Pineapple Cake Recipe
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This Pineapple Cake Recipe will soon become a family favorite, perfect for celebrating the best of life’s special moments.
The salty air wafted through the screened back door and marked another warm summer day at Folly. Family was gathered at our beach to celebrate another milestone. Food was being prepared in the muggy kitchen by many hands. Sweet and savory aromas mixed with the salty breeze.
Barely able to see over the counter top, the cake was right there, just within arm’s reach. Frosting effortlessly applied with a butter knife as if it had been done a thousand times. A quick sneak of a taste may go unnoticed if I moved quick enough. A small fingertip amount would hardly be missed. Perhaps a second or third for good measure? It was white, the frosting. Maybe cream cheese, or a simple vanilla buttercream? I don’t remember, and it didn’t much matter to me. It was all the same sweet goodness in my book.
As a child a homemade cake with homemade frosting was magical. A bowl of ingredients mixed, divvied up into pans, followed by a brief stay in a hot oven to emerge as cake was amazing. As an adult it still is. How such basic ingredients can become so wonderful when combined just the right way. It really is like magic.
This Pineapple Cake is no exception to the magic flour, sugar, and eggs create. My husband, who is not much of a fan of overly sweet desserts, was a big fan of this cake. Not too sweet and so fluffy, this Pineapple Cake is perfectly balanced. The pineapple isn’t overwhelming. It’s subtle. Just right, in fact. Pair this fluffy cake with an equally fluffy frosting, like an easy 7-Minute Frosting, topped off with toasted coconut for a bit of texture, and, of course, one of the pineapple’s favorite flavor friends.
Pineapple Cake Recipe
Pineapple Cake Recipe
This Pineapple Cake Recipe will soon become a family favorite, perfect for celebrating the best of life’s special moments.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (sifted before measuring)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 3/4 cup drained, crushed pineapple
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature*
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3 large egg whites
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Lightly grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together pineapple juice, crushed pineapple and vanilla extract.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition until smooth.
- Alternate adding the sifted dry ingredients with the pineapple juice mixture into the butter/sugar mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually add in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating until combined.
- Fold beaten egg whites into batter.
- Divide batter between the two prepared 9-inch round cake pans. Bake at 350-degrees F for 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cake layers cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to cooling racks until cool.
Notes
Makes 2 round 9-inch layers.
Frost with easy 7-Minute Frosting.
* Butter should be at room temperature. NOT melted, but soft to the touch.
Every single picture made my mouth water.
Just made this cake. The frosting is so easy to make no just like your grandmother made.
Please can I have the recipe in UK measurements and ingredients.
320g sifted cake flour (sifted before measuring)
around 6.5g baking powder
around 2g baking soda
pinch of salt
120g pineapple juice
180g drained, crushed pineapple
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
113g butter
200g sugar, divided
3 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites
Think that’s about right (by weight) 🙂
Sorry I’m late
I made this cake and it was just wonderful!!! I did everything exactly like the directions and I was so proud to hear all the comments from my friends about how good it was!! I’ve shared the recipe and everyone has enjoyed baking and sharing this delicious cake with their loved ones!!!
How much would I need of each ingredient for a 10 inch round pan?
This cake looks so fluffy!! I can taste it through my screen!
I love how light this cake looks, and just look at that frosting! I bet the toasted coconut on top is the perfect complement to the pineapple flavor. Yum!
What a amazing cake for family celebrations! Love the coconut and pineapple together.
I am drooling over this cake. I keep coming back to your page so I can stare at the pictures. I already made my hisband get me crushed pineapple, and I’m gonna use my go-to fluffy frosting which is cream cheese based. But there is a small snag. We both despise coconut. It looks absolutely beautiful on top, but I can’t stand the stuff. I am thinking slivered toasted almonds instead. What do you think?
Almonds would be a great substitute, or no nuts on top at all! Enjoy!
It’s in the oven as I type. I’m using almond slivers as well!
I hope you enjoy it!
Please can I have the measurements and ingredients in UK terms?
Thanks
At this time I don’t have the conversions for this recipe. Maybe this site will help: https://whatscookingamerica.net/equiv.htm
I used to be a strictly vanilla cake birthday style when it came to dessert but lately i can’t get enough of hummingbird cakes, lemon cakes, and now it looks like pineapple cake!
Wow oh wow. I have got to make this cake for my Mom. She will absolutely adore it. I will too. I know we will all be fighting over licking the bowl.
Oh dear me! This cake is going to haunt me. It is soooo gorgeous, Amy! That frosting. Mercy!
