PINEAPPLE CAKE RECIPE
Our favorite Pineapple & Cream filling recipe has been hiding out in our Recipes section for years, but we’ve never had a post or photos to really highlight how fantastic this cake really is!
The recipe is actually very simple. One of the key players in this Pineapple Cake is our delicious homemade Yellow Cake recipe. I love this moist yellow cake as it tastes amazing with SO many fillings and frostings.
PINEAPPLE CAKE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 sticks (169g) unsalted butter,softened
1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup (242g) milk
2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla
2 Tablespoons (18g) vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups (285g) cake flour....*if you do not have cake flour see note below
1 Tablespoon (12g) baking powder
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
**No Cake Flour? Here is a substitution: For each cup of flour in the recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. This recipe has 2 1/2 cups flour, measure out the flour, remove 5 Tablespoons and replace with 5 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.
FOR THE PINEAPPLE & CREAM FILLING:
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
2 cups heavy cream or whipping cream (not a whipped topping such as Cool Whip)
1 (15.25 oz.) can crushed pineapple, DRAINED. If you want to add pineapple to the top of the cake, reserve 1/3 cup
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
2 sticks (1 cup) (226 g) unsalted butter, let it sit out approximately 10 minutes. It should feel very cool to the touch.
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (total weight 452g) I use full fat cream cheese. Using reduced fat or the spreadable cream cheese will cause the frosting to be too soft. Soften very slightly.
2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt (2g) optional - it will cut the sweetness, popcorn salt is best to use because it is fine and dissolves faster
6 to 6 1/2 cups (690g to 747g) powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
FOR THE YELLOW CAKE
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour three 8x2 inch pans — can also be baked in two 8 inch pans
In a medium size bowl add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk at least 30 seconds to blend. Set aside
In another bowl add the milk, vanilla and vegetable oil. Set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer beat the softened butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and mix on medium speed 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears
Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture alternately. Begin and end with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry and 2 of wet). Mix just until combined, do not mix above medium speed or over mix.
Pour batter into prepared pans, smoothing tops with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only a few crumbs attached. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 minutes then turn out.
Makes 6 1/2 cups cake batter
Works well for cupcakes
The cake layers are only 1 1/4 inches high because the batter is divided between three 8 inch pans. (We wanted two layers of filling!)
FOR THE PINEAPPLE AND CREAM FILLING:
Stir together the pudding mix and whipping cream. You are using the whipping cream to make the pudding, rather than milk. The mixture will become very thick. We prefer to use a hand mixer to whip the mixture until fluffy (if you do not have a mixer, you can do this with a whisk by hand). Fold in crushed, drained, pineapple until it is a spreadable consistency.
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended.
Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat.
This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
*Notes:
*The Yellow Cake in this recipe is identical to the classic Yellow Cake on our site, except that in today’s recipe, we are using the conventional method of mixing rather than the reverse creaming method. (We were going for fluffier layers, especially since we are dividing the batter between three 8 inch cake pans).
Each cake layer bakes up to about 1 1/4 inches thick, and after filling and frosting, the 8 inch cake stands a little over 4 inches tall.
We experimented with substituting a 1/2 cup of the drained pineapple juice in this recipe for 1/2 cup of milk, thinking that it would give a nice pineapple flavor. Once baked, the pineapple flavor just didn’t come through.
Since the filling and topping lends so much pineapple flavor, we opted to just stick to our yellow cake layers. However, if you’d like to flavor the cake layers themselves, pineapple extract can be found online and I’m sure that would work well!
source : mycakeschool.com