9×13 pan?
Thanks!
ok this recipe is on thursdays menu. looks so good .
This was a great cake! Very tasty and moist. I had several people ask for the recipe. You GO GIRL!! Thanks so much for the awesome recipes!!
Christy,
My mother used to make this cake, but I never had the recipe until now. I’m so glad I found it just in time for my company’s Bake Off last week. I made it as a layer cake and made a little more of the “icing” and just sort of dolloped it on top and let it run down the sides. Everyone raved about it! What a hit. Thanks for helping me bring back an old favorite.
I love your website and it often brings back memories for me. As the world grows smaller and more “homogenized,” I thank you for saving and passing on a little bit of what makes the South so special. **I reckon it’s bound to be your calling.**
P.S. Mama also used that icing on her German Chocolate cakes. Delicious!
Christy, can you make this with the no sugar added fruit cocktail?? Since my weight loss surgery, that’s the only kind I get!! BTW, I’ve adapted a lot of your recipes so I can eat them, too, by using splenda, or other no fat things (like cream cheese). But you seemed specific about the fruit cocktail in heavy syrup. Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes!!
Veronica
Its so funny to see this recipe somewhere else. My great grandmother used to make this all the time. I her recipe varied slightly- hers called for a little oil, but other than that its the same cake! I only make it at the holidays.
[...] Old Fashioned Fruit Cocktail Cake These are just a few of the recipes that came to mind which are already on SouthernPlate.com. There are a little over three hundred recipes and tutorials up now, all directly from my family to you. If you’d like to browse them a bit, just click here to look at the Southern Plate Index. [...]
Do you ever put nutritional information on your recipes? My husband is diabetic and I don’t bake as much as I once did because I don’t want him to be tempted. I do some diabetic desserts, however.
I enjoy your website because I always need something “different” to take to church dinners. Sometimes it seems we have the “same old, same old” even though the food is delicious.
Oh, this is delicious. We have had this recipe in my family for many, many, many years and have made it hundreds of times! It is wonderful and easy and sooo delicious! My family likes it when I had some cinnamon/ginger/cloves to the mix. I also use the “tropical fruit salad” or canned peaches instead of the regular fruit cocktail and it is wonderful also! It is very hard to screw up this cake, very good for a first-timer and everyone loves it!
Havent made this cake since i was a little girl. brings back fond memories of helping mom in the kitchen. thought i would make it for my two teenage boys. thank you.it was just as i remembered.
[...] For an old fashioned dessert, try Mama Reed’s Fruit Cocktail Cake! [...]
Christy, I remember this wonderful cake from my childhood. Thanks for the recipe. Wanted to ask you a question about the Peanut Butter Brownies recipe. Would it be OK to use self rising flour instead of all purpose and omit the salt and baking powder? Also for the icing, omit the shortening and use 4 tablespoons of butter instead?
My mother in law made this recipe all the time and I loved it..Have made it several times myself. Just checked and I have all the ingr. so heres to happy baking
Christy, the icing calls for a can of coconut? Hmmmm….Your pic shows a bag of flaked coconut. So, how many cups of flaked coconut is in the icing? I am excited to make this. My favorite movie is Steel Magnolias and they refer to it as “Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa”! LOL!
One other tip! After taking the cake out of the oven, cover with foil…then add the frosting and recover with the foil. This holds in the moisture on the cake! I also follow the Ugly Duckling Cake step of coconut and brown suger on top of batter before baking!
When I got married (back in 1997) my grandma TYPED up a bunch of recipes on cards for me & put them in a cute little recipe book. This was one of the recipes in there, but she called it Dump Cake.
OH! Could I make the frosting w/ almonds instead of pecans? I guess I could….
My mother use to make this delicious cake every thanksgiving. It is a wonderful comfort food since mother has passed. Our topping is a little different same cake but before you put it in the oven sprinkle with brown sugar and walnuts then bake an even easier version. Enjoy!!!
I am making this cake for Thanksgiving…I just got it in the oven…and I realized I didn’t add oil….but it just doesn’t need oil…I guess…
You know, I think these old fashioned recipes are the absolute best when it comes to modifying and making do. I bet it will be wonderful. I can just see Mama Reed making it and leaving out the oil because she didn’t have any!
Gratefully,
Christy
I made this a few days ago & my entire family LOVED it! Very simple, but delicious!
I used to make this cake all the time when my husband was alive. It is the best and so easy. There is no way anyone could cook this and it come out dry unless they did not follow directions! Thank you for the recipe! It’s been a few years since I made it last and I had lost mine. Can’t wait to fix it again for Christmas dinner. Thanks again, brings back a lot of good memories!!
I’m making it today!!! Had to read the recipe again to make sure I had everything, Merry Christmas!
I will be making this cake, I have the ability to read a recipe and imagine how it will taste, there is no doubt this is a blue ribbon winner! Thank you.
Made this yummy cake for supper tonight to give my tastebuds a break from chocolate! LOL I cut the recipe in 1/2 and used fruit cocktail with no added sugar and it was de-VINE!! It reminds me of the recipe my Mom got from our local newspaper that went by the name, ‘Slap-Together Cake’…but for some reason Mom liked to refer to it as Slap-Dash Cake!! LOL She also liked to serve it with a dollop of whipped topping. I’ve also seen a similar recipe on coconut pakages with the name, Ugly Duckling Cake. Whatever name it is given, it is so tasty and easy!! Thanks for reminding me of some great memories!!
LOVE this cake. Used to make it in the late-70′s. I have to omit the yummy coconut as the hubby does not like it.
I did a search on the internet for “fruit cocktail cake” and it “pulled up” on Southern Plates website. How great is that.
Delicious and easy! Reminds me of my childhood when Grandma made fruit cocktail cake. A favorite! Thank you!
I picked this to be my dessert for Easter Sunday. That’s after we all eat our Baked Ham with Easy Glaze, our Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole and our Basil Corn.
: )
just checking on the size of can of fruit cocktail – I think I bought the larger one. also I had to buy a bag of coconut – how much is usually in a can? Can’t wait to make it for our Memorial Day cookout.
Thanks
I made this cake a long time ago for my mon and dad.and then lost the recepie my dad passed and mom for years would tell me how she loved THAT cake I made with fruitcocktail. I looked for years and never found the recepie. sadly now my mon has passed.I wished I had found it before she did but now I will try making it for my husband.
Oh, thank u for posting this cake..My Mom and Grandma use to make it all the time and when Grandma died I never had it again or knew how to make it. Then at work they had me cook a fruit cocktail cake for the residents and omg it was nasty so I came on here looking for one and found this one. Have it cooking in oven right now. and at least the batter taste just like grandma’s! THANKS can’t wait to make this verison for my Residents…
Just made this and OMG it is the most amazing cake ever!!!!! One lady at work at 3 pieces in one day and said she had never tasted a more delicious cake. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful recipes!!!!!!!!!
I was just woundering if you wanted to leave out the coconut out of this recipe. and still taste fine
I think you probably could Gayla. Let me know how it turns out.
This has been in my family forEVER too. Its our favorite. The only difference in mine is: after pouring the cake into the cake pan to bake sprinkle the top with brown sugar and pads of butter and top with the coconut (so crispy and YUMMY). And then the sauce just bring to a boil the evaporated milk, sugar, butter and vanila and ALSO add a can of eagle brand condensed milt. OH MY TRUST ME IT IS T H E BOMB!!! I always make a little extra sauce and poke holes all through the cake when it comes out of the oven (edges real good too) so it all soaks in real nice and evenly. Let me know if you try my adjustments. Enjoy
Traci