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    Home » Recipes » Desserts

    Learn How to Make My Grandmother's Recipe for 7-Up Cake

    Updated Feb 15, 2022

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    7-up Cake

    I can remember when my Grandmama Goldie made her 7Up Cake. I remember what it tasted like, what it smelled like. Pretty sure I tricked my little brother out of his piece a couple of times. (Yeah, I was a mean big sister.)

    I always thought it was the craziest thing ever when my grandmother would pour a little glass bottle of 7Up into her cake. But we are talking about a woman who could throw together a meal like you've never seen for a brood of roughneck cowboys. You know, AFTER she had cooked all day working at the local school cafeteria. When I ran across her recipe in an old community cookbook, I knew immediately I had to give it a shot.

    It is almost as good as I remember. Almost....

    My grandmother's 7Up Cake is a favorite dessert from my childhood. I can still remember the smell of it baking. Ours was almost (almost) as good.

     

    This 7Up Cake reminds me of my childhood.

    Grandmama Goldie's recipe for this 7Up cake is pretty straightforward.

    My grandmother's 7-Up Cake is a favorite dessert from my childhood. I can still remember the smell of it baking. Ours was almost (almost) as good.

    I don't remember if my grandmother did this or not, but instead of preparing my cake pans with shortening and flour, I always use butter and sugar.

    You know sometimes if you get a bite of cake and the edge tastes dry and like flour? This doesn't happen using butter and sugar. The edges get sugary and slightly salty from the butter. So good!

    Ingredients Needed:

    For the Cake

    • 1 box lemon cake mix
    • 1 small box vanilla or pineapple instant pudding mix
    • ¾ cup vegetable oil
    • If using vanilla pudding use 7 ounces 7-Up plus 3 ounces of pineapple juice OR
    • If using pineapple pudding mix use 10 ounces of 7-Up
    • 4 eggs
    • Butter and sugar to prepare the cake pans

    For the Icing

    • 1 ½ cups white sugar
    • 1 stick butter
    • 1 cup crushed pineapple undrained
    • 1 bag sweetened coconut flakes
    • 2 whole eggs beaten
    My grandmother's 7-Up Cake is a favorite dessert from my childhood. I can still remember the smell of it baking. Ours was almost (almost) as good.

    We were unable to find the pineapple instant pudding mix in our local stores. (I checked three!) So we did have to improvise.

    I actually bought a box of lemon pudding and a box of vanilla...and decided to go with the vanilla.

    7Up Cake is amazing.

    To make up for the loss of the pineapple pudding, I changed the 10 ounces of 7Up soda to 7 ounces, and added 3 ounces of pineapple juice. (Oh and I dumped about ½ cup of crushed pineapple into the cake batter.) You know me, I've gotta tweak just about every recipe I come across. (Pretty sure sweet Goldie would approve.)

    So what is the big deal with the 7Up? It gives the cake a bright and sweet lemon-lime flavor without being overpowering.

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    You can either measure the batter evenly in three pans, or eyeball it. The cake layers came out thinner than I remember...it seems like my grandmother's 7Up cake was bigger. But that may be my memory...you know how everything seemed larger when you were a kid. Or maybe she doubled the recipe?

    How to Make 7-Up Cake:

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with butter and sugar.
    2. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, 7-Up (and juice) and 4 eggs. Beat on medium speed until well blended, about 2-3 minutes. Divide evenly into the three pans.
    3. Bake for 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, invert and let cool completely.
    4. In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, butter, pineapple and the beaten eggs. Cook over low to medium low heat, stirring constantly. Increase heat to medium and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the bag of coconut.
    5. Spread the warm icing over the cake layers and enjoy!
    Three layer 7Up Cake.

    While the cake is cooling, time to cook up the icing.  I beat the eggs before putting them in the pan, and stirred constantly while the butter and sugar melted. (My grandmother's recipe calls for margarine, but I don't use margarine...so I went for butter.)

    My grandmother's 7Up Cake is a favorite dessert from my childhood. I can still remember the smell of it baking. Ours was almost (almost) as good.

    You don't want to cook it too fast or on too high of a temperature or the eggs will set up.

    The recipe called for 1 small can of crushed pineapple. I didn't drain mine...and regarding the size of the can...I do not remember what a small can was back in the 1970's and 80's...so I used 1 cup of crushed pineapple.

    Just keep cooking and keep stirring until the mixture is smooth and thick.

    Warm pineapple + coconut frosting is so good on our 7Up Cake.

    Stir in the coconut after the icing looks like this.

    Southern 7Up Cake with pineapple + coconut frosting.

    While the icing is still warm, spread it on each yummy cake layer and the rest on top!

    Be sure to keep it loosely covered or in a cake saver.

    My grandmother would spread it all along the sides of her 7Up Cake, but I thought it looked pretty with it all the pineapple and coconut icing piled on top. What do you think?

    My grandmother's 7Up Cake is a favorite dessert from my childhood. I can still remember the smell of it baking. Ours was almost (almost) as good.

