Enjoy a slice of history with this fruit cocktail cake recipe. It’s a treasured dish from my aunt that delights every palate.

I am always looking for a “different” type of dessert to share with guests. This one isn’t new. In fact, it is quite old. A deliciously moist fruit cocktail cake with a crunchy topping of brown sugar and nuts. Now, before you say, “Eww, that’s just weird,” trust me, it is delicious. And easy to make. A big success in my book!

The date on the recipe card is 1954, but I know the recipe itself is much older.

When my mom passed away many years ago, I inherited her old recipes. This one was given to her by my aunt, Myrtle Duncan. It has always been one of my favorites. Hence the name of the recipe. It’s called Duncan’s Dessert. It has been called this since way before I was born.

My aunt was born in 1900. She always had elegant desserts when she had company over, even when it was her brother, sister-in-law, and 6 kids! Here are a couple of fun facts about her. Aunt Myrtle was the first kindergarten teacher in her town of Findlay, Ohio. She lived to be 99 years old. She was a delightful person, and so was her husband, who was a school principal.

Incidentally, here is a school photo of my Aunt Myrtle as a kindergarten teacher.  It doesn’t have a date. I am guessing it was taken around the time she wrote out this recipe. It was probably in the mid-50s.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy Duncan’s Dessert. My favorite part about seeing the recipe card is that it calls for a 15¢ can of fruit cocktail (!), which I discovered is a medium-sized can – about 15 oz.

Here is what my well-used recipe card looks like:

Duncan’s Dessert (Vintage Fruit Cocktail Cake)

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Here are the ingredients:

• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of white flour
• a level tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 well-beaten egg
• 1 15 oz can fruit cocktail with juice  (let me know if you find one for 15¢!) 😉
• 1/4 stick (2 tbsp) butter, melted

• Topping:
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar

And here are the directions:

1. First, grease an 8×8 pan. I use the stick of butter still in its wrapper to grease the pan. No messy hands!

2. Mix together the white sugar, flour, soda, and salt. Stir in the egg and melted butter.

3. Then stir in the fruit cocktail and its juice.

4. Next, pour batter into a greased 8×8 pan.

How to make the topping.

5. For the topping, mix together the brown sugar and pecans. Spoon topping evenly over the cake batter.

6. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes. It should be brown and crunchy on the top.

7. Finally, serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Vintage Fruit Cocktail Cake – PRINTABLE RECIPE 

Vintage Fruit Cocktail Cake

How to serve your fruit cocktail cake.

*My aunt always got her ice cream from the local ice cream/candy shop in Findlay, Ohio called Dietsch Brothers. It’s still there, and since we often travel between Florida and Michigan, we always stop for some goodies.  My kids love visiting Dietsch’s as much as I did as kid. 🙂

Alas, I didn’t have any vanilla ice cream on hand. It was a bit far to go to Ohio. Instead, we used whipped cream, which was just as yummy.  

And, as a bonus, I used one of my Aunt Myrtle’s dishes to serve up her fruit cocktail cake. See it in the picture above. 🙂

Give it a try and let me know what you think. Do you use old family recipes, too?  What are your favorites?

~ Pam

P.S. Looking for other yummy desserts? Fill out the form below to get a downloadable copy of recipes for my 10 favorite easy desserts!