Tastes Like Vintage: Grandmother Graham’s Mystery Pudding 1

 in Recipes by (updated 2994 days ago)
This week’s Tastes Like Vintage post is by pheinart of 1006Osage

Ruby Graham was my great-grandmother, and this vintage recipe is attributed to her, although I have seen similar versions of her “fruit-cocktail cake” recipe floating around on the Internet. My guess is that it was one of those go-to recipes in the 40s and 50s because the ingredients are fairly simple, and it just takes minutes to throw it all together. 

When you are finished you will have a very sweet, cake-like dessert with a bread pudding consistency. Personally, I like it topped with fresh whipped cream; and because the cake is so sweet, I add little or no sugar to the whipped topping.

The dessert’s moistness comes from fruit cocktail. I did a little Googling and came up with some interesting tidbits about this classic American canned good:

Bowl by Nacho Kitty
Some claim that the first fruit cocktail was the invention of J.C. Ainsley,  a California canner,
 who began marketing his mixture
 of diced fruit and cherries back in 1893.
Others give credit to Herbert Gray for its inception, back in the 1930s.
 Either way, it has been around for a long time.
It is said fruit cocktail was the result of thrifty canners
 looking for a way to use “scrap” fruits from the canning process.
Mixer by Colorize
The name “fruit cocktail” is regulated by the USDA.
 In order to be called fruit cocktail the mixture must contain
 pears, grapes, cherries, peaches and pineapple in specified proportions.
 May 13th is National Fruit Cocktail Day!

Enjoy!!

Grandmother Graham’s Mystery Pudding

1 cup flour
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup pecans
1 can fruit cocktail

Combine flour, sugar, salt and soda with the juice from a can of fruit cocktail and beat.
Fold in the vanilla and the fruit.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and pour in the mixture.
Sprinkle the combined brown sugar and nuts over the top.
Bake approximately 40 minutes in a 325 degree oven, then 15 minutes longer at 350 degrees.
Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or ice cream.

Chopper by Gizmo & Hooha

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One thought on “Tastes Like Vintage: Grandmother Graham’s Mystery Pudding”

  • Reply ↓
    The Hanky Dress Lady

    How interesting! I have been making a cake since I was a teenager called “Quick Lunchbox Cake”. Seems to me Mom and I found this recipe in a Pillsbury Bake Off booklet. You put chopped walnuts and a package of chocolate chips on top of this one. Your pudding recipe is a new twist for me. And that was quite a revelation to find out that there is a National Fruit Cocktail Day!