Jello Fruit Cake Recipe - Olga in the Kitchen (2024)

This jello fruit cake combines fresh fruits with your favorite juice. It is vibrant and refreshing and is loved in summers and during major holidays. You can serve it instead of fruits or as a dessert when you need an easy and crowd-pleasing no-bake dessert. Have fun with different jello flavors and fruits!

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No-bake jello fruit cake recipe is a fun dessert to serve when you want something easy and don’t feel like turning on the oven. There’s literally no baking involved and the dessert takes around 30 minutes to put together and few hours to set. You only need a handful of familiar ingredients and a bundt pan.

Jello Fruit Cake Details

• Flavor: If you enjoy fruity desserts, today’s jello fruit cake is right up your alley. There are 5 layers and each has a different fruit flavor. The cake is filled with fresh raspberries, strawberries, grapes and mango and all of that is connected by an apple juice.
• Texture: By closely following this recipe, you’ll be rewarded with a slice of chunky, yet tender jello cake. Every little space of apple jello is filled with a different fruit.
• Ease: No bake jello cake is A LOT easier than the fruity strawberry kiwi cake. Without eggs and baking, there’s really no room for huge error. We’re basically cutting every single complicated step and I know that’s music to your ears when it comes to easy desserts!
• Time: Between the cutting fruits and making jello, prep time is maximum 30 minutes. The jello takes about 4 hours to fully set in the refrigerator, so plan ahead. This cake is a great choice if you don’t have time to make dessert the day of your gathering/meal.

Why You’ll Love No-Bake Jello Fruit Cake

If you ever enjoyed my broken glass gelatin dessert or ptichye molokodessert recipes, you know you’re in for a real treat with this version. You see, it is a lot easier than baked cake.

Without eggs and baking, there’s no way to mess up this dessert. You can’t over-bake it or over-whip the eggs and there is no rolling out the dough involved. If summer was a dessert, it would be jello fruit cake.

Here’s what I appreciate and know you will too:

• Recipe is quick and easy
• Cake is satisfying, elegant and vibrant
• No mixer required – just a bundt pan and a saucepan
• No-bake and make-ahead
• Unlimited fruit flavors and jello options

Key Ingredients in Jello Fruit Cake

• Fresh Fruits: Use variety of cubed fresh fruits and layer them in contrasting colors. Raspberries, strawberries, grapes and mangoes work really well. Avoid using acidic fruits such as fresh kiwi and pineapple to prevent the jello from setting.
• Apple Juice: The juice is like a glue in this recipe. It connects all the fresh fruits and makes a cake.
• Granulated Sugar: Sugar sweetens the apple juice. This is a lightly sweetened dessert, so you only need 3 tablespoons of sugar in the entire recipe.
• Unflavored Gelatin: It is a must-have ingredient in this recipe. You dissolve it in apple juice to make jello.
• Fresh Lemon Juice: Lemon juice adds a little brightness to the juice and slight flavor.

Assembling the Jello Cake

Start by making the gelatin mixture so that it cools to room temperature while you assemble the fruits in the bundt pan.

To assemble the fruits, we start with the red layer of fresh raspberries, followed by cubed mangoes and then another red layer of strawberries. You then want to halve all the grapes, assemble the green grapes and finish with red grapes.

Every layer should be spread equally throughout the mold and the pan should be filled with fresh fruits all the way to the top.

Slowly pour cooled apple juice gelatin over the fruits, covering to the top (including the red layer of grapes). The 4 cups of apple juice is just perfect for the size of our pan. Depending on the brand and size of the mold you are using, you might need less or more fruits and/or gelatin mixture.

4 Success Tips for Jello Fruit Cake

1. Best Fruits to Use: Using the same ingredients we have listed below, works the best because the combination of fruit colors make the cake not only satisfying, but also beautiful. You can also use blueberries, black currants, honeydew chunks and similar fruits. Make sure to avoid fresh kiwi and pineapple to prevent jello from setting.
2. Fill Mold Completely: Depending on the size of your mold, you may need more or less fruits than the recipe calls for, especially if you change the fruits. Whatever fruits you use, you want to make sure to fill the mold all the way to the top so that the fruits don’t sink to the bottom of the mold and that you don’t have fruit-free spaces in your cake.
3. Adding Juice: Let the jello mixture cool completely before you pour it over the fruits, otherwise it will cook the fruits and make the fruit pieces soggy. Apple juice works great because it’s light in color and you can clearly see the fruit layers in the cake. You can use any packaged Jell-O to your preference and omit the unflavored gelatin from the ingredients.
4. Removing Cake from Mold: We suggest 4 hours for the jello to fully set before you attempt to remove it from the mold. To loosen the cake, pour hot water into a large bowl or pot and set the mold inside of it, making sure the bottom of the pan is inserted into the water bowl and no water gets on top of the jello. The moment you see a bit of melting from the sides of cake, cover the mold with a serving plate and invert the mold on top of it.

What Mold is Best to Use for Jello Fruit Cake?

A metal mold cake pan works the best in this recipe. There are some silicone molds out there, but I find the firmness of metal molds work best for this dessert.

Enjoy More No-Bake Desserts:

If you love no-bake desserts, then you won’t want to miss these favorites:

• Panna Cotta with Chocolate Jello
• Broken Glass Juice Gelatin
• Ptichye Moloko (Bird’s Milk)
• Strawberries and Cream Dessert
• Dulce de Leche Waffle Cake