Pineapple Cake for National Pineapple Day

My Take on a Humming Bird Cake

Did you know that today is National Pineapple Day? Neither did I. It’s also Toast Tuesday, Orange Day and Popsicle Week. I know!!! It’s starting to give me blogger anxiety. I mean what do I post today on Instagram??? Good thing I procrastinated and held off on this Pineapple Cake, so I have something awesome to share with you all. I officially declare this my National Pineapple Day post!

I know, I know you are all looking at this cake thinking I can’t make this. Why oh why is she being so extra with her food. It’s from a box yo! Simple Mills. Paleo, healthy, nutritious and no this is not a sponsored post, but Simple Mills if you see this make this food bloggers dream come true! I mean even the icing they make has single digit sugar grams in one serving. As a stay at home mom who looks for pockets of time to do anything, these mixes are life savers. I can then focus on making it pretty and that I did with just fresh fruit!

From the photos it looks like a big cake, but all I did was use one 8×8 square cake pan and cut it into 4 equal square pieces so it stacks nicely together. If you do want to present it this way I recommend freezing the whole slab of 8×8 cake first and then cutting into squares. It’s the best cake decorating tip I picked up from watching many hours of the Food Channel. It’s also helpful for the cake to be frozen when you do these types of naked cakes with the dramatic drizzle. The cold cake helps hold those nice drips.

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Pineapple Cake

Author Rezel Kealoha

Ingredients

1 Box Vanilla Simple Mills Mix
3 Eggs at room temperature
1/3 Cup coconut oil melted
1/3 Cup coconut milk at room temperature
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup pecans
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Tub of Simple Mills Vanilla Icing
1 Can Coconut Condensed Milk
Fresh Pineapple
Dried Coconut Flakes
Passionfruit or a mix of yellow/green/orange sprinkles

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 deg. Line a 8×8 square cake pan with parchment paper and spray with coconut oil. Set aside.
Place eggs, coconut oil, coconut milk,and vanilla in a bowl and mix well. Once fully incorporated add in one 8 oz can of crushed pineapple including the juice. Add in the Simple Mills Vanilla cake mix into the bowl and mix well. Fold in the pecans and pour into the cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cake springs back when you touch it or insert a dry clean tooth pick in the middle of the cake. If no crumbs are attached it’s done. Note check your cake at the 25th minute as cakes do cook while they cool. No one likes a dry cake. Leave in cake pan until it’s fully cooled down then take it out of the pan and then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the freezer until you are ready to decorate and serve.

To Serve

Take out frozen cake from the freezer and use a ruler to make sure you cut 4 equal squares. Place a dollop of icing on a plate (this keeps the cake from moving) then place one cake square on the dollop. Use 1 to two tablespoons of icing and spread on the cake, place another square on top and repeat until you have all the tiers in place. Finish decorating the cake by smothering icing around the cake. The nice thing about these naked cakes is that the more rustic, the prettier they will look, use a light hand so that some of the cakes shows through.
To get the drips I have in my cake I slowly poured the coconut condensed milk in the middle and used a knife to guide the drips over the edge. With the cake still frozen the drips should start holding in place.
Before the coconut condensed milk hardens sprinkle some coconut flakes on top and passionfruit pulp. If you don’t have access to passionfruit pulp use colored sprinkles to match the cake. Cut some fresh pineapples into triangles and arrange around the base of the cake. Then pluck some of the pineapple leaves and stick on top of the cake for extra drama.