Domestic Dreamboat

  • Recipes
  • Special Diets
  • Kitchen Basics
  • Meet Carissa
    • Get in Touch - Learn How to Contact Domestic Dreamboat
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipe Index
  • Resources
  • About

search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipe Index
  • Resources
  • About

×
You are here: Home / Desserts and Sweets / Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares

Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares

Modified: Oct 4, 2023 · Published: Feb 3, 2022 by Carissa · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

Classic, fluffy ambrosia in square form! These fun, pink Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares have a delicious graham-wafer crust.

Jump to Recipe Save RecipeSaved! Pin Recipe
A tropical cherry ambrosia square on a white plate.

Today I'm bringing you a fun, festive, pink dessert. It's easy to make, and fun to serve on such holidays like Valentine's day and perhaps Easter, where pastel-hued versions of foods are expected.

What is Ambrosia?

Today's recipe is based on one of my previously published recipes - Tropical Cherry Ambrosia. If you're not familiar with Ambrosia, it's a fluffy, fruit salad-like dessert that commonly features marshmallows and coconut.

It's a bit of a retro recipe, but back in the day you used to find it on dinner plates instead of dessert bowls, and it was called "salad" instead of "dessert". My grandma still made a version of it when I was a kid.

I'm no longer under the delusion that this sweet concoction will supply me with my daily vegetable helpings, and I make it on a semi-regular basis for dessert. It's super quick and easy to mix up, and it lasts for a few days in the fridge.

A tropical cherry ambrosia square on a white plate.

But sometimes, instead of eating your dessert from a bowl with a spoon, you want to eat it with a fork, in a sliceable form. And I also REALLY like graham cracker crust, so I got the idea to make Tropica Cherry Ambrosia Squares.

When I decided to try making my favorite ambrosia into squares, I knew I couldn't just mix it up and plop it on top of a graham crust. In order for the squares to hold their shape after cutting, and to avoid them making the crust soggy, I'd have to modify the recipe.

I needed to make the ambrosia thicker. In my version of ambrosia, the marshmallows function as the thickener. They absorb the moisture from the pineapple juice and cherry pie filling to make a soft, fluffy texture.

To make these ambrosia squares hold up on a plate, I simply increased the number of marshmallows in the filling. No other modifications required!

I'll admit that I was still a little worried that the moisture from the ambrosia would make the crust soggy over time. However, after even a few days in the fridge, the crust was still dry and crisp.

A hand getting a forkful of tropical cherry ambrosia squares.

How to Make Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares:

Making these fun, fluffy squares is so easy! Though the filling for the squares is no-bake, the crust does have to bake for a few minutes to get it nice and toasty.

Start with mixing up the filling, which is as simple as dumping the ingredients into the bowl and stirring. When I made this batch, I had to undertake the extra step of chopping up some thawed frozen pineapple in my food processor, as the store was completely out of canned crushed pineapple.

The crust is easy too. Simply turn some graham wafers into crumbs (skip this step if you buy a box of pre-ground graham crumbs), mix with melted butter and sugar, press into your baking pan, and bake for 15 minutes.

Then simply spoon the filling onto the cooled crust, and put the whole thing in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

Tropical Ambrosia Squares Ingredients:

  • Canned crushed pineapple: If you don't have any, simply pulse some fresh or frozen pineapple in the food processor until it resembles crushed pineapple.
  • Canned cherry pie filling: It's best to use a brand that advertises "extra cherries", but any type will work.
  • Frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip): Either regular or light/low-fat/fat-free will work just fine.
  • Mini marshmallows: Or cut up regular-sized marshmallows if needed, but it's much easier to use mini
  • Unsweetened shredded dried coconut: Sweetened works too, but the resulting fluff will be much sweeter (I find it's already quite sweet as it is)
  • Graham crackers: Or use pre-ground graham crumbs to save a step
  • Granulated sugar
  • Unsalted butter: Salted butter works too. It will give your crust a bit of a sweet and salty vibe
Overhead photo of tropical cherry ambrosia bars

Ambrosia Square Variations:

There are lots of variations to making ambrosia. You can use other fruits if you like to change the flavor.

If your family happens to have an ambrosia recipe that you love, simply use it to make ambrosia squares. Note that if your ambrosia recipe has a lot of moisture, it may affect the texture of the crust without modification (read about how I modified my recipe).

Another option to change up this recipe is to replace the graham crust with a chocolate cookie crust. Simply replace the graham crumbs with Oreo cookie crumbs to make a chocolate-flavored crust.

Want more Pink recipes?

