When my bestie (Laura from Cupping Cakes) handed me a HUGE jar of Mango Pineapple jam on my last visit, my brain went into over drive trying to figure out what to do with it. One of the first things that came to mind was a cake filling. But what kind of cake should it fill? Hmmmm, I think we’ll go with a pineapple cake. After deciding on the cake and filling it was time to move on to the frosting. So many choices! But I decided to go with something light because this ended up being a birthday cake for my momma. I decided to go with the frosting from our favorite holiday cake recipe. Its light, super tasty, and really easy to make.
My cake did not go as planned. First I found bugs in my flour. Then I realized that some how I did NOT have round cake pans and ended up having to use square ones. And then, the kicker, my wonderful Mango Pineapple jam that was supposed to be the filling met an untimely death. (*insert lots of bad words here*) Due to all these misadventures (and a bit of a time crunch) a slightly new Semi-Homemade recipe was born.
Recipe Ingredients
Cake:
1 box vanilla cake (with pudding in the mix)
8 oz can of crushed pineapple
1/2 cup sour cream
ingredients for cake mix (will vary by brand)
Frosting:
Cool whip
Instant Vanilla Pudding
8 oz can of crushed pineapple
coconut
Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven (to whatever your mix tells you to)
2. Prepare cake mix according to directions on the box.
3. Mix in 8 oz can of crushed pineapple and 1/2 cup of sour cream
4. Bake according to directions on the mix. The pineapple and sour cream don’t affect the cooking time. I made my cake in two square pans, but you could go with round pans if you want.
**If you are going to do this all at once, reset your oven to 325 degrees and leave it there to toast your coconut in a bit
5. If you need to level out your cakes, throw them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. This will make cutting them a lot easier.
6. Beat together vanilla pudding and 8 oz can of crushed pineapple for 1 minute.
7. Fold pudding mixture into cool whip.
8. Put your frosting in the fridge for at least 15-30 minutes.
9. Set your bottom cake layer on a plate/platter and top with frosting. Use as much or as little as you like.
10. Set the 2nd cake layer on top. Repeat with how many ever layers you have. Hold in place with toothpicks and place in fridge for 10-15 minutes.
(Dontcha just love the sparkler toothpick things I used to hold the cake together?)
11. Frost your cake!
**As I mentioned before, I had every intention of making this a round cake. My 2 square layers turned out kind of flat because the pans were HUGE, so I cut each one in half and made a 4 layer rectangular cake. It made the cake a bit more impressive this way.
12. Spread coconut flakes on a baking sheet in a thin layer and bake in preheated oven. The flakes will toast very quickly and won’t take more than 5-10 minutes. After a few minutes stir the coconut to help ensure even color. Remember, sweetened flakes will take less time because sugar speeds the toasting process.
13. Top your beautifully frosted cake with the toasted coconut.
TA-DA! Now you have a beautiful (hopefully) and tasty Semi-Homemade Pina Colada Cake!
I must admit that I was so disappointed when this cake didn’t go as planned. I was making it for my mom’s birthday, so when things started falling apart I sent her a text and told her that if it sucked I’d go buy her an ice cream cake. I was so upset and over it by the time I was done that I didnt even take a picture of the the finished cake. But I will tell you that I left those awesome sparklers in the cake 🙂
So when we got home from dinner and took out the cake I was prepared for the worst. But let me tell you that cake was AMAZING! It was so moisty and tasty. Just the right amount of sweetness. If you are in the market for an easy but delicious cake you should definitely try this out.
