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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My mom used to make this all the time. And especially on the holidays! She passed about 6 years ago and I lost her recipe. I had most of it memorized but this helped with the missing pieces!! Thank you for helping me bring back some memories this Thanksgiving. All of my sisters will be so jealous… lol
this recipe has a error. no baking soda or baking powder! it doesn’t rise, and is heavy, flat and ….well…AWFUL! either you must correct your mistake or take the recipedown mmediately. i had my husbands boss and employees over and this recipe was a total disaster. i should have seen the omission and knew no one double checked it. Very disappointed.
If you use self rising flour, baking soda or baking powder is not necessary. My mom also made this cake when I was growing up…
If you read the recipe correctly, it says to use self-rising flour. If you are using regular flour, use a heaping tsp. of baking powder and it will turn out wonderful.
Jocelyn, I hope things get better for you soon. I know this is a stressful time of year and misreading a recipe can just make your heart sink and get you mad at the same time. As the others have pointed out, self rising flour versus plain flour is a drastic difference when it comes to baking a cake. Take a deep breath and hang in there!
Gratefully,
Christy
Best reply ever!
Such a wonderful and graceful reply
Did you use self rising flour like the recipe calls for?
SELF RISING FLOUR is called for in the recipe. Which is why there is no call for it in the list of ingredients.
But what a horrible, awful, haughty attitude you have! I’d hate to be you.
Please don’t run me out of town on a rail but is it possible to use a boxed cake mix for this d-lish cake recipe? Bible study is tomorrow night and it’s snowing. So no grocery store for me!!! I have vanilla and butter but that won’t make a cake!!!
Pfft. I’m liable to crown you queen of the kitchen! Go for it. Just add fruit in and use the juice from the can as some if the water the mix calls for
If you use regular flour, just add 2 tsp., baking soda, and it’ll be allright.
You were supposed to use self rising flour
Either you used plain All Purpose Flour or your Self-Rising Flour is old and the baking powder in it is dead. Try it again with a new bag of Self-rising flour. Check the date on the bag.
Hi, I was wondering 2 things. How many ounces is the can of fruit cocktail, and how many ounces of coconut do you use? Thanks!
I believe the fruit cocktail is a 16-20 ounce can and the coconut equals about 1 and a half cups
can you used coconut flakes in a bag insted of can ? Is it the same as in a can?
[...] Fruit Cocktail Cake (Cookbook p.39) [...]
I have been wanting to make this wake for many many years. I first made it back in the 70′s while I was in school. The recipe became lost but not forgotten, Thank you so very much for posting my long lost friend.
Christy I made this cake today and I think I ruined it. I have never seen canned coconut so I bought a small bag. I think it was to much. 2 1/4 cups i think, how much should I have used?
I cannot keep this cake in the house! It gets ate up the minute it comes out of the oven…well after the icing is on. But I do not use the coconut, allergic to it. Still very delicious!!!
I believe the can I use is about 1 and 1/2 cups. I’m sure yours was wonderful though!!
Would/could you poke holes in the cake so the icing could get down in the layer?
This looks oh so yummy and I WILL be making it…. Have to leave out the coconut
because some members of my family must’ve been dropped on their heads! lol
::sigh::
Christy,
Thanks, so much, for sharing this recipe! My mother-in-law has been making this for years, and it’s one of my favorites!
I made a cake very similar to this, called for fruit cocktail, which I didn’t have, so I added a can of mandarin oranges and marschino cherries….OMG! YUM!
Been making this for 30 years, one of my favorites.
Oh my gosh.. I haven’t had or even thought about this cake in years, but funny thing as soon as I saw the cake I swear I could smell it and taste it. I have to make this cake. But even with all the happy memories of our family sitting around eating it and the laughter it also brings some sadness out of our family of 8 there is only 3 of us left
Love the sound of this cake but I don’t think we have tinned coconut in the UK (not that I’ve seen anyway) can I use dessicated coconut instead? If so how much?? Also I think I’ll have to leave out the nuts
An Internet search says the standard can of Baker’s coconut is 3.5oz.
The bag of flaked coconut in my freezer is 14oz. So in my very non scientific guess, I think you could use about a quarter of a bag that size and have about the right amount. Does that make sense? Christy, does that sound right to you?
