Pineapple Cream Cake is a yellow cake with a creamy pineapple frosting topped with a dollop of whipped cream.
It’s my best friend’s birthday today. Her name is Liz, and she’s my identical twin sister. (Yes, that also makes today my birthday too 🙂 ..but this post isn’t about me. It’s about my sister. Sharing a birthday with her is the BEST–we had so much fun as kids.
I hate that we now live so far away from each other because I need her next to me when I’m blowing out birthday candles and opening presents. I hate having the attention all by myself. So this post is for you LIZZIE. I love you and miss you terribly! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
This photo KILLS me every time. The hair. The dresses. Well done mom, well done. 🙂
(As a side note, you may notice I use a cake mix in this recipe. You are welcome to use a “from scratch” yellow cake, but I love the added mandarin oranges in with a good quality cake mix! I do make some exceptions when cooking from scratch and a “doctored” cake mix is great when you want a fast and easy dessert!).
Growing up my mom always made us each our own special birthday cake. I’m a Carrot Cake girl through and through, and my sister loves German Chocolate Cake. One cake we could both always agree on, however, is this pineapple cream cake!
And since I’ve already shared our other two favorite recipes, I’m excited to share this one with you. This is a total Memorial Day, summertime cake. It’s perfectly moist (ya, I hate that word, but it’s the best way to describe it) and the whipped frosting is to DIE. for. You can make it in a 9×13” pan or as a sheet cake –either way it’s perfect for a crowd and everyone always loves it.
Consider trying these popular desserts:
- German Chocolate Cake
- Snickerdoodles Bars
- Mississippi Mud Brownies
- Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake
- Mrs. Fields Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Recipe
Pineapple Cream Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 yellow cake mix
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
- 11 ounce can mandarin oranges
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 4 large eggs
For the Frosting
- 3.4 ounce box vanilla instant pudding
- 20 ounce can crushed pineapple
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 heaping cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the cake mix, butter, the whole can of mandarin oranges (juice and all), oil, eggs and mix well.
- Pour into a greased 9x13'' pan and bake for 22-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Mix the dry pudding packet and the whole can of crushed pineapple together. Refrigerate while you do the next steps.
- In a large mixing bowl beat the heavy cream until peaks start to form. Add the powdered sugar and beat well.
- Fold in the coconut and the pineapple/pudding mixture.
- Spread frosting over cooled cake and refrigerate until ready to serve. (I garnished the top of my cake with some toasted coconut.)
Nutrition
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I made the Pineapple Cream Cake a couple weeks ago for dinner at an American Legion dinner. Huge hit! Everyone loved it and it’s so easy to make. Definitely will make this one again; maybe with Cool Whip later this summer. Thanks for the yummy easy dessert:)
Hello there! I know this thread is a bit old but I’m curious if anyone has used cool whip for the topping instead of heavy whipping cream? I know the heavy cream will be better but I’m kind of pressed on time. Thanks in advance!!!
Yes, cool whip will work great!
How much frosting does this yield? Would half of the recipe be enough for the top of 1 – 8″ round cake layer? Thank you!!
I have a question, not a comment. I have made this cake with great results the same day that it would be served. I need a big dessert that I can make the day before. Has anyone served this cake the next day? My fear is that it might get soggy. If I made the cake but didn’t frost it until serving time, would the frosting hold up if made the day before. I need a dessert that I can make the night before then travel with for 4 hours by car. Help!
I think it tastes even better on day 2! Can you transport it in a cooler or something to keep it cool?
I only have a lemon cake mix. Would that be ok?
Sure.
I made the “Pineapple Cream Cake” for Easter. The only problem was I added 4.0 oz. of vanilla instant pudding (4 boxes of 1.0 oz) to the pineapple. (I thought I remembered it was 3.9) Anyway, just wondering if this would have made such a big difference. It seemed the “frosting” was too thick. The mandarin oranges gave a hint of flavor to the batter, but not too much it seemed. Anyway, I’m not sure if I would make this again, as I would like for it to be lighter. Thanks!
actually—the dry pudding is o.k. with no Cooking?
