Pineapple Delight Cake Recipe
Popular Southern Cake Made with a Cake Mix and Fancy Frosting
Aug 16, 2009
Pineapple Delight Cake is always a hit at Southern gatherings. When the hostess or church ladies lift the lid off the cake box to reveal the fluffy white frosted masterpiece, it’s hard to wait until the main meal is over to dash to the table and get a dessert plate and a slice of the moist and flavorful cake.
Ironically, Pineapple Delight Cake is typically made with a white boxed cake mix, although some bakers do make the cake from scratch. The light texture of a boxed cake mix works very well with this recipe, because the mix and bake cake is firm enough to handle the fancier frosting job but light enough to absorb the pineapple juice mixture which gives the cake that extra oomph.
Although pineapple cake frosting does take some extra time and effort, it does not require special equipment or artistic skills like many fancier cakes. The cake has a simple cloud-like appearance made simply by slathering on the whipped cream frosting. And, while the outward appearance may not get the same raves as a cake frosted with intricate flowers and other more complex creations, the flavor is leagues ahead of most frosted cakes with ultra sweet traditional or fondue icing.
Pineapple Delight Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 white boxed cake baked and cooled
- 1 batch of homemade pineapple filling mixture with 2/3 cup pineapple/sugar/water mixture reserved for cake layers (recipe below)
- 1 batch of whipped cream frosting (recipe below)
Directions:
- Bake white cake and mix up pineapple filling mixture.
- Let cake and filling mixture cool. (These can actually be made the day ahead or in the morning before assembling the pineapple cake.)
- Place one cake layer on a plate or cake box server tray and pour half the reserved pineapple/sugar/water mixture evenly over layer.
- Frost layer with slightly less than half of the whipped cream frosting.
- Evenly spread half the pineapple filling mixture on top of the whipped cream frosting. The entire batch of pineapple filling can be placed in the middle if you prefer that the outside of the cake be solid white and not topped with pineapple filling. Both ways work fine.
Pineapple Delight Homemade Pineapple Filling Mixture
Ingredients:
- 1 cup crushed pineapple (do not drain)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 TBS cornstarch
Directions:
- In a sauce pan, bring pineapple, sugar, and water to a boil while stirring constantly.
- Cook until sugar is dissolved while continuing to stir.
- *Remove 2/3 cup of this mixture at this point and save to put on the cake layers to add pineapple flavor and moisture.
- Add a little water to the cornstarch to make a paste mixture so that the cornstarch does not clump in the pineapple mixture and add this to the cooking pineapple mixture.
- Cook and stir the filling until the cake filling liquid is clear looking.
- Let the mixture cool. It can be refrigerated and used later in the day or the next day.
Pineapple Delight Whipped Cream Frosting
Ingredients:
- ½ pint whipping cream
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
- Put whipping cream and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until the mixture begins to thicken.
- With a light hand (and while mixing if possible), add the salt and vanilla.
- Continue to beat or mix until the frosting makes peaks (like little mountains).
Pineapple Delight Cake should be covered or placed in a cake box and stored in the refrigerator. The cake is more flavorful if it sits a couple of hours or more before serving, although it can be served at room temperature immediately after assembly.
