Friday, June 26, 2009

Fruit Cocktail Cake

Close your eyes. (Ummm... I just realized this whole exercise doesn't work if you close your eyes, so don't literally close your eyes)

Imagine a table. With a plate on it. And on that plate is a square of cake. The cake is thick with a moist crumb. There are specks of yellow, red, and white in it. Hinting at the peach, cherries, and pear that is inside the cake. Now imagine that cake with a glistening frosting that is loaded with sweet coconut.

Looks delicious in your head, right? (Well, unless I killed it for you with the coconut. You crazy coconut haters, you).

Well, now that you've got that mental image in your head... now I suppose I'll show you a picture of what my version of the cake looked like. But, brace yourself folks. It ain't purty.

See? Gross, blahness on a plate. But, hear me out. It's delicious and SUPER easy. It's a super moist cake... made with fruit cocktail from a can (and no fat added to the cake. Bonus!) And the icing on top is made of butter, evaporated milk and coconut. YUM.

Sometimes, you gotta look past an ugly exterior, to get to the goodness inside. A lesson we all need reminded of sometimes.

Fruit Cocktail Cake
from the kitchen of: My Aunt Peggy

This cake is moist and gooey. It's not a showstopper visually, but it's delicious. I even over-cooked the cake and it turned out a little rubbery, but it still tasted good! I made mine the day ahead to let the juices soak into the cake.

Ingredients
2 cups flour (I think they mean self-rising flour, which I didn't have. AP will work)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 regular size can (14 ozs or so?) Fruit Cocktail

Icing:
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
coconut (depends on how much coconut you want. Probably a medium sized bag worth)

Preheat oven for 350. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the cake. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out fairly clean. Start checking around 25-30 minutes. Take the cake out, but don't let it cool for too long before you put the icing on. You want the cake to still be warm when you put the icing on.

To make the icing: Cook the butter, sugar, and milk in a saucepan until they come to a boil, then turn down heat and add coconut.

Poke holes with a fork into the cooked cake and then spread the icing onto the cake while still warm.