Gorgeous!!! This cake looks incredible. 🙂
I made this exactly and it barely rose and was kinda dry
Hello Kathleen,
Hmmm … without knowing the particular ingredient brands you used, I can’t tell you what may have gone wrong. I’m sorry you had trouble with it. It’s a lovely cake!
I made this cake, it was dry and terrible! I followed it to a T and am a great baker. The batter was very thick when I went to add the whites. Also made the frosting correctly and it whipped perfectly but did NOT hold shape. Never again 🙁 and I brought it to a party! Ugh
Amy, I’m sorry to hear that you had trouble with the cake. I’ve made it and the 7-minute frosting successfully, as well as others, who have made a point to let me know how much they liked it with quite the opposite results as you describe. I’m sure as an experienced baker you know how baking, especially cakes, can be affected by so many things. Again, I’m sorry it wasn’t a success for you. Your ingredients and time are precious things.
Baking is affected by many things, yes. I’ve made cakes upon cakes–something in this recipe is off. The batter was too thick. Since baking is such a science, it should be consistent and the reviews for this cake are inconsistent. Red flag right there. Sorry but I just think others should know that perhaps it’s how one drains the pineapple to impact the liquid or the improper ratio of baking powder/soda–something makes the result like a dense scone or biscuit. Nothing about this was a light and fluffy cake. I make scratch cakes often. I have cake flour, a sifter. I know how to properly measure when you bake. I know what should be room temp and to keep your baking materials fresh. I know my oven. Never in my life had a cake like this.
Thank you for your input, Amy. Have a lovely day!
Hello again, Amy. Your comments about having trouble with this recipe have been bugging me so I decided to test the recipe once again, actually my husband who has never baked a cake from scratch in his life happily volunteered to bake it. He even went so far as to run to the grocery store and purchase all ingredients himself. I stayed out of the kitchen and left him all alone to work through the recipe all by himself. He did a fantastic job for a brand new baker. The cake turned out delicious, fluffy and light as it has for me in the past.
With that said, after more thought a few factors that could have caused problems:
– the 1/2 cup of pineapple juice amount was adjusted or skipped
– large eggs were not used (which still shouldn’t cause it to be scone or biscuit-like as you mentioned)
– altitude
My only note, as I noted in the post above, is that the pineapple flavor is subtle. It could be a bit more pineapple-y for those who love pineapple.
As far as the 7-minute frosting not holding up for you as you took it to a party. The light and fluffy 7-minute frosting is a meringue type frosting that I would not recommend for transporting on a cake, especially in warm weather. If I were to transport it to a party I would transport the cake and frosting separately (keeping the frosting chilled) then frost the cake after I arrived.
Again, I’m sorry you had trouble with the cake. It is a tasty cake and so perfect for summer. Maybe you’ll get the chance to try it again one day.
I didn’t skip the juice. I used large eggs. I won’t remake the cake. Thanks for the alternate baker tip–don’t think that’ll help me though. Thanks again!
I made this cake. Followed the directions to the T as the other Amy did and it was a perfect addition to rhe end of a meal. I’m wondering if the flour was mismeasured or substituted. That would be my only thought. This recipe is perfect……….or was for me. Thank you.
Thank you! I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it as much as we have.
I made this cake tonight and I am not sure what went wrong as well. I followed the directions to a tee and used all of the ingredients suggested as well as the numerous steps. The cake’s consistency is not right and it definitely didn’t turn out light and fluffy looking like the pictures. I will not make this cake again. Too much time spent and wasted ingredients to boot on trying to make it again. The frosting didn’t turn out for me either. It was a sloppy mess. I am glad the cake turned out for the rest of the posters here, but I didn’t have the same outcome.
Same with my experience only I did not use cake flour but organic, all-purpose. The batter barely filled my 8″ pans and it did not rise. Also, it was quite dense (perhaps from the moisture of the crushed pineapple?).
Not sure what happened…
There are so many factors with baking a cake that could change the results. As I mentioned before, we’ve made this cake with tasty success multiple times.
I think your problem stems from using all purpose flour. When you swap all purpose flour for cake flour it changes the structure and density of your cake. Cake flour has a lower amount of protein in it, meaning that it will create a fluffier cake. Next time you do this swap, for every cup of all purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons and and replace it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (this will prevent some of the gluten formation and should get you a fluffy cake). Hope this helps!
Yes hi my name is lily ! I love that recipe ! But I’m confused for that part : after you bake the cake into two pans cake you put the white eggs looks like the meringue or you bake with that ! I see the layers between two cakes so just that part explained please ! Thanks so much Lilly ! Liljana my long name
I just made this recipe as cupcakes. I got 22 cupcakes and baked for 20 minutes. They look great, but I will have to wait till the event tomorrow to let you know how they taste! I won’t have time to prepare and do the 7 minute frosting, so I’ll be doing a basic cream cheese frosting (going light on the sugar bc it’s for kids).
