Gumdrop Cake. A Holiday or Birthday Favourite!
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Gumdrop Cake. A dense buttery pound cake packed with brilliantly coloured morsels of gumdrop candy. It's very popular during the Holidays or as a birthday cake here in Newfoundland.
Gumdrop Cake is one of those things that I remember from childhood as does Spouse; it's one of her favourites. Back then it was sometimes made as a birthday cake for kids and adults alike.
I mean, a cake that's chock full of candy... and with frosting! What kid wouldn't love that?
It is a very similar recipe to the ever popular Newfoundland Cherry Cake which is made in practically every household in the province during the Christmas season. The poundcake-like texture of the cherry cake is tweaked to be just a little more dense.
The purpose is in order to support the heaps of brilliantly coloured little gumdrops scattered throughout the cake. All the while still maintaining it's rich buttery flavour.
Be sure to read the notes on the gumdrops that are provided with the recipe. This ensure the best success in baking this cake.
A gift giving favourite.
This a a perfect gift giving cake too, because the recipe can be easily divided between 2 small loaf pans.
If you double the recipe you can get 4 perfect little cakes to wrap in some colourfully seasonal cellophane wrap and tie with a bright ribbon.
It's just the thing to bring as a hostess gift to Holiday parties or to hand out to the neighbours, especially those with small children.
I always get questions about the gumdrops for this recipe. Here in Canada, these are carried by Bulk Barn, but I have been told sometimes only seasonally.
If you can't find them try cutting up larger gumdrops instead. Very soft gumdrops are not suitable though. Be sure to use the firmest ones you can find.
For other cakes popular in Newfoundland during the Holidays, including traditional dark and light fruitcakes as well as a few with modern twists, check out our Collection of Newfoundland Christmas Cake Recipes.
2020 Update, finding the right gumdrop candies.
Over the years, I have received a great many questions about where to buy the baking gums called for in this recipe. I admit, they are increasingly hard to source.
Here in Canada, Bulk Barn is still carrying them, but I'm told that is probably just seasonally. Finding them for online purchase is also increasingly difficult.
This year I decided to experiment with a few commonly available jujubes/gumdrops to test the results (Are they called jujubes in the US?)
Using different gumdrops.
Keeping to my own advice, I set out to these three different types. The first was Walmart's "Great Value" brand & the second was Canadian brand, Ganong jujubes.
Just for fun, I also tested Walmart's store brand of red berry candies. These are firmer than the actual Maynard's brand of Swedish berries candy. Spouse loves those, so it was worth a try too.
I should note that none of these brand were very large candies. For the most part, all I had to do was cut them in half, to about the size of my thumbnail.
I'm happy to report that all 3 experiments were a success! All of them maintained their shape after baking and none of them melted into the cake. Success!
So, my original advice as posted in the notes for the recipe, still stands. Stick with the firmest gumdrops and you should have success too.
Looking for more Holiday baking inspiration?
Here's our collection of some of the most popular Holiday baking ideas from the past 14 years on Rock Recipe.
Originally published December 2015. Updated December 2020.
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Gumdrop Cake. A Newfoundland Holiday or Birthday Favourite!
Gumdrop Cake. A dense buttery pound cake packed with brilliantly coloured morsels of gumdrop candy. It's very popular during the Holidays or as a birthday cake here in Newfoundland
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon finely minced lemon zest, optional
- 3 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup undiluted evaporated milk
- 2 ½ cups baking gums + an additional ¼ cup flour
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar well.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
- Sift together the flour and baking powder.
- Fold dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the evaporated milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. As a general rule, I add the dry ingredients in 3 portions and the milk in 2 portions.
- Fold in the baking gums that have been tossed at the last minute in the ¼ cup flour.
- Bake in greased and floured bundt pan or in a spring form pan, tube pan, or two 9x5 inch loaf pans lightly greased and lined with parchment paper.
Baking the cake.
- Bake at 300 degrees F for 1 to 1 ¾ hours depending upon the size of your pan. Small loaf pans may be done just under an hour so test them after 50 minutes. My bundt pan cake took the full hour and 45 minutes in my oven
- Baking times vary greatly on this recipe so rely on the toothpick test to ensure that it is properly baked. When a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, its done. Be careful not to go past this stage or the cake will be dry.
