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Happiness is….a gumdrop cake.
Hey, if we all can’t be rich – but I’d sure like to give that “money can’t buy happiness” the good ol’ college try – then darn it, we can have gumdrop cake. Right?
I mean, how can this not be the gosh darn happiest cake ever?
Just LOOK AT IT!
Gumdrop cake radiates happiness. It appeals the kid in us, it reminds us of the holiday season and it’s seriously delicious.
My sister and I dug up our family recipe for Gumdrop Cake, which apparently came from my mom’s friend Diane. As you can see, this gumdrop cake is more of a Christmas fruit cake, but we use the base recipe since it’s so delicious and simply add 2 cups of baking gum drops instead of all of the other fruit.
Who thinks that I should give this a whirl as is? Let me know in the comments below. While this turns out amazing as a simple gum drop cake, the fruitcake lover in me looked at this and thought hmmmm.. that might just be the ticket for a really good fruitcake.
Who else likes a solid fruitcake at Christmas? I swear that Mr Magpie and I were meant to be together as we both love fruitcake. You’ll see it in our cupboards come the holiday season, more than once.
We’re fruitcake soul mates. Or, we’re fruitcakes. Make of that what you will.
Gumdrop cake is a pound cake, denser in texture because it has the important job of holding up those gum drops. However our family recipe ends up being quite a light cake and I’m not sure if that’s because I omit the oh, 3 pounds of fruit called for?
That might have been a little sarcastic but it’s actually probably why this turns out lighter than your usual gumdrop cake.
The other beauty to this cake is that you can ice it to match any occasion.
I really struggled with what colour I wanted to make this gum drop cake’s icing.
Everyone does pink. Soooo over pink. ( ok not really, but I wasn’t going for a pink cake look here.)
I stumbled upon a tube of orange icing colouring and thought yes, a pale orange would be nice for a change. You can make the gumdrop cake red or green if you are feeling festive and want to get into the holiday spirit of things.
I just wanted a pale orange. Such an unloved colour, orange, relegated to mainly Halloween and for no good reason.
Orange is awesome. Have you seen my bonus room? Oh right, not yet. Well my dears, there’s a post coming about the huge room reno that took place this past week or so, and orange features heavily in the design. Stay tuned for that post!
Let’s talk about the gum drops that you are going to use.
You can use normal gum drops – minus the black – and cut them up small.
I suggest using these if you can find them:
I don’t guarantee that these are available in the States, but if you can find a baking gum drop that tastes like a real gum drop, you have it made in the shade, dudes. The key is to find one that tastes exactly like a real gum drops and these Nutty Club Gum Drops taste like their larger counterparts. If you find a baking gum drop that tastes gross…well, you can guess what your gum drop cake is going to taste like as well! You are better off buying gum drops ( jujube’s) and cutting them into smaller pieces if your baking ones don’t taste awesome.
You can see how those baking fruitlets really disperse wonderfully throughout the cake, which is really hard to do! You mix them in ahead of time, and I don’t even bother tossing mine with flour either. If you can find them, they are the key! If you can’t, then make sure that you cut your gum drops small.
So, when is the last time that you ate an awesome gum drop cake? I know that several of you shared your photos with me on Facebook of your own cakes, I’d love to see some more!
Love you more than Christmas baking,
Karlynn
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Gumdrop Cake
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 55 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 12
- Calories
- 547
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 1/4 cups of gumdrops chopped if large
Cherry Icing Glaze
- 1 3/4 cups icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons melted salted butter
- 2-3 tablespoons milk add until desired consistency is achieved
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 325 °F
- Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth.
- Add in the white sugar and beat in completely.
- Add in the eggs, beat until smooth again, then mix in the extracts completely.
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
- Add one third of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, combine completely.
- Add in one third of the milk, beat in completely.
- Repeat steps until flour and milk are used up, ending on milk.
- Stir in the gum drops.
- Spray a 9 or 10 inch bundt pan with cooking spray.
- Spoon batter into the pan, spreading out evenly.
- Bake in the oven for 65-75 minutes until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.
- Cool completely.
- Whisk together icing ingredients until smooth and the pour over the cake.
- Slice and serve!
Recipe Notes
- Bake this low and slow at 325, it’s a pound cake after all! If you bake it hotter it will rise and crack in the middle and the edges will be sunken.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Heather B. says
Delicious! I made your recipe for my grandsons this Christmas as my grandmother made it for me when I was young. It brought back so many wonderful memories in every bite! Thank you!
Judy says
Any tips for making muffins?
Stephanie Wilson says
I love this recipe, I’ve been making it for a couple years because my dad loves it so much! Thank you for sharing
Susan Hebb says
Just woderingbif I can add applesauce to this recipe,and how much?
Darlene says
Perfect! Thanks for sharing!
Elyse says
Everytime I want to make something from my childhood, you have the recipe the lost recipe!
I am so glad to have found one of you cookbooks at my local farmers market, and they are beautiful books I might add.
Thank you for sharing 🥰
Lorraine says
I love this cake. I make it every Christmas and give it out as gifts along with tourtiere to my friends. I use small loaf pans. The rest I freeze, wrapped tightly in saran. It is great to pull out to offer guests with tea or coffee. I get baking gums at Bulk Barn and I add crushed pineapple to make it nice and moist. It just looks like a Christmas cake!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!
Rose Bray says
Is this the recipe you use, Lorraine? We just got a recipe that is similar but way less flour and uses a cup of cream cheese too! I’m looking to tweak what we’ve been given.
Lori H. says
Do you have any recommendations for freezing the gumdrop cake? Is it best to freeze it without the glaze?
Craig Thompson says
Well Katelyn,
The last time I had a gun drop cake I was maybe 6-7.it also had wax paper wrapped Quarter, Dimes and Nickels. And a boiled icing.
I’m 58 now and have not had one since.😭😭😭😱😡. Nobody makes cakes like that anymore. There were and are the best kids cake ever…..❤❤❤
Millie Genge says
My gum drops are a little hard now ,left to long before I used them ,Will they be OK to use for my gumdrop cake Or should I cook them a little first
Karlynn says
Soak them in hot water before you use them and they’ll soften up!
Norma Bessey says
This is a question–could it be baked as a regular cake? I’m not a baker myself, but wondering how/if to do it as a 6″ cake.
Looks delicious.
Sheilah says
Where is the cherry in the cherry glaze icing?
Jennifer says
Do I cool this in the pan or out of pan?
Brenda Bailey says
My grandfather owned a bakery in the 1950’s and did all the baking along with my grandmother. I can remember their gumdrop cake, which was always made for Christmas. They made it ahead of the holiday so it had time to become moist. They always added applesauce to the cake mixture, to keep it that way. Regular gumdrops were used and were cut into pieces with large, wet sheers.
Eileen N Chris Paul says
I made this and it taste very yummy.
Elaine Anderson says
One of my favourites. I remember my mom making it way back \U0001f60a
The Kitchen Magpie says
It’s just one of those classics!
Mary P Hoffman says
Looks like a party on a plate!!
The Kitchen Magpie says
I think that’s why it’s also so popular for birthdays!
Mary P Hoffman says
Makes sense… 🙂
Rachel says
This sounds so delicious! I’m going to make one for New Year’s Eve and if we like it, which I’m sure we will, I think it would be perfect for my daughter’s 4th birthday coming up.
Donna Nielson-Weale says
So festive looking!!!
The Kitchen Magpie says
It’s soooo happy!
Chris Heckman says
and those dishes
The Kitchen Magpie says
Yes, those dishes too! My favourite old pattern!
Chris Heckman says
The Kitchen Magpie so pretty my luv of dishes come from my grandmother