Do you think the recipe would work well in the “doll skirt” pan for making a doll cake?
Hello Megan!
Not sure how it would hold up for a doll cake mold. I wonder if it isn’t dense enough to hold the shape well?
Well, I did the cupcakes with a pineapple glaze and a cream cheese frosting (I added pineapple juice to it but couldn’t taste it). They were really good! I’ve done the doll cake – it filled up about half of the dome and didn’t rise to the top, but I’m using a Dora topper that’s a little smaller than the normal doll toppers, so proportionally it looks pretty good. The cake itself looks good, and the rounded part I cut off to make it flat tasted good! 🙂 Planning on doing a coconut flavored buttercream frosting.
I tried it and it was so moist and delicious! I think that this cake will become a regular around here 🙂
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I think I’ll be making it for Easter. It’s such a light cake.
Made this to take to a friends dinner party, but sorry I was disappointed in this cake. Was not as moist and fluffy as I thought it would be, but a little on the dry side. Baked for 25 minutes not 30 in a light cake pan. My oven temp is fine. No one could even taste the pineapple making the cake taste bland. The one thing that was great about it was the 7 Minute Frosting. It was so fast and easy to make and so good. It definitely helped flavor the cake. I will definitely use that recipe on other cakes. I’ve been baking for years and I’m considered a great baker. In fact I am the baker in our group of friends and they can’t wait for my next creation because they always say my cakes are so good, but said this wasn’t one of the best. Sorry!
I made the cake today for a birthday. I was very much disappointed. The pineapple flavor is very basically not there, the cake isn’t as fluffy as the picture looks and the frosting, although very easy and tasty, the sweetness is overbearing..
I followed this recipe to a dot, but ended up with a liquid mixture that leaked out of the removable round bottom pan… In the morning I tried to repeat the recipe, slightly modifying it by adding more flour without sifting and by reducing the amount pineapple juice by half. Even though the mixture looked a lot more dense, it still ended up leaking from the pan. Once I noticed the leaks, I pulled it from the oven and worked in 2 more cups (!) of flour.The “densified” mix is now in the oven, and I noticed just a few drippings from the pan. Hopefully, it will work this time. There is something off balance in this recipe. I wonder if it’s at all necessary to add butter or if the amount of flour needs to be doubled? It would be great to post a video showing how to achieve the required consistency and how the right consistency looks.
I’m not really sure what your problem may have been, Nataliya. To begin with I would not use a baking pan with a removable bottom. I’m assuming you’re speaking of a springform pan? This cake batter, as would most, would definitely leak from a pan that does not have a solid bottom. I’m sorry you had trouble as this cake recipe has worked perfectly for me as well as others.
Where is the frosting? Just need something light to put on this!!!
The link for a recommended 7-minute frosting is both in the post and at the bottom of the recipe. You’ll find it here: https://shewearsmanyhats.com/easy-7-minute-vanilla-frosting-recipe/
I would post a picture but…….it’s all gone. This cake was amazing, I read some of the comments and I was kind of skeptical but it turned out awesome. The texture was soft fluffy and light ,the flavor was just right and the color was a beautiful pale yellow.
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it, LaTrice. And thank you for sharing. 🙂
Just made this cake today for my son’s birthday and it was amazing! The cake was very easy, basic genoise recipe. I have often goofed up 7 minute frosting but this one turned out great. Thanks for sharing the recipe, it was right up our alley. To me it tasted like a giant pineapple twinkie and for someone who does not buy twinkies but dreams about them still it was perfect and i’ll make it again.
Happy Birthday to your son, Meg! I’m so happy to hear the cake was a success for his special day. And yay for twinkies! 😉
I am a 73yr old male that has never been in the kitchen except to sample the goodies my wife cooked or baked…however As I was surfing to net so
I saw this recipe and thought what the h+’ll I will give it a try…well to make a long story short it turned out fantastic. Now my wife wants me to make more for her Canasta parties. Thanks for putting me in good with the girls lol
That’s fantastic, Douglas! It can be called the Canasta Cake! 🙂
Hubby is making this for a Luau-themed couples’ wedding shower this weekend! Excited to try it out!! I’m sure it’s awesome, and if it doesn’t come out that great then WHATEVA 😉 I’m sure it’s tasty though!
I have a weakness for pineapple cake… mainly that icing. And the coconut. I’m such a sucker for shredded coconut. And Eric hates it… which means more for me!!! ????