That’s right. Just the dry pudding powder for a box of INSTANT pudding.
You only use one small box of instant pudding. Not 4 boxes! Small box is 3.4 oz of pudding.
Hi Lauren
Can I use all purpose flour instead yello cake?
I forgot to tell you how much I love the picture of you and your sister. Yes, you Mom did a wonderful job, indeed.
Happy Easter to you and your family too.
Made this one time before. It is so easy and DELICIOUS. Yesterday I made a coconut bunt cake from scratch, no less. Well it looked wonderful, but I decided to give it a few more minutes in the oven. The rest is history, dried and came out of the pan in three pieces. Trying to strive for perfection sometimes does not work out too well. Anyway I am going to make this wonderful case today for Easter, but I will not add the frosting until Easter Sunday. This cake is amazing. Thank you for the recipe. Best regards, Arlene
Hi Arlene,
Thanks so much for commenting! Bundt cakes have caused me some headaches before as well :). I’m so glad you like this cake, it’s one of my families favorites! Happy Easter!
Dear Lauren. I made the Pineapple Cream Cake, this past weekend for our friend, for father’s day, came out so delicias , moist and creamy
and was a knockout , everybody love it and they want me to make another one.
Thank you so much for your great recipes, and will continue to make more.
Libni
Do you drain the pinapple?
Lu, You do NOT drain the pineapple 🙂 Hope you enjoy the cake!
The cake sounds wonderful, but I cringe at the idea of using a whole stick of butter AND a 1/2 cup of oil – why so much fat? Do you think I could use less butter?
You do not have the recipe listed for the pineapple cream cake. I would LOVE to have it, please,
Hi Betty, I’m so sorry, my site is having technical problems with the recipe card when viewed on a desktop or tablet device. You will be able to see the recipe if you pull it up on your mobile phone. I’m trying to resolve the problem ASAP. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Hi, looks delicious, but I am not seeing the whole recipe. I must be missing something.
Hi Phyllis, I’m so sorry, my site is having technical problems with the recipe card when viewed on a desktop or tablet device. You will be able to see the recipe if you pull it up on your mobile phone. I’m trying to resolve the problem ASAP. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Hi! Only recently just started looking at your recipes – they’re fabulous btw. I just can’t seem to find the cake recipe you said to use rather than a cake mix?
sounds wonderful so am going to try it. thought you might like a alternate idea; i make the cake (love the idea of the oranges) then as soon as it comes out of the oven i pour a can of crushed pineapple (juice and all) all over cake and spread it evenly. then (while still hot) i pour instant vanilla pudding (that you prepared per package instructions) all over the cake and smooth. then i let it cool and before serving usually use cool whip but your idea is even better.
grandma used to serve this to us and it goes fast!
I’m not a fan of mandarin oranges. Is there anything else that can be substituted or can I leave them out?
Hi Lucy…You could add some crushed pineapple instead…
Do I have to use heavy cream……
Hi Anna, you could substitute a container of cool whip…
This looks absolutely heavenly!!!!
What a delicious recipe! I must try that! My son loves pineapple! Loved the photos, I could almost smell the cake!
that looks so delicious! thanks for sharing the recipe!
I’ve GOT to make this cake for our Bible study group!! They will love it!
Wishing you many blessings on your birthday!!
(Does your sister live in St. Louis too? We live just across the river…)
Love the photo of you and your sister! Sweet! I went to elementary school with twins whose mother always dressed them alike. They had a sister a year or two older, and she would often be dressed nearly the same. The twins in pink gingham and their sister in blue gingham, things like that. I moved away in fourth grade and often wondered how long they kept that up. I suppose you would rebel at a certain point! 😀
OMG. This looks SO good!
doitfortheirony.com / creative lifestyle blog.
I have actually never had a pineapple cake, but seeing as how I love both on their own, I’m sure I would love this!
I’ve been on a big pineapple kick lately, so this looks very good.