Try this easy, almost no-cooking fruit cake recipe for people who hate fruit cake. Just tell the fruit cake haters it’s graham cracker chews. They will taste it and fall in love. The holiday season is upon us and this is a great dish to take to parties, pot lucks, and family gatherings. This dessert recipe can be made quickly, is extremely adjustable and freezes well. Follow the recipe exactly, or use whatever nuts and dried fruit you prefer.
What You Need For A Refrigerator Fruit Cake Recipe
14 oz box of GRAHAM CRACKERS, smashed [alternative: VANILLA WAFERS]
10 oz bag MARSHMALLOWS
½ cup MILK
3 cups of NUTS, chopped*
4 cups of dried FRUIT, chopped*
2 Tbsp CINNAMON (optional)
*[What we used for this recipe: 2 cups walnuts, raw and 1 cup pecans, toasted; 6 oz unsweetened coconut, 5 oz dried pineapple (NOT candied like used in traditional fruit cake), 5 oz reduced sugar craisins, white raisins. The coconut adds some moisture without adding a strong coconut flavor.]
How To Make This Fruit Cake Recipe
If you want to try an old-school store bought fruit cake, you can check out current prices for Claxton Fruit Cake on Amazon.
- In a large bowl, crush an entire box of graham crackers (or vanilla wafers). You can do this by hand or use a food processor, but crush crackers as small as possible.
- Add in the dried fruit and nuts. There are no wrong fruits and nuts, whatever YOU LIKE will work. Candied ginger? Dried cherries? Follow my ingredients exactly or use your own, it’s an extremely adjustable recipe, which is one of the reasons the recipe is so great!
- Add in the cinnamon, and toss all the ingredients together well. Maybe a little cardamon, too? Added sugar? I think adding more sugar is crazy, but it’s an option. Brown sugar? Maybe.
- On the stove top, heat a pot on low heat and add in the milk and marshmallows.
- Stir milk and marshmallows together for about two minutes until they melt into a gooey liquid-like state. Stick to low heat, because using higher heat and getting in a hurry is just an invitation to disaster. it’ll only take a couple of minutes on low heat.
- Once the marshmallows are melted, as quickly as possible–while the warm marshmallow mixture is at it’s “gooeyest”–pour the melted marshmallow in with the dry ingredients and mix everything together very well.
- Then add the mixed ingredients into an ungreased dish and compress the mixture down into a dense loaf. You can do this with a spoon or spatula, or wax paper works very well, too. Use whatever size dish you like. The size of the dish will determine the shape of the cake. I generally use a flat dish, like an 8″ X 10″, then I cut the fruitcake pieces into nice cubes. My mother-in-law likes to use a loaf pan, and then cut the cake pieces into larger slices.
- Put the dish in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours, and then it’ll be ready to slice and serve.
This cake recipe is so simple to make, and it stores and travels very well, which makes it perfect for parties and gatherings and gifts. Fruit cake is the perfect gift for someone you like, but don’t really love, so definitely give this refrigerator fruit cake a try.
If you want a fancier cake that’s crazy delicious and still pretty easy to make, try this Chocolate Cherry Cake Recipe.
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