    Yummy!! The cake is moist and crumbly, with a fresh lemony-pineapple flavor. And the icing...so gooey and sweet.

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    My grandmother's 7Up Cake is a favorite dessert from my childhood. I can still remember the smell of it baking. Ours was almost (almost) as good.

    7Up Cake

    This 7UP cake recipe takes me straight to my childhood. Moist layers of cake with a pineapple coconut frosting.
    4.41 from 10 votes
    Print Recipe Email Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 30 mins
    Cook Time 30 mins
    Cooling Time 20 mins
    Total Time 1 hr
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 12
    Calories 584 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    For the Cake

    • 1 box lemon cake mix
    • 1 small box vanilla or pineapple instant pudding mix
    • ¾ cup vegetable oil
    • If using vanilla pudding use 7 ounces 7-Up plus 3 ounces of pineapple juice OR
    • If using pineapple pudding mix use 10 ounces of 7-Up
    • 4 eggs
    • Butter and sugar to prepare the cake pans

    For the Icing

    • 1 ½ cups white sugar
    • 1 stick butter
    • 1 cup crushed pineapple undrained
    • 1 bag sweetened coconut flakes
    • 2 whole eggs beaten

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with butter and sugar.
    • In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, 7-Up (and juice) and 4 eggs. Beat on medium speed until well blended, about 2-3 minutes. Divide evenly into the three pans.
    • Bake for 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, invert and let cool completely.
    • In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, butter, pineapple and the beaten eggs. Cook over low to medium low heat, stirring constantly. Increase heat to medium and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the bag of coconut.
    • Spread the warm icing over the cake layers and enjoy!

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1gCalories: 584kcalCarbohydrates: 85gProtein: 5gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 21gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 440mgPotassium: 228mgFiber: 4gSugar: 62gVitamin A: 140IUVitamin C: 4.5mgCalcium: 114mgIron: 1.9mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    Comments

    1. Eva

      November 27, 2016 at 11:47 am

      Thank you so much for this recipe I have searched for it forever. My grandma made this for me for my birthday when I was a child and it has always been my favorite cake. Sincerely, ERobinson.

      Reply
      • Teri

        November 27, 2016 at 12:53 pm

        Ms Eva you absolutely just made my day with your comment...and reminds me of why I started this blog. This recipe was one of my favorites, and reminds me so much of my grandmother. Please enjoy it with your family. 🙂

        Reply
        • Noriko

          February 20, 2022 at 2:52 pm

          Teri,
          Since you can't find the pineapple pudding anymore, couldn't you get a pineapple cake mix and mix lemon pudding into it? Or would it not be the same?

        • Teri

          February 22, 2022 at 12:43 pm

          That's a great idea! I'll have to try that and see how it turns out. 🙂 Thank you for the suggestion.

    2. Liz

      January 29, 2017 at 10:09 am

      Your cake looks delicious. I am going to be baking a 7-Up cake today, because my birthday is tomorrow. I wondered if it would hold up in 3 cake pans but everyone uses a bundt. I was happy to find your page and see that you did what I want to do!! It is impossible to find instant pineapple pudding mix, I have searched before, and I'm from Hawaii! Aloha!

      Reply
      • Teri

        January 29, 2017 at 10:12 am

        Happy Birthday!??We should start a petition with Jell-O to bring back pineapple pudding specifically for this cake. Enjoy the cake and I hope you love it on your special day.

        Reply
      • Teri

        January 29, 2017 at 10:14 am

        Oh and I am from Tennessee. Thank you for letting us borrow Marcus Mariota. We love him.

        Reply
    3. De Stephens

      November 12, 2017 at 12:16 pm

      Is white sugar confectioners or granulated sugar?

      Reply
      • Teri

        November 13, 2017 at 8:03 pm

        Granulated sugar.

        Reply
    4. Charles McKenry

      November 19, 2018 at 4:58 pm

      5 stars
      I lost my Mom's recipe years ago but this looks a lot like it. It was such an amazing cake. Her recipe had multiple choice for the pudding vanilla or pineapple and cake mix was pineapple, white or yellow. Her recipe also called for a lot of egg yolks if I remember right but hey this is closer than what I can remember. Thank you

      Reply
      • Teri

        November 19, 2018 at 5:47 pm

        I bet your mother's recipe was amazing. I hope you get a chance to try this one, be sure to let me know how close it is to tasting like the one you remember.

        Reply
    5. Maeve

      August 10, 2022 at 5:53 pm

      5 stars
      Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have found that cake mixes are smaller now, therefore I use
      Three-Ounce Cake Mix "Upsizer"
      1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
      1 cup sugar
      2 teaspoons baking powder
      1/4 teaspoon baking soda
      Whisk all dry ingredients together and store in a clean mason jar. When you wish to increase a 15.25-ounce cake mix to 18.25 ounces, add three ounces of this mix (6 tablespoons) to your existing cake mix and bake according to directions.

      Reply
      • Teri

        August 12, 2022 at 5:12 pm

        THAT is a brilliant kitchen hack! Thank you for sharing. 🙂

        Reply

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