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You are here: Home / Recipes / Baking / Cake / Easy Three Ingredient Fruit Cocktail Cake

Easy Three Ingredient Fruit Cocktail Cake

Published on March 24, 2020 by Helen Best-Shaw 12 Comments
Last Updated on April 6, 2022

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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. 

A cut fruit cocktail cake on a marble board.

Everything You Need To Know

  • Easy Upside-Down Fruit Cocktail Cake
  •  Why Make It?
  • How to Make 3 Ingredient Upside Down Fruit Salad Cake 
  • Hints & Tips
  • More Easy Cakes
  • Simple Tinned Fruit Cake

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 

The three ingredients for fruit cocktail 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.

The fruit from tinned fruit cocktail - strained and spread in a lined caketin.

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

Dry and mixed ingredients for fruit cocktail cake.

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.  

Fruit cocktail cake ready for baking.

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.

Baked fruit cocktail cake cooling in its tin, ready to be turned out.

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.

Removing the lining paper from fruit cocktail cake.

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.
  • If you love fruit cocktail try this fruit cocktail crumble

More Easy Cakes

  • Vegan ginger cake
  • Olive oil cake
  • Fruit loaf
  • Berry yogurt loaf cake
  • Marmalade cake
  • Dorset apple cake
  • Soul cakes
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Close up of fruit cocktail cake.
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5 from 7 votes

Simple Tinned Fruit Cake

This upside-down fruit salad cake is a quick and easy store cupboard standby with only three ingredients. Fun, frugal and tasty, it's also vegan and fat free.
Servings: 8
Author: Helen Best-Shaw
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Total Time45 mins
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Ingredients

  • 410 g fruit salad/cocktail in juice
  • 100 g caster sugar (I prefer golden)
  • 185 g self raising flour
Metric - USA Cups

Instructions

  • Measure out the self-raising flour and sugar.
    Switch the oven to 170°C (fan)/340°F/Gas Mark 5 to heat up. The cake needs to go into a hot oven, so wait for it to reach the temperature before you start to mix the batter.
  • Grease a 8" x 6" cake tin with vegetable oil or cake release spray, and line the bottom with baking paper (greaseproof paper or baking parchment). Lightly oil the top of the paper.
  • Arrange the drained fruit in the cake tin.
  • Put the flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl and add the juice along with two tbsp cold water. Mix with a spoon or spatula to make a thick batter.
  • Spread the batter over the fruit. Then gently shake the cake pan from side to side to spread the batter out. Put in the oven immediately to bake for 35 minutes.
  • Test to see if the cake is cooked. When it's ready the top will be golden and springy to touch. A tooth pick pushed into the middle of the cake should come out clean. If not, return the cake to the oven for another 5 minutes before checking again.
  • Let the cake stand for 5 minutes to cool and firm up.
  • Put a wire cooling rack over the cake and carefully flip it over. Carefully remove the tin. Slowly and carefully peel off the parchment paper using a knife if any fruit gets stuck to it.

Notes

  • 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.
  • 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.
Nutritional Information
  • This recipe is 8 Weight Watchers Smart Points per portion
• Please note that the nutrition information provided below is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
• Unless stated otherwise cup conversions have been made with an online tool. For accuracy please check with your favoured conversion tool. We recommend buying inexpensive digital kitchen scales.
Nutrition Facts
Simple Tinned Fruit Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 178
% Daily Value*
Sodium 1mg0%
Potassium 86mg2%
Carbohydrates 41g14%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 22g24%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 25IU1%
Vitamin C 4.8mg6%
Calcium 12mg1%
Iron 0.4mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Course: Baked Goods
Cuisine: Vegan
Keyword: Vegan Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

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

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Filed Under: Baking, Cake, Easy Ways to Extra Veg (and Fruit), Quick & Easy, Recipes, Recipes by Course, Vegan Recipes Ingredients: Canned fruit, Flour, Sugar

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    Recipe Rating




  1. Danielle

    5 stars
    Ah, I’ve always enjoyed upside-down cakes. I am sure this one won’t be an exception. It is so bright and looks absolutely delicious!

    Reply
  2. Kristen

    5 stars
    This fruit cake is so good! Thank you for sharing the recipe!

    Reply
  3. Christie Gagnon

    5 stars
    So good!

    Reply
  4. Anita

    5 stars
    This is such a simple and cool cake recipe with only 3 ingredients! Perfect when I am craving a cake and doesn’t want to do complicated recipe. :)

    Reply
  5. Cate

    Love this recipe! It looks so yummy and beautiful, thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Michelle

    5 stars
    Delicious, quick, easy, and perfect for lockdown baking when you don’t have any eggs but fancy a teatime treat. Fabulous!

    Reply
  7. Robyn

    5 stars
    Amazingly easy to make and utterly delicious. It works perfectly.

    Reply
  8. Nikki Ward

    5 stars
    Upsidedown fruit cakes remind me of childhood and I love them. what a brilliant idea. So simple too.

    Reply
  9. james

    wow what a healthy & mouth watering post is this i am trying daily some foods to cook due to lockdown and now next one is fruit cocktail cake shared by you i hope i will get best and tasty cake for my family thanks for sharing i will share my experience

    Reply
    • Helen

      I hope that you enjoy it.

      Reply
  10. dominique

    Helen, thankyou for your recipe. I tried it but my cake turned out dense. Probably because I didn’t sift the flour?

    Reply
    • Helen

      Hi Dominique,

      It is quite a dense cake – more of a pudding cake, than a light and fluffy one. It’s possible your baking powder was stale.

      The cake does improve after a day as the sponge absorbs the fruit juice. We also love it served with lightly whipped cream.

      Reply

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Headshot of Helen Best-Shaw, Food Blogger at Fuss Free Flavours I'm Helen, full time freelance food writer, photographer and blogger. On this site you will find my fuss-free recipes, travel and reviews. Learn more here
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