pineapple and coconut cake with fluffy cream cheese icing

pineapple and coconut cake with fluffy cream cheese icing

• 4 Nov 2024

I'm constantly time poor these days, so my bakes of late have been simple affairs. This is what drew me to this recipe for a pineapple and coconut cake with fluffy cream cheese icing from 'Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking' by Danielle Alvarez with Libby Travers. 

Danielle's recipes are always jam packed with flavour and to make this pineapple and coconut cake, I needed nothing more than a bowl, a can opener and a wooden spoon. It was supposed to be a 2 layer cake filled with cream cheese icing and bedecked with dried pineapple flowers but life got in the way and it morphed into a slab cake. I ramped up the coconut flavour by using dried coconut milk powder in the cream cheese icing and the end result was nothing short of lush. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm square cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. If you'd like to make a larger version, please click the link above to the original recipe. 

Pineapple & Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Icing 

Ingredients

220g crushed pineapple in juice (1/2 tin)
1 egg
165g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
75 ml neutral oil
45g desiccated coconut
125g plain flour
35g wholemeal flour
 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb of soda 
 ¼ tsp fine sea salt

Fluffy cream cheese icing
125g full fat softened cream cheese
125g unsalted butter, squidgy soft 
pinch salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
40g dried milk powder/dried coconut milk powder
125g icing sugar

To decorate
30g toasted coconut flakes
15g dried pineapple pieces (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C conventional. Grease and line the base of a 17cm square cake tin with baking paper. 

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pineapple (including the juice), eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil. In another mixing bowl, combine the desiccated coconut, flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Tip the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk to combine. 

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.

Icing
Place the cream cheese, butter, milk powder, salt and vanilla extract in the bowl of electric stand mixer. Sift the icing sugar over the top. Beat with the paddle attachment for 6-8 minutes on speed 4 (below low) until pale, and fluffy. Store covered in the fridge until needed. If refrigerated, rewarm in the microwave in 20-second bursts until softened.

Lift the cake onto a platter or board, removing the baking paper from underneath. Spread the icing over the cake and finish with the coconut flakes and pineapple pieces, if using. 

It might have been a bit less glamorous than initially planned, but as expected this cake was delicious.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now,

Jillian