Jello Fruit Cake Recipe
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 moloko dessert 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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

Jello Fruit Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 oz (about 340g) fresh raspberries
- 2 large (about 764g) fresh mangoes – cubed
- 1 lb (about 454g) fresh strawberries – cubed
- 1 lb (about 454g) green grapes – halved
- 1 lb (about 454g) red grapes – halved
- 4 cups (960ml) apple juice
- 4 pockets (28g) original unflavored gelatin
- 3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) lemon juice
- pan spray
Instructions
- Prep: Weigh and wash all fresh fruits. Lightly pan spray bundt pan and wipe off all over the interior of the pan with a paper towel to cover all areas.
- Make the jello: Pour 1 cup of apple juice into a medium bowl and sprinkle 4 pockets of gelatin, set aside. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring to a boil remaining 3 cups of apple juice, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice. Pour boiled juice into the bowl with gelatin and whisk well to dissolve the gelatin. Set aside to cool.
- Assemble fruits: Peel and cube mangoes into 1/2 inch pieces, cut all grapes into halves and cube strawberries into 1/2 inch pieces. Assemble the prepared fruits into the bundt pan in this order: raspberries, mangoes, strawberries, green grapes and red grapes.
- Slowly pour cooled apple juice gelatin over the fruits, covering to the top (including red grapes). Refrigerate for 3-4 hours in order for gelatin to set.
- 4 hours later: Pour hot water into a large pot or bowl and place the bundt pan with jello into it for 10 seconds (because of the thickness of our pan, it takes us about 1 minute and 20 seconds). As soon as you see a little bit of melting on the sides, take it out. Cover bundt pan with a serving plate and quickly turn it over. (Highly suggest turning over the sink in case the jello melted more than needed). Decorate with additional fruits around the cake, if preferred. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- Make-Ahead Instructions: You can fully assemble, set and refrigerate the cake overnight and invert onto serving platter the next day. You can also transfer it onto serving platter the day before, as long as you serve it next day for sure.
- Best Fruits to Use: Using the same ingredients we have listed above, 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. I would suggest testing new fruits in small portions beforehand before you incorporate them into the cake. Make sure to avoid fresh kiwi and pineapple because these two will prevent the jello from setting. Banana does not work well either, unless you plan to eat the cake in one day. It becomes brown and slimy overnight.
- Fill Mold Completely: We have tested with fruits amount in this recipe to fully fill the type of mold we are using. Depending on the size of your mold, you may need more or less than the recipe calls for, especially if you change the fruits. Whatever fruits you use, you want to make sure to fill the pan completely, so that the fruits don’t sink to the bottom of the mold and that you don’t have fruit-free spaces in your jello cake.
- 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. Make sure to have at least 4 cups of liquid to fully cover the fruits.
- Removing Cake from Mold: Check jello with a knife before you flip it to make sure it’s fully set. Some readers mentioned that flipping the pan with jello upside down and heating the outside of the pan with a hair dryer for 30 seconds also works.
Lexie Gates says:
This Jello Cake did not only look pretty and taste refreshingly delicious, it was so easy to make.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Lexie!
Stella says:
Can i add some nuts in it?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Stella! I have not experienced adding nuts to this recipe, or any jello in general, so I wouldn’t know of the outcome. If it’s not gonna affect the jello getting firm. If you do decide to experiment, please share with us. Thanks
Grandma says:
I have added unsalted pecans to jell-o with good results. I did not see that the nuts altered the jell-o.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you for sharing that with us. So glad it worked out for you!
Julia says:
This recipe is so perfect!
Julia says:
Thank you so much for the recipe! I’ve been looking for this for a long time! My mother in law made something similar a long time ago, but when I asked her if she remembers it to share the recipe with me, she said she doesn’t even remember making it… So I was so upset, and was craving it so bad. Then I turned to Google, and it gave me your recipe. I made this for Christmas, except I added blueberries and blackberries, and didn’t do red grapes. And let me tell you, it couldn’t be more perfect!!! My family can’t wait to have it for Easter ))
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Julia! Thank you for sharing that with us! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Raziasultana says:
Excellent
Monthida Vongpanyaporn says:
Hi 👋
Is it possible to use frozen fruit? It is hard to find fresh fruit here esp raspberry and blueberry
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Without experimenting myself, I wouldn’t know how it would turn out. I am a bit concerned though when the frozen fruits start to defrost, it might mess up jello – like watery spots within the jello will appear.
Albina says:
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit! The entire cake disappeared! I followed the recipe, made no alterations, and it turned out perfect. I used the same fruits and berries the recipe recommended and the exact measurements and it was just right. Thank you so much Olga!
Chantel says:
Thank you for all the tips. I made it again and it was a success and such a delicious quick dessert. First time I used chunks of kiwi and it messed up my jello. I’ll be making it again for Easter family gathering. Thank you Olga!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s so awesome, Chantel! So happy to hear it worked out for you!