Icebox Fruitcake
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This old-fashioned icebox fruitcake recipe is a traditional holiday dessert for my family and many here in the South. This deliciously dense cake is overflowing with decadent ingredients, like graham cracker crumbs, pecans, maraschino cherries, and mini marshmallows.
This classic icebox fruitcake recipe is one of those simple things that have always made holidays special in our family. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas you would find one on my grandmother’s table, and now I get the opportunity to share her delicious recipe with y’all.
Fortunately, it’s so easy to make this Southern icebox fruitcake. The most challenging part is using a food processor to crush the graham crackers (yep, really). From there, you simply mix together all the ingredients, including raisins, pecans, mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries, and shredded coconut. A can of sweetened condensed milk perfectly brings all the ingredients together.
The best part is that this is a no-bake fruit cake. Yep, once you combine the ingredients, let it chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Now, I prefer to make icebox fruitcake bars in a baking dish. But if you’d prefer to make an actual fruitcake, go right on ahead and chill it in a bundt cake pan, round cake pan, or tube pan.
So if you’ve been searching for a holiday dessert you can make ahead of time, look no further. If you’re on the lookout for another enjoyable icebox cake to bake, check out my lemon icebox cake recipe. Or you may like my fruitcake bar cookies. Okay, enough chattin’, let’s get not-baking 😉.
Recipe Ingredients
- Graham crackers
- Pecans
- Maraschino cherries
- Shredded coconut
- Raisins
- Miniature marshmallows
- Sweetened condensed milk
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Icebox Fruitcake
Crush the entire box of graham crackers.
I used my food processor but you can also pop those crackers in a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
Coarsely chop pecans.
Chop cherries (saving the cherry juice).
Combine everything in a large mixing bowl.
Mix well.
You may have to use your hands for this. It’s messy but you get to lick your fingers afterward, so it’s totally worth it.
Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper or grease it with butter/cooking spray.
Press the cake batter flat into the prepared pan.
Chill for at least 6 hours and then turn out before cutting into bars.
How good do these icebox fruitcake bars look?
Enjoy!
Storage
- You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. The fruitcake will actually get better the longer it sits in your fridge, as the cake soaks up all the delicious flavor.
- You can also freeze leftover fruit cake for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight and it will be good to serve the next day.
Recipe Notes
- If you miss that rum flavor of a traditional fruitcake, you can add 1 teaspoon of rum extract or dark rum to the mix.
- Don’t hesitate to substitute any of the dried fruit or nuts if you don’t like them. For example, swap pecans for walnuts, or raisins for dried apricots.
- Another great substitution is the graham crackers for crushed vanilla wafers.
- If you can’t get your hands on maraschino cherries, you can use candied cherries or candied holiday fruit instead, and just add a tablespoon of water to the batter if it’s too tough.
Here are more popular holiday dessert recipes:
Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe From Scratch
Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
- 1 14.4-oz box graham crackers
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 10-oz jar maraschino cherries
- 1 tablespoon cherry juice
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup shredded coconut, firmly packed
- 1.5 cups mini marshmallows
- 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Finely crush graham crackers and coarsely chop pecans and drained cherries.1 14.4-oz box graham crackers, 1 cup pecans, 1 10-oz jar maraschino cherries
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.1 14.4-oz box graham crackers, 1 cup pecans, 1 10-oz jar maraschino cherries, 1 tablespoon cherry juice, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup shredded coconut, firmly packed, 1.5 cups mini marshmallows, 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
- Turn out into a lightly buttered 9x13 baking dish and press flat into the pan with your hands.
- Chill for at least 6 hours before cutting the fruitcake into bars.
Nutrition
Original icebox fruitcake recipe from Southernbite.com
Remember, if you don’t have Christmas in your heart, you won’t find it under a tree.
My mother’s icebox fruitcake recipe is a little different (vanilla wafers and no marshmallows). It’s a Christmas staple for our family. We’ll pull it out of the frig and put on a pot of coffee – makes for wonderful family time.
That’s almost the exact recipe that my granny passed down to us. She used a box of vanilla wafers instead of graham crackers though.. Christmas is just not the same without icebox fruitcake!!!!!!!
Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe and story with us!
Love this reciep. So simple and easy. Thanks for sharing! God Bless You and Merry Christmas!
My Mom made this fruit cake back in the 50’s. She packed the mixture into a waxed paper lined cracker box to mold and chill it. I think the recipe appeared on the label of the box. It was very good. Of course, she also made Old Fashioned Dark Fruitcake that was also delicious.
I can certainly connect with your grandmother’s story. My kids grew up with lots of love and make do also. One year our oldest daughter painted sweet gum balls with silver paint, and then filled the holes with silver tooth picks. Beautiful! All of the kids still remember how pretty the tree was that year. We also had bubble lights. And I well remember the fruitcake recipe. It was greatly loved. Most everyone liked it better than the traditional baked ones. Thanks for the memories.
Doris, thank you for your comment about this cake and the sweet gum balls with tooth picks! All a part of my Christmas memories :). For about 60 years my mother has used this recipe to make our tradtional ice box cake. She actually learned it from my grandmother! Thanks for the memories 🙂
this brings back memories of a nut roll my mom used to make, we can’t find her recipe, I read this one to her, and she said it sounds like it, only difference is we roll it instead, just slice as needed! Thanks for the memories and the recipe! Your a lifesaver, been looking for it for sooooooo long!
The nut roll only had three or four ingredients: l lb each of graham cracker crumbs, marshmallows, pecans and raisins if you want them. Melt the marshmallows in a double boiler, add the other ingredients (might want to to butter your hands or use water to finish, as it gets VERY stiff as it cools). Roll in waxed paper and store, slice as needed.