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.

Bite taken out of piece of icebox fruitcake.

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 😉.

Labeled ingredients for icebox fruitcake.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Graham crackers
  • Pecans
  • Maraschino cherries
  • Shredded coconut
  • Raisins
  • Miniature marshmallows 
  • Sweetened condensed milk

Helpful Kitchen Tools

How to Make Icebox Fruitcake

Crush graham crackers in food processor.

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.

Coarsely chop pecans.

Chop cherries.

 Chop cherries (saving the cherry juice).

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Combine everything in a large mixing bowl.

Mix ingredients well.

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 baking dish with parchment paper.

Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper or grease it with butter/cooking spray.

Press cake batter flat into prepared pan.

Press the cake batter flat into the prepared pan.

Turn out icebox fruitcake once chilled and cut into bars.

Chill for at least 6 hours and then turn out before cutting into bars.

Place of icebox fruitcake.

How good do these icebox fruitcake bars look?

Stack of icebox fruitcake bars.

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:

Pecan Pie Cheesecake

Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe From Scratch

Holiday Popcorn Crunch

Festive Holiday Fruit Salad

Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

How To Make Apple Pie

Plate of icebox fruitcake.

Icebox Fruitcake

This old-fashioned Icebox Fruitcake recipe is a traditional holiday dessert that's overflowing with decadent ingredients, like graham cracker crumbs, pecans, maraschino cherries, and mini marshmallows.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, fruit
Servings: 4
Calories: 135kcal

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

Calories: 135kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

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.

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93 Comments

  1. My grandmother made this same recipe and when she passed, my aunt made it. I now make it every year. It’s the one thing my three grown sons request that’s a must on my goodies-to-make list!

  2. We have a similar story about our fruit cake but as a family we make ours Thanksgiving weekend and you are not aloud to eat until Christmas eve, my great grandmother would beat any one caught trying to sample before Christmas eve!

  3. When I was growing up, my mother had a relative that would bring Icebox Fruitcakes as her Christmas gift. She would line aluminum ice trays with wax paper and use this as the container to freeze the cake. She would get back the ice trays so they could be reused the next Christmas. Also, her recipe varied as candied red & green fruit were used as well as pineapple, coconut but not marshmallows. Nuts – pecans, walnuts, brazil nut were used. Some families had a preference as to which fruitcake mixture they liked. She would remember & make these accordingly.

  4. We made this 3x over the Christmas holiday to give away as gifts and one to keep for us. My kids loved taking ownership of making this cake for their grandparents who LOVED it! I have the best picture of their little hands stained bright red from the cherries. This will be added to the must make list each year along with peanut butter fudge and butter cookies. Thanks for sharing!!

  5. I made this and only left out the raisins. I put it in a loaf pan and was going to slice it like I read about above but it turns out kinda sticky and you basically have to spoon it out of the pan. It tastes fine but it’s not what I expected to eat like a thick sticky pudding like stuff. Any hints on what I need to change.

    1. PUT YOUR CAKE IN THE FREEZER…. FRIDGE IS JUST NOT COLD ENOUGH TO FIRM IT UP. TRUST ME. IT IS A LOT BETTER. HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS. AND IF YOU HAVE ANY CAKE LEFT, IF IT IS WRAPPED UP- TIGHT, IT WILL LAST FOR MONTHS. ( GREAT SNACKS)

  6. My Mother-in-Law made an ice-box fruitcake like this for many years, the favorite of my husband and kids. She passed away last February, and I fixed the cake this year as a tribute to her, for our family. Great way to pass on great traditions and remember those gone on….

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