Fruit Cocktail Cake – A 1976 Church Cookbook Recipe Worth Making Again
Fruit cocktail cake is a vintage gem: A recipe that came about in America’s midcentury, making delicious use of simple ingredients and pantry staples. I found this recipe in an old church cookbook and am sharing it to mark 15 years of Cheap Recipe Blog.
15 Years Of Cheap Recipe Blog
Fifteen years ago today, on September 21, 2011, I published my very first recipe here on Cheap Recipe Blog: Wacky Cake. A Depression-era chocolate cake recipe that contains no eggs or dairy. A recipe my family made over and over for birthday parties and Sunday suppers for decades.
On the 15-year anniversary, it felt fitting to share another vintage cake recipe. Something resourceful and a little unusual – but also tasty and totally worth making.
That’s kind of been the point of this blog since day one.
So today, I’m sharing this fruit cocktail cake, a recipe I found in an old church cookbook published in 1976: Treasured Recipes, from the St. Francis DeSales Parish in Spooner, Wisconsin. This recipe was submitted by Ann Paddock.
About The Cake
This old-fashioned cake recipe is simple yet delicious. It’s extremely moist thanks to the fruit cocktail and the butter glaze that is drizzled over the cake when it’s done baking. The batter comes together in one bowl, and the fruit cocktail (juice and all) does most of the work, keeping the crumb incredibly moist and studding every bite with soft little pieces of peach, pear, and the highly sought-after cherry. Right when it comes out of the oven, the warm butter glaze gets poured over the top, where it soaks into the hot cake. That’s what gives this cake its sticky-sweet finish and keeps it moist for days afterward.
Fruit Cocktail Cake History
Canned fruit cocktail first hit grocery shelves in the late 1920s and 1930s. It contains a mix of diced peaches, pears, pineapple, grapes, and cherries suspended in syrup. It was a genuinely novel product at a time when fresh fruit out of season was a luxury most families couldn’t afford. By the 1950s and 60s, that same can of fruit cocktail had worked its way into everything from Jell-O salads to breakfast toppings, but it really found its calling in cake.
Fruit cocktail cake became a fixture of mid-century American kitchens for the same reason so many “dump cake” style recipes did: it used a handful of pantry staples (flour, sugar, an egg, baking soda) plus that one can of fruit (juice and all) to create a cake that was naturally moist without needing butter or oil in the batter. The syrup did all the work.
By the 1960s and 70s, versions of this cake were showing up in church cookbooks and community fundraiser collections all over the country; the kind of recipe passed hand to hand on index cards, exactly like the one this recipe came from. It was cheap to make, traveled well to potlucks, and it stayed moist for days, which made it a natural fit for the same kind of practical, feed-a-crowd cooking that hotdish comes from.
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Why This Cake Is Still Worth Making
The internet is full of fancy, tiered cakes that require some serious cake making and decorating skills. This is not one of those recipes. Rather, it’s tasty, moist, and comes together with almost no effort. It’s delicious in its simplicity. There’s something to be said for a recipe that was popular for decades before anyone cared about how a cake photographed. It earned its place in kitchens the old-fashioned way, one good bite at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I use a different kind of canned fruit instead of fruit cocktail?
A: Yes, though it will change the texture and flavor slightly. Canned diced peaches or pears work well as a substitute, since they’re close in texture to the fruit cocktail’s mix. Just make sure whatever you use is packed in juice or syrup rather than drained — that liquid is what keeps this cake moist, not butter or oil in the batter.
Q: Do I need to drain the fruit cocktail?
A: No. Do not drain it. The juice or syrup is doing a lot of the work here: it keeps the batter moist which is exactly what made this style of cake so popular with home bakers who wanted something easy and inexpensive. Draining the can will leave you with a drier, less flavorful cake.
Q: How do I store fruit cocktail cake, and how long does it last?
A: Store it covered at room temperature for up to 2 to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week, since the glaze and fruit make it more prone to drying out or the topping getting sticky if left uncovered. This cake is known for staying moist for several days, which is part of why it was such a popular potluck and make-ahead recipe.
Dedication
This recipe is dedicated to my mom and dad – both of whom we lost in the past year. My mom was the biggest supporter of my blog since day 1. My dad truly didn’t understand what Cheap Recipe Blog was until he randomly stumbled upon one of my recipes when doing a Google search. They supported each and every one of my creative endeavors and I miss them more than words can express.
Thanks so much, you two.
Fruit Cocktail Cake
This recipe calls for a can of fruit cocktail with liquid included. I used fruit cocktail in fruit juice - but you can use fruit cocktail in syrup. Either will work, but the syrup verion is a little heavier and sweeter.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 15.25 ounce can fruit cocktail
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
For topping
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 5 ounces evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13-inch cake pan and dust with flour.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Fold in fruit cocktail and juice until incorporated. Pour cake batter into cake pan. Sprinkle with walnuts and brown sugar. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Make glaze: Combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, and simmer for 2 minutes until sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Spoon milk mixture over warm cake and allow it to soak in. Serve alone or topped with whipped cream and a marashino cherry.