Fruit Cocktail Cake
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This old-fashioned fruit cocktail cake is made from scratch. With a delicious coconut and pecan sauce that soaks into the cake, it’s so rich and moist you won’t be able to resist bite after bite.
I love and adore this old-fashioned fruit cocktail cake with sauce. This is another one of those long-ago recipes that we’ve been making in my family for as long as I can remember. But it’s easy to see why!
Made from scratch, the ingredients in our easy fruit cocktail cake are simple shelf-stables and the recipe itself is not fussy at all. For the fruit cocktail cake itself, you’ll need fruit cocktail (of course), along with flour, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix those ingredients together, pour them into a baking dish to make a Texas sheet cake (it’s the Southern way, y’all), and bake until golden brown.
While the cake’s a-baking, make your topping by combining butter, coconut, sugar, vanilla, evaporated milk, and pecans on the stovetop and bringing them to a boil. How creamy, buttery, and deliciously nutty does that sauce sound? I can’t wait for you to try it! We spread the topping over the hot cake and then let it sit so it soaks into every bite of moist cake.
Let me tell ya… the fruit cocktail cake combined with the coconut and pecan-flavored buttery sauce is absolute perfection. Y’all aren’t ready for it. The sauce soaks into the cake for a rich, moist, and flavorful bite every time. It’s honestly a very unique flavor, unlike anything you’ve ever had! Once you give it a try, I know you’ll definitely make this again. If you are craving other types of fruit cakes try make these recipes like Easy Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Sam Club Strawberry Cake (Homemade Recipe), or Fresh Strawberry Cake With Cream Cheese Icing
Surely you’re ready to give it a go now, right? I feel like I was very convincing 😉.
Recipe Ingredients
Cake
- Self-rising flour
- Vanilla extract
- White sugar
- Eggs
- A can of undrained fruit cocktail in heavy syrup
Sauce
- Butter or margarine
- Shredded coconut flakes
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Evaporated milk
- Chopped pecans
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How To Make Fruit Cocktail Cake
To make the for this , you’re going to “dump” all the in a mixing bowl.
Start with the flour…
Then add the canned fruit cocktail ( and all)…
Eggs…
…
And the vanilla.
Mix on low speed until well blended like so.
Scrape down the sides and mix again for about another minute.
Spray a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour batter into the pan.
Like so.
Then bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until it looks as golden brown as this.
Instructions for the Fruit Cocktail Cake Topping
Place all ingredients in a medium to large saucepot, including the butter…
Sweetened flaked coconut…
Sugar…
Vanilla…
Evaporated milk…
And pecans.
Stir.
Bring to a boil, while stirring, over medium heat.
Keep boiling for one to two minutes until it looks something like this.
This icing will remain pretty runny, which will be great when you pour it over your hot cake and it soaks all in.
Take the hot cake out of the oven.
Pour the hot topping over the hot cake.
You want to spread as you pour.
TIP: Work fast now because this is going to immediately soak down into the cake and you don’t want the coconut to be concentrated in one area and completely absent in the other. Spreading the topping as you pour will help avoid this problem.
Now it’s time to take a bit of your delicious dessert creation!
Storage
- You can store leftovers, covered, at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- You can also freeze the cake in an airtight container for up to a year. Thaw in the fridge before enjoying cold or reheat quickly in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- You can serve your cake warm, cold, or at room temperature. Personally, I love this cake any way you can give it to me!
- If you want to go the extra step, serve your cake slice with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a maraschino cherry on top.
- If you prefer, you can use toasted fresh coconut flakes in the sauce instead.
- You can also substitute pecans for .
- But if you don’t like pecans or coconut, feel free to omit one or both.
- Another easy variation is to use 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar instead of all white sugar in the cake batter.
- Please note that this recipe calls for self-rising flour in order for the cake to rise. To learn how to make self-raising flour, visit my FAQs page.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use different fruit in this fruit cocktail cake recipe?
If you prefer, you can use canned peach slices or canned pineapple instead.
Can you add fruit to a boxed cake mix?
Yes. Instead of making your cake from scratch, feel free to mix the fruit cocktail with a boxed cake mix (a white or yellow cake mix would be best) and bake it according to the package directions.
Can I make fruit cocktail cake cupcakes?
No, cupcakes don’t work for this particular cake recipe because of the topping that soaks into the cake.
Can I make this cake in advance?
Yes, you can make this cake in advance and store it at room temperature for up to 3 days.
You may also enjoy these other fruit cake recipes:
Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Super Moist)
Peach Dump Cake Recipe (3 Ingredients Only)
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 15-ounce can fruit cocktail, undrained
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, place all the cake ingredients and beat at low speed until blended. Scrape down the sides and beat again at low speed for one minute more. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.2 cups self-rising flour, 1 15-ounce can fruit cocktail, undrained, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups sugar
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, combine all the sauce ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the mixture is boiling, continue stirring and boil for 1-2 minutes.1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- Pour the sauce over the hot cake and quickly spread it with a spatula for even coverage.
Video
Nutrition
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.
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!
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
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!
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.
Lynne, my Aunt gave me this recipe in the 70’s…she had been making it since I was a kid as far back as I can remember…the only difference was she sprink.ed the top with brown sugar & pecans before baking…that gives it a nice brown color…that was the only difference in this recipe…you might try that…Good luck & happy EATING!!!
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 Love this Recipe. My mom made it all the time and I have kept up the tradition. It really is a family favorite. Brothers, husband sons kids everyone. Thank you for sharing this very great and most delicious cake recipe
Thank you so much this cake has so Many memories for me My grandma made it when i was a little girl and then my grandma past down the Recipe to my mom so then my mom and I started Making it together i was about 7 years old So many memories of me and my mom making this cake But we moved And I guess in this move we lost the recipe we were so sad But then I seen your Recipe and said omg thats the cake me and my mom would make togethers so thank you so much for Posting this recipe im happy to say me and my mom will be Making this cake together for Thanksgiving just in time well im 52 years old now So as we’re making this cake together it’s gonna bring back so many memories and now new ones thank you again sorry i didnt mean to write a book I couldn’t help it I got all excited LOL
I’m really happy you posted this recipe. I used to help my mother make it. She felt I did a better job with cakes than she did so I usually was assigned baking duties. (Most likely she was just tired of working over a hot stove!) At any rate this cake was always my favorite to make and to eat. Thanks for reminding me of family dinners.
Glad you posted this. I’ve made it with a lady I take care of and it’s on her recipe book. It’s snowing this morning and I wanted to make it and didn’t have respite here with me!!
Hope it all went perfectly. Thanks for sharing 🙂
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!
Where is actual receipt amounts not just directions.
Hey Lana, scroll up just above the comment section and you’ll see a printable recipe card. This is at the bottom of each post on the site. Welcome to Southern Plate!
That really takes me back…in our family we call it dump cake! I will have to try your recipe – looks delicious.