I’m thinking it doesn’t need to be exact to be delicious : )
Reminds me : times past, my mother and I made this cake frequently. Happy memories.
OMG! Thank you so much!!
My Granny used to make this cake for me when I was a little girl. I have thought about it often over the years, and she was getting too old to bake things. She passed a month and a half ago, and all I can think about is continuing her legacy with this divine cake. I only hope my grandchildren love it as much as I do.
One of my favorites. However, don’t make the mistake I made one time. My mother kept both her powdered sugar and her self-rising flour in Tupperware containers. I got them mixed up!
I’ve never had this cake before, but it looks delicious. I was recently hospitalized for diverticulitis, so nuts are out for me. Anyone have fairly decent substitution they use? Thanks.
Jenny, I think it would be fine to leave out the nuts all together. I often leave nuts out of recipes because of a family allergy. If you just wanted to add something else in, I’d think you could easily substitute raisins or any other dried fruit (dried cherries might be good here, too). Hope these ideas help you.
Made this cake for years, nuts are not necessary for the cake experience, nor is coconut tho I enjoy like it
I love this cake but I too have family who have been dropped on their head too so I have to leave out the coconut too. It’s still delicious though.
My mother used to make this Receipe for fruit cocktail cake. I found it in her old Receipe box in her handwriting. She passed away ten years ago. I need to make a cake for tomorrow’s church picnic. I decided to look for the recipe. I found it but when she said to add canned milk I wasn’t sure if it was evaporated milk or Eagle brand milk. I thought I’d check the internet and pulled up the exact receipe on your web sight. Some of her amounts were a little off so I went by the amounts you posted. Then I discovered I only had all purpose flour in the house. I checked on the Internet to see how to convert the flour I had to self rising. I found that recipe too. The cake is in the oven and I’m making the topping now. With any luck it will come out just fine. Thanks for making it so easy. I’m really looking forward to trying this cake tomorrow.
I am so glad you found what you needed Georgia!! I can’t wait to hear how your cake turns out!!
[...] Originally Posted by CSD610 Isn't there a fruit cocktail cake recipe out there somewhere? I had a couple old church cookbooks out the other night I'll have to page through them again. Old Favorite: Fruit Cocktail Cake | Southern Plate [...]
Thank you so much Christy for this recipe. My mom used to make this for us and we last her about 1 1/2 year ago. I have tried to find her recipe and was not able to remember all the ingrediants for this cake. I will make this for Thanksgiving and bring some happy memories
I am so sorry for your loss Kathi but I do hope that this turns out just like hers and brings a happy memory to your heart and a smile to your face!!
The Ladies Auxiliary at our local fire department used to make this cake for Bingo night. It was the absolute best seller. The only difference [that I can see] in this one and theirs is that they melted some butter and put the nuts in the butter and put it in the cake pan before the rest of the ingredients were added. Coconut seemed to be optional – whoever made it may or may not put that in.
I love their cake and am going to try your version.
I used to make this cake years ago, but it was so good by itself that no icing was ever needed. I’ve seen lots of “dump cake” recipes, but they all use cake mix, and that wasn’t what I wanted. Thank you for posting this
I hope you enjoy it!!
I don’t have self rising flour so what do I need to add? Thank you.
Love this cake – we call it Idiot Cake – the recipe is so easy any idiot can make it. One difference – I put 1 cup of coconut on cake before baking. Boil butter, sugar, milk and vanilla – boil for 2 minutes – pour over warm cake and enjoy!
I don’t know how I screwed this up but I did! (Leave it to me!) The cake was set but did not brown at all. When I tasted it, it was soooo sweet I could only eat a few spoonfulls of it. Followed the recipe exactly so I am not sure how it went so wrong. I was really looking forward to this…oh well. I love cake with fruit so will probably stick my winegrowers cake…that I can make. Cheers!
Is it possible to add the serving size calorie count etc. to the recipe?
Thank you
am going to make this with microwave so it would be easier I hope it will work haha…I did try making a microwaved choco cake and it worked..5 minutes only. I’ll do this cocktail one in a smaller batch let me see how it works. I want it fast coz am so curious it will be my first time wheww. Thanks
This is a family favorite. We call it a fruit cocktail cake, but we use crushed pineapple instead and no coconut. Haha