Tropical Cherry Ambrosia in a crystal glass
Tropical Cherry Ambrosia
Overhead photo of pink popcorn in a bowl
Old Fashioned Pink Popcorn
A stack of candy cane swirl cookies on a white plate.
Candy Cane Swirl Cookies

Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares Nutrition Notes:

If you need your ambrosia squares to be gluten-free, be sure to buy gluten-free graham wafers or graham wafer crumbs.

Note that the nutrition information in the recipe below uses non-fat whipped topping in the calculations. If you use regular whipped topping, the fat and calories in your ambrosia squares will be a little higher.

Carissa Serink

Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares

5 from 1 vote
A tropical cherry ambrosia square on a white plate.
Classic, fluffy ambrosia in square form! These fun, pink Tropical Cherry Ambrosia Squares have a delicious graham-wafer crust.
Save Saved! Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings: 16
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Universal
Calories: 260
Prep Time 18 minutes mins
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Chilling Time 1 hour hr
Prevent your screen from going dark
Ingredients Equipment Method Nutrition Notes

Equipment

  • Food Processor
  • 9x13" Baking Pan

Ingredients
 
 

  • 20 ounce can crushed pineapple see note below
  • 21 ounce can cherry pie filling (use one with "extra cherries) if you can find it)
  • 8 ounces 1 small container frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), regular or light see note
  • 6 cups mini marshmallows about ¾ of a 16 ounce bag
  • 1 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut
  • 16 whole graham crackers broken into pieces (see note)
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  • 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter melted
instacartGet Recipe Ingredients

Instructions
 

  1. Move an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 325°F.
  2. Transfer crushed pineapple to a mesh strainer and drain well, saving the juice to drink if you wish.
  3. Add the drained pineapple, cherry pie filling, whipped topping, marshmallows, and shredded coconut to a large bowl. Stir until mixed well. Cover bowl and place in fridge to chill while you're preparing the crust.
  4. Place the broken graham wafers in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the food processor until the wafers form uniform crumbs. Add the granulated sugar and melted butter and process until the mixture resembles wet sand, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  5. Press the graham crumb mixture firmly into a 9x13" rectangular baking pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust is slightly browned at the edges, and smells toasted. Cool to room temperature.
  6. Spread the cherry ambrosia mixture evenly over the graham crust. Cover with plastic wrap and place into the fridge to set, at least 1 hour. Cut into squares to serve. Serve chilled.

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 42mgPotassium: 134mgFiber: 2gSugar: 23gVitamin A: 304IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 1mg

Notes

If you can't find a larger 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple (approximately 590mL), use two smaller cans (they're typically available in 398mL in Canada). Alternatively, use 2 cups of chopped fresh or frozen (thawed) pineapple, and pulse it in a food processor for a few seconds to resemble canned crushed pineapple. 
If you can only find larger containers of Cool Whip (often available in 1L containers in Canada), use only ½ of a tub.
If you don't want to process your own graham wafer crumbs, you can also use packaged graham crumbs. Use 250g (9oz) or 2 ½ cups of crumbs in this recipe. If you need your Ambrosia Squares to be gluten-free, be sure to buy gluten-free graham wafers or crumbs.

Tried this recipe?

Please consider Leaving a Review!
Ambrosia Squares
(Visited 352 times, 1 visits today)

More Desserts and Sweets

  • A stack of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches on a cutting board.
    Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches
  • A slice of Key Lime Icebox Cake on a small white plate.
    Easy 4 Ingredient Key Lime Icebox Cake
  • A slice of gluten-free Corn Tres Leches Cake on a small white plate.
    Gluten-Free Corn Tres Leches Cake
  • Cornstarch cookies (sequilhos) on a white plate.
    Three Ingredient Cornstarch Cookies (Sequilhos)
5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Hi, I'm Carissa!

I'm the face behind Domestic Dreamboat. I love to cook, I love to eat, and I love to stay healthy. Thanks for joining me in my homemade journey!

Learn More
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Threads

What's Trending

  • Korean beef and mushrooms over rice in a black bowl.Quick and Easy Korean Beef and Mushroom Bowls
  • Homemade hamburger buns on a baking sheet.Homemade Hamburger Buns
  • Homemade spreadable butter on wheat bread.How to Make Spreadable Butter
  • Overhead photo of salmon noodle casserole in a glass baking dish.Salmon Noodle Casserole
  • A stack of homemade Eatmore squares on a wood cutting board.Homemade Eatmore Bars

Footer

↑ back to top

Policies

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Opt-Out Preferences
  • Cookie Policy
  • Imprint

Newsletter

Sign Up!

About Me

  • Contact
  • About Carissa
  • Work with Me

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2014-2025

Manage your privacy
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.