Dolly Parton’s 3-Ingredient Fruit Cocktail Cake Is Retro Perfection

I was the kid in high school who carefully sprinkled shredded carrots and a tong’s worth of sliced cucumbers over balsamic vinaigrette-dressed romaine, paired it with a carton of 1% milk, and then ate my own fruit cup, plus everyone else’s within arm’s reach who uttered the (baffling) phrase, “It’s too sweet for me.”

Food pyramid-wise, the fruit cups back then probably checked the same box as a fresh apple, but were swimming in pure sugar. Was it peaches in syrup, or syrup with a possible peach?

Regardless, Dolly Parton’s Fruit Cocktail Cake proves that she and I are undeniably sugar soulmates. My hunch began to form when Dolly was promoting her Duncan Hines line of boxed cake mixes, frostings, and frozen pies, claiming, “I have a lot of teeth and all of them are sweet.” (Preach, sister.)

What Is Dolly Parton’s Fruit Cocktail Cake?

This fruit cocktail cake recipe came to life through Dolly’s character Truvy Jones in the silver screen classic, “Steel Magnolias.” Truvy describes her “Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa” cake as requiring just one cup each of self-rising flour, sugar, and fruit cocktail with the juice.

Serving ’50s and ’60s dump cake energy, this dessert is sweet and simple. You don’t even have to wait hours for it to cool, because it’s meant to be eaten warm.

I love the golden, crunchy topping, and I definitely want to wrap myself in the ooey-gooey, fruity insides. Other than the few times I was surprised by a whole grape (oh, right, it’s fruit cocktail!), the experience is complete comfort. Paired with a scoop of cool vanilla ice cream, it makes the ultimate ending to a long, balmy summer night.

My boyfriend raved about this cake, and my neighbor devoured it; if there were any left, other people would have probably loved it, too. (Except maybe the “too sweet for me” crowd, but Dolly and I don’t need that kind of negativity in our lives.)

Tips for Making Dolly’s Fruit Cocktail Cake

• Add more fruit: My eternal complaint with fruit cocktail is that it never has enough variety (there are too many peach-colored things, not enough maraschino cherries, etc.). Easily correct this travesty by sprinkling a few extra halved maraschinos into the batter to elevate the fruit cup vibes. 
• Needs salt: I added 1/2 teaspoon salt, because, well, it just makes food taste better—even the sweet stuff.
• Serve à la mode: In “Steel Magnolias,” when Olympia Dukakis’ character comments on this being a rich dessert, Dolly earnestly responds, “It is. I serve it over ice cream to cut the sweetness.” Staying true to the OG, I went with Häagen-Dazs vanilla.
• Make it extra: I’m a huge fan of jammy, cake-y mix-ins for ice cream, so here’s my take—fold any extras of this cooled cake into vanilla ice cream, freeze it, and thank me tomorrow when you uncover your Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa destiny.