Old Fashioned Fruit Cocktail Cake

This vintage fruit cocktail cake recipe is easy as can be to make. The batter comes together in just a couple of minutes and it bakes into a lovely rich dessert that tastes like it came straight from grandma’s kitchen.

If you are looking for a quick and easy dessert that you can memorize the recipe and make any time, this is just the thing. It is loaded with fruit, but it is so much better than a dry or dense fruitcake.

So make sure you have a can of fruit cocktail ready to go. This old fashioned treat is on the menu and it is going to be delicious.

The batter for this cake only takes a few ingredients with no butter or oil. Literally everything you need but an egg can be stored in your pantry at all times.

I have been working my way through my grandma’s recipe box. There are so many great handwritten recipes in there.

Some are hers and you can tell others were given to her by friends. This recipe for fruit cocktail cake is on a scrap of paper with the name Anna Sprock on the bottom.

I would like to imagine that my grandma was hanging out with Anna drinking coffee and enjoying a slice of this cake and was so enamored with it that she asked for the recipe. I will have to ask her to see if she remembers how she came to have this recipe.

Either way, I loved fruit cocktail as a child. Especially when it had lots of cherries in there.

We use it for frozen fruit salad, but otherwise I don’t think to pick up a can very often. So I used this as an excuse to get some cans with extra cherries.

Making the Batter

Cakes really don’t get easier than this. Empty a can of fruit cocktail into a bowl and add an egg, flour, sugar, salt and baking soda.

Stir it all together and the batter is ready. It literally takes about 2 minutes to put it together.

The original recipe called for an 8×11-inch pan which isn’t a standard size. So instead I pulled out my trust 8×8″ square pan.

Pour the batter into a greased pan and top with some brown sugar. You can add chopped pecans as well, or some coconut flakes would be tasty.

My boys are a bit picking about both of those additions, so I didn’t add either. I wanted to have help eating it!

Bake the cake for a little over an hour and you are ready to go. It reminds me kind a bit of a pineapple upside down cake but easier and less photogenic.

The edges have just a tiny bit of crunch with the caramelized sugar. The center is soft and the fruit adds lots of moisture.

We liked it best warm. It is fabulous on its own, but would also be great with some whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.

You could easily reduce the sugar in this cake if you would like. The granulated sugar in the batter could be cut to 3/4 cup and you could use half of the brown sugar on top if you like your desserts a little less sweet.

More Vintage Dessert Recipes

You can also try making fruit cocktail cake with a cake mix if you want. It is a super easy cake recipe that creates a lighter, fluffier cake than this recipe.

Butter cake with flaky fudge frosting is another old fashioned treat. My great-grandma made it for my mom’s birthday when she was a little girl and it is still my mom’s favorite.

Soft oatmeal step on cookies are another great option. The dough is rolled into balls and then refrigerated overnight before they are smashed and baked the next day. The resulting cookies are soft, mild and unlike the oatmeal cookies you are used to.

Frog eye salad is another fun and fruity dessert. The vintage recipe features a fruity custard with pasta and marshmallows for a tasty old timey treat.

Or try making an old fashioned sour cream raisin pie. The filling has an almost lemony tang and the fluffy meringue on top really finishes it off.