Coconut Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

coconut pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting

I’ll take bacon over brownies any day of the week, but don’t mess with my cake, y’all. In fact, after a boozy dinner party last weekend, I found myself standing over the kitchen sink in the wee hours, stuffing my pie hole with rum cake. Um, yeah. (I blame the rum.)

rum cake meme

Chalk it up to a ~~hangover~~ sugar-high inspiration, but I wanted to come up with a fab new recipe for JP’s birthday. Rum cake was now decidedly off-limits. But in keeping with the island theme here, I narrowed my search to coconut and pineapple.

Southern Living always has insane dessert recipes and I came across a coconut-pineapple cake with a cream cheese concoction that apparently won a reader contest back in the 80’s. Sweet! I doctored it a bit — added a little more lemon, some buttermilk and amped the delish factor. (Like you’re surprised??)

I was surprised that the recipe didn’t call for any rising agents, like baking powder or baking soda, and I was a little worried when I pulled the 3 round cake pans out of the oven and they looked sort of flat. But the consistency is key here — this is a denser variety, like a pound cake. And Holy Coconut. Behold Lemony Pineapple Heaven. You might just find yourself having a sink incident.

Don’t be ashamed. Eat it. With your fingers. (I won’t tell anyone.)

Have your cake and eat it (over the sink) too

Coconut Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

For the cake

1 (15 1/4 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice, divided (save ½ cup of juice for the cake batter and ¼ cup for the frosting)
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1/2 cup 7-Up or Sprite soda
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tb lemon zest
Sweetened shredded coconut (for coating sides of cake)

For the Pineapple Filling

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
½ cup buttermilk
drained crushed pineapple from the can
juice from ½ lemon
1 Tb lemon zest

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
6 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup reserved pineapple juice

Instructions

For the cake batter:

Grease three 9" round cake pans
Drain pineapple, reserving 3/4 cup juice (reserving ¼ cup for frosting and ½ for cake batter. Set drained pineapple aside).
Beat butter at medium speed with a mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
Combine 1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice and 7-Up and then add flour to butter mixture, alternately with juice mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.
Stir in extracts.
Pour 1/3 of batter into each of the prepared cake pans.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from pans immediately; cool on wire racks.

For the Pineapple Filling.

Stir together sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan.
Stir in pineapple, water, buttermilk, lemon juice and zest.
Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes or until very thick.
Cool.
When cake is cool, make Cream Cheese Frosting.

For the frosting

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended.
Gradually add powdered sugar, vanilla, and pineapple juice, mixing well.
When cake has cooled, stack cake layers, spreading 3/4 cup Pineapple Filling between each layer and some on top within 1/2" of edges.
Spread Cream Cheese Frosting on all sides of the cake and then cover with shredded coconut.