By default, it’s hard to think of any dessert as gross. Dessert is a wonderful treat that is basically universally loved. Today, if you wanted to indulge in a dessert, you have an endless amount of options: brownies, cookies, cupcakes, mini cupcakes, macarons, pie. Instagram-worthy items that look so cool you don’t even know if you can eat them (although you definitely do). Rainbow cakes with candy that pours out of the middle. Ice cream in fish-shaped cones. Everything sounds, and looks, amazing! But back in the day, all desserts weren’t quite as, well, aesthetically pleasing as they are today. In fact, in the 1950s, some of the dessert options were so strange that they bordered on creepy — and it’s hard to believe people ate them at all.
When it came to eating, the 1950s were all about hearty comfort food. Popular dishes at the time that are still around today include things like salisbury steak, chicken pot pie, tuna casserole, and meat loaf.
There were also a bunch of desserts that became pretty big back in the ’50s that we all still love and enjoy today, things like baked Alaska, angel food cake, and chiffon cake (which is essentially bundt cake). These are great! But then there were the weird desserts. Don’t forget, this is a decade when Jell-O molds were extremely popular, and they got completely out of control.
Below are a few of the creepiest things people ate for dessert in the ’50s:
1. Molded Jell-O salads were extremely popular in the 1950s, and honestly, it’s hard to figure out why.
People were putting everything in there, and it would end up looking like a truly awful combination. Yes, those are olives in the above picture!
2. Fruit cocktail eggnog pie is a combination we really never needed to know about, ever.
Does eggnog really need to be made into a pie? Then mixed with fruit cocktail? No, it definitely doesn’t.
3. Mayonnaise cake might make the cake more moist, but that’s still a hard, hard pass. Thanks.
Mayo is polarizing enough in its true form, like on a sandwich or whenever it’s used as a condiment. The last thing it needed was to be a cake. This is unfair to the chocolate in this recipe.
4. Prune whip just sounds bad, and doesn’t look very appetizing either.
Prunes on their own aren’t quite as horrible as they sound, but made into some weird whipped pudding? It sounds bad and it doesn’t look too appetizing either.
5. Rainbow pudding sounds okay… until you realize it has ham in it.
Yes, ham can sometimes be mixed with fruit and it turns out good, but not when it’s basically a dessert casserole! It looks like this one was made with either whipped cream or marshmallows (or both), and that’s just not appealing.
6. Frosted lime and walnut salad is literally lime gelatin mixed with cottage cheese and walnuts. Why?!
Jell-O and cottage cheese mixed together makes it look like the Jell-O has gone bad and is now moldy. Also, it seems like it could potentially have the worst texture of all time.
7. This strange dessert/salad looks like a mix of gelatin and cream cheese and fruit, served on lettuce?!
What is this even supposed to be?! Cream cheese and Jell-O are another combo that just seems wrong, and why is this thing on a bed of lettuce?! There are so many questions!
8. This “moonbeam salad” is a mix of cottage cheese, gelatin, and marshmallows, and it… does not look good.
Who thought, “Let’s mix gelatin and cottage cheese a million different ways” and thought it was a good idea? We’d like to meet them, because this looks awful.
9. Why is this frozen yule log made with mayonnaise?!?
Mayo, pineapple, cherries, almonds, and whipped cream… it sounds like a combo a child would come up with to try grossing someone out. Except it’s packaged as some sort of cake. No thanks!
10. This prune bread does not look any more appetizing than that prune whip from earlier, which is really saying something.
First of all, prune bread sounds really dry and weird and awful. Second, it doesn’t even really look like bread. Who thought of this one?
11. This raspberry chiffon royale is not at all what it sounds like. Actually, it’s not clear what it is at all.
Egg whites folded into gelatin? Who was eating this stuff?? Honestly, this one sounds like a crime to all desserts, and it should never have been created.
12. Carnation jelly whip is just what it sounds like: carnation milk mixed with gelatin, and that’s not exactly a good thing!
Why was everything mixed with gelatin? But also, why was evaporated milk mixed with gelatin? This looks like it has a truly unappetizing texture.
13. Yes, this is a picture of molded lemon Jell-O with hard-boiled eggs inside.
It looks like there are also radishes and maybe even shredded lettuce in there. It’s just something that never should have happened and shouldn’t have been documented either.
14. It’s not clear what this is. But it is definitely not looking good.
Is this… tomato flavored lemon Jell-O? Nothing about that sounds remotely okay.
Let’s just hope none of these desserts become popular again…