This quick, uber-rich Fruit Cocktail Cake is one of Gary’s favorites. I’ve made it for him more times than I can count.
You will need…
- 1 can of fruit cocktail
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 cup of chopped nuts (optional)
- Brown sugar
Lightly beat the egg with a fork.
Pour all of the ingredients, except the brown sugar and the nuts, into a bowl.
Stir together. Pour into an 8×8 cake pan.
(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture the batter in the pan. But you don’t need it, right? Of course, you don’t!)
Pour the brown sugar and nuts into a bowl. This time I used chopped pecans.
If I don’t have nuts in the house , I leave them out. Fruit Cocktail Cake is good without them.
By the way… this recipe calls for 3/4 cup of brown sugar. When I made it this time, I forgot that over the years, I’ve cut down on the amount of sugar I use – a lot – because using this makes this larger amount makes the cake seem overly sweet to me.
Mix the brown sugar and nuts together.
Does this look like a lot of brown sugar? It is.
Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top of the cake batter.
See the top part of the pan – the part in which the topping is sparse? That’s about the amount I usually add.
This is what the cake looks like if you use all of the brown sugar. If you love brown sugar, you will love this.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. If you don’t use so much brown sugar, it isn’t quite as gooey.
But don’t get me wrong… the cake is great as it is. It’s just that I prefer it a little less rich. (Things that are too rich tend to make my teeth hurt a little because they go into sugar shock!)
Serve with whipped cream, Cool Whip, or vanilla ice cream, if you’d like. As you can see, Fruit Cocktail Cake is super moist, ooey-gooey, and oh, so good!
(Despite the large amount of brown sugar, I ate multiple pieces of cake. It was a sacrifice I had to make for the good of mankind.)
That sounds delicious, Ro, and a tad healthier than what my mom used to do with fruit cocktail.
She made a fruit cocktail “salad” with miniatures marshmallows and Miracle Whip! But that was the 50s … lol.
Ha! My Mom STILL makes that! I LOVE Miracle Whip! Did your Mom add cottage cheese and mandarin oranges? MMMMM.
Oh I haven’t had fruit cocktail cake since I was a kid at home. Over 40 years ago. Thanks so much for sharing. I think I will make this tonite for supper.
I’m going to try this one very soon. Very simple to make and sounds like it would be delicious – I may reduce the sugar a little tho, we’ll see.
I made this cake last night for dessert. I have one complaint–I couldn’t stop eating it!!! It is so good. I had 2nds then 3rds. My husband and son loved it too. I did as you mentioned and only put a small amount of brown sugar on top. I would say I used less than 1/2 a cup maybe even a 1/4 cup with a cup of chopped pecans and it was just enough.
This is definitely a new favorite dessert at my house.
Yum!!! I’m glad you posted this recipe. I had forgotten about it. I used to use our bottled fruit to make this, too. Thank you.
I knew this recipe as a child by the name “Ozark Pie”. I can’t remember which President (must’ve been Truman) said it was a favorite of his. I think the only reason it was called pie was that it was made in a pie tin! It always looked like cake to me! It was always good with my Grandma’s “put-up” peaches. I miss her. Think I’ll make a pie! Thanks for the reminder!
This may sound like a very stupid question….but are you suppose to drain the juice out of the fruit cocktail?
I ask this because I am trying to make this right now, and since the recipe didn’t say drain, I didn’t. But after the 35 minutes, the center is no where near cooked. Left it in for another 10 minutes, hope it works out…it sounds so yummy!
I grew up with this dessert and was going to make it myself after forty some years, but after reviewing the now faded recipe, I wanted to make it with less sugar. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hasn’t anyone heard of the hard sauce that goes over the cake after it is baked? Yummy, but just more sugar!
I’m quite pleased with the infotrmaion in this one. TY!
Does anyone know if the Fruit Cocktail cake freezes well? It sounds like a good choice for Christmas but I need to be able to freeze whatever I bake.
Oh gosh…. I wouldn’t know. It never lasts long enough to find out. People inhale it! Good question.
Thank you for your reply. Maybe I’ll try saving enough to freeze and see how it goes (also for the good of mankind) and report back.
Hi everyone,
i’m wondering if anyone could help me find the recipe of a so called “FRIENDSHIP CAKE” that uses
fruit cocktail and a “mother dough” that you keep feeding weekly for 4 weeks before baking it into a cake. I was given a mother dough several years ago to start with, and it was the best cake I ever made and given some of the mother dough to some friend of mine .Please, if you have a recipe for the mother dough I would like to start it again specially during these coming Holiday Seasons.
Thank you Ro for putting this wonderful website on the internet.
Hey – I wondered if this could be it:
Friendship Cake
Here’s one with fruit cocktail in it.
Friendship Cake 2
Looks like a lot of fun. I may have to try this out myself!
Thank you Ro, I’ve been looking for these recipes for years…specially the starter, now I can make it and give some to my friends who were looking for this cake( just in time for the holidays.)…Thanks again…you made my day!!!!
Happy to help!!
I just made this cake as I was craving a fruit cocktail cake I used to make in the 60′s. This one would be real good but it did not specify type of flour and so I used all purpose, therefore it needs some salt. Guess I am a little disappointed!
Hi Sharon,
Sorry for the confusion. When I don’t mention which type of flour to use, the recipe calls for regular white flour. All of the recipes I have grown up with are that way so it never occurred to me that there might be some confusion on this point. In the future, I’ll make sure that I clarify which kind.
I’ve never used any salt with this recipe – even with white flour – (the recipe doesn’t call for it) so I guess we don’t miss it! Maybe I’ll try adding a little next time I make it and see what I think.
Sorry that you were disappointed.
All the best to you,
Rozanne