Easy Three Ingredient Fruit Cocktail Cake

My upside-down fruit salad cake is a quick and easy store cupboard standby with only three ingredients. This cake is unbelievably simple to make with tinned fruit cocktail. Fun, frugal and tasty, it’s also vegan,  fat free and fuss free. 

Easy Upside-Down Fruit Cocktail Cake

I rarely make fancy cakes. I just don’t find that they taste any better. Too much icing can be sickly and too heavy on the calories. I do, however, love a good cake. This fun retro recipe for a three ingredient upside-down fruit salad cake is my latest invention. A variation on my 4 ingredient pineapple upside down cake, it takes me straight back to childhood and I love it. 

This cake really does use just three ingredients. You need a can of fruit cocktail (in juice, not syrup), self-raising flour, and sugar. I just added a little extra water to increase the amount of liquid and give a nicely sized cake. 

This cake is perfect if are low on ingredients but don’t want to go shopping, as all the ingredients will be from your pantry. 

 Why Make It?

• This tinned fruit cake works for everybody – it’s  fat free, vegan and is part of your daily intake of fruit and veg!
• The recipe only uses store cupboard ingredients – ideal when you can’t get to the shops.
• No food waste, as you use the juice and the fruit!
• It keeps well. If anything, I think it tastes better the next day, making it a great make-ahead cake.
• The batter mixes easily with a spoon, so there’s no need for a mixer.
• The recipe is very forgiving, so there’s none of that Bake-Off style obsessing about accurate measurements. 

How to Make 3 Ingredient Upside Down Fruit Salad Cake 

Grab your ingredients:

1. Canned mixed fruit (in juice)
2. Self-raising flour
3. Caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan)/340°F/Gas Mark 5. The cake needs to go into a hot oven, so it’s important to wait for it to reach the correct temperature before you start work.

Step  1 – Open a can of fruit cocktail in juice and strain it over a bowl, reserving the juice. Line a cake tin with baking paper (grease-proof paper or baking parchment). Lightly oil the top of the paper. Arrange the fruit in the cake pan. 

You can use 

• 8″ / 20 cm round tin
• 8 x 6″ (20 x 15 cm) rectangular tin
• or a 7″ square tin

Step 2 – Mix the flour and sugar together. Then fold in the fruit juice with two tablespoons of water. The batter should be thick, but if needed add a little more water to loosen it.  

Step 3 – Pour the batter over the fruit. Gently shake the cake pan from side to side to spread the batter out. Now put the cake in the oven immediately to bake for 35 minutes.

Step 4 – After 35 minutes, check that the cake is cooked. If it is ready, the top will be golden and springy. Use a toothpick to test – it should come out clean. If necessary, return the cake to the oven for another 5 minutes before checking again.

When it’s done, allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Step 5 – Put an upside down wire cooling rack over the cake and careful flip it over. Gently ease the cake tin off your fruit cocktail cake. Slowly and carefully peel off the parchment paper, using a knife if any fruit gets stuck to it.

Hints & Tips

• If you don’t have self raising flour, add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to plain flour. Mix well before using.
• I use golden caster sugar, but any caster sugar is fine. Even granulated will work.
• Strain the juice well.
• You need to bake the cake as soon as you have mixed the batter because of the reaction between the raising agent in the flour and the juice. Heat the oven and prepare the cake pan before you make the batter.
• This cake is actually better on the second day, once the sponge has absorbed more juice from the fruit.
• The cake can be kept at room temperature for a day. If the weather is hot, or if you need to keep it for longer, wrap and keep in the fridge. If you don’t do this, the fruit may ferment! Eat within 3 days.
• If you have a fresh lemon to hand, you could grate a little lemon zest and add to the batter.

For more easy cakes recipes, try my easy peasy ginger cake or my delicious (and vegan) traditional tea loaf.