- Let the cake cool in the pan/s for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
I used the smallest baking gums that I could find in this cake and they worked well. Baking gums are made to withstand the heat of baking. If using larger gumdrops, you will want to cut them in small pieces about the size of cutting a cherry into quarters. Larger gumdrops may fall to the bottom and ruin the cake. Be careful not to use gumdrops that are too soft either. They should spring back nicely when you squeeze them between your fingers. If you can crush them completely between your thumb and forefinger they are probably too soft to use and will probably melt through the cake batter.
Nutrition Information
Yield
32Serving Size
1/32 of cakeAmount Per Serving Calories 250Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 42mgSodium 105mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 1gSugar 25gProtein 2g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Maybe a few less gumdrops.
I made it and everybody loves it. The only issue I had is to get it out of the pan. It stuck in some part.
Just wondering if there is enough batter to split this recipe into 2 regular loaf pans. By looking at your picture of it in the bundt pan, it looks like there will be enough, but I'm worried I might end up over cooking the loafs and they end up hard and inedible. I'm making them for my mom for Christmas, and I know its been 40+ yrs since she's left NL and had a gumdrop cake, so it's really important to me to get them right for this special surprise.
Probably end up too falt on a 9x5 loaf pan. 8x4 would probably be better. Use the toothpick test to be sure they are baked and check early.
This is truly an amazing recipe. I made them in 2 regular sized loaf pans. In my oven they did bake for a little over an hour. And I left the baking gums whole. I hope I can get them in the freezer before I eat them both!
Your recipe has taken me back in time. I don't like fruitcake so when I got married my mom made this as some of the layers in our wedding cake. For those of you experimenting with different sized pans...that is the great part. This cake is just so yummy that if you bake it too long you just sliver off that part and eat the rest of it. Note the time though so that you make the same mistake twice! Thanks Barry as I had lost the original recipe.
Just wanted to say I love all of your recipes.I agree this gumdrop and cherry cake are the best I've tried definitely 5 stars
Thank you for this fabulous old recipe. I remember gumdrop cake from Christmases past. I would pick all the gumdrops out and only eat the cake then. This past Christmas I made this cake for a function I was going to and it came out great! My hubby, who is from Ontario and had never heard of gumdrop cake loved it so today I am making it again. I use two loaf pans. Line the bottom of the loaf pan with greased parchment paper so sticking is never an issue. Took a long time to bake but my oven runs hot so I have to turn it down a bit so it doesn't burn. Last 10 minutes was a lot of testing to find that perfect done state. Love old Atlantic Canadian recipes (I'm from NS) and have subscribed. Much love and thank you for sharing these recipes of love and heritage.
Can use sugary gum drop candies and put pink and whit gum drops in the cake mixture
I noticed different comments about the gumdrops. I have been making gumdrop cake since the 70's and my recipe is almost identical to this one. I always luse Gagnons gumdrops and cut each gumdrop into 3 pieces, and I also add about 20 maraschino cherries cut in half. By hubby's favourite.
Made these today but didn’t rise. What did I do wrong. Is it possible that I beat it to much?
Can you freeze this gumdrop cake?
Yes
Good day. I’m sure this has been asked before, but is it possible to make and bake this cake a bit earlier and then freeze it? And if so has anyone done so.
We have frozen this cake. Tip- we often cut it in quarters before freezing and take out a piece as we need it
In alot of your recipes in this section you dont specify which type of flour to use does it matter if i use all purpose flour or cake and pastry flour for the fruitcakes like the cherry cakes and gumdrop cake ?
We use all purpose flour unless the recipe calls for pastry flour
Stuck at home, massive traffic jam, due to truckers' mandate protest here in Ottawa region. So instead of eating all the gumdrops in one go I decided to make this. I only had 2/12 cups of flour so I finished with whole wheat flour. Then I only had 1 cup butter so finished with becel. I made the three loaves and well they turned out very yummy. I just wanted to let you know the versatility of your recipe. I have made the original many times and it is obviously better. That being said this is still a very moist and tasty adjusted version. It has made being stuck at home much more enjoyable!
Is there any substitute for the evaporated milk? I have a major aversion!! and never have it handy!