This Tropical Pina Colada Cake has everything a tropical flavour lover could want in a dessert. Light, *moist* sponge cake, topped with a luscious pineapple and coconut buttercream. This cake is perfect for a lighter dessert or for those who prefer fruity bakes to chocolate.
This has become my go-to base cake recipe, which I change up different fruit juice depending on what flavour I want. You could use fresh or tinned pineapple for the juice, and I recommend some orange extract as it adds more of a fruity flavour (I find pineapple can get lost in the cake). This cake batter may look curdled at some stages, but keep with it until all the flour is added and you’ll see it come together. If you’re serving people who don’t love chocolate cake, this is your best friend!
This is a super easy, super moist cake recipe. I use this quantity to make a two layer celebration cake – using 2 x 8″ circular tins. If you want something smaller, simply divide the recipe by 1.5x and use a square 8 inch tin. This creates a fabulous “snacking” cake that you can cut and come back to for an ideal treat to keep! It also travels pretty well if you want something traybake-style to take into work or school.
Tips for the best Tropical Pina Colada Cake – with Pineapple and Coconut Frosting
- Pineapple Juice: You can use the juice from a tin, a bottle or just a carton of pineapple juice. Anything that works for you, works in this.
- Cake batter: Due to all the acidic fruit juice, it can look curdled pretty quickly. However, trust the process – once you fold in the flour and bake it, it will be great!
- Fruit Extract: You will see that I add a dash of orange extract. This, or something similar like lemon, is entirely optional but just adds a little extra zing for those fruity flavours to shine.
- Frosting: Make sure the ingredients are entirely room temperature before attempting to make it. This prevents grainy frosting.
- Decoration: All optional. Adding lots of desiccated or shaved coconut to the middle layer and the top ensures a good balance of coconut and pineapple.
- Alcohol: This is an alcohol-free Pina Colada Cake. I base the flavours off the classic cocktail. If you want to add any rum, it would work wonderfully in the frosting!
As with most cake recipes, ensure ingredients are room temperature before baking. This is particularly crucial when making buttercream, as cold butter can lead to a grainy frosting that is hard to fix (but not impossible!). On that note, I use the TINIEST drop of purple food colouring gel to make my buttercream whiter, but this is optional.
For more easy cake recipes, try this Sticky Golden Syrup Cake or this Vanilla and Biscoff Cake. For a devilishly mesmerising frosting video, and for more recipe inspiration, head over to my Instagram.
Tropical Pina Colada Cake
Ingredients
- 165 g (¾ cups) Unsalted Butter
- 270 g (1 ⅓ cups) Granulated Sugar
- 5 (5) Medium Free Range Eggs
- 2 tsp (2 tsp) Orange Extract
- 90 ml (⅓ cups) Pineapple Juice See notes for options
- 360 ml (1 ½ cups) Milk Coconut milk best (the vegan alternative one), but full fat dairy is fine!
- 425 g (3 ½ cups) Plain Flour
- 3 tsp (3 tsp) Baking Powder
- 1 tsp (1 tsp) Baking Soda
For the Frosting
- 200 g (1 cups) Unsalted Butter Softened
- 4 tbsp (4 tbsp) Pineapple Juice
- 400 g (3 ½ cups) Icing Sugar
To Decorate (Optional)
- Pineapple Rings
- Desiccated Coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 370℉/180℃. Line/grease two 8 inch round tins.
- In a large bowl/the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and granulated sugar on a medium speed. For real creaming, this should be about 3-5 minutes with an electric/stand mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the orange extract if using.
- Add the pineapple juice and combine again. The mixture may begin to look a little curdled, due to all the citrus/liquid/eggs etc. but stick with it!
- Combine the flour with the baking soda and baking powder in a small bowl. Add a third of this and a third of the milk, mix until all combined. Then repeat with remaining flour and milk. The mixture will be fairly smooth and should pour easily.
- Pour evenly into the tins and bake for 35-40 minutes/until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack before making the buttercream.
For the Frosting
- First whisk the butter on a high speed with an electric mixer (or whisk attachment in a stand mixer). Add the pineapple juice and half of the icing sugar. (Optional: Add a teaspoon of orange extract). Mix on high until icing sugar is incorporated, then add the remaining amount.
- Mix until everything comes together in glorious golden waves. Ensure the buttercream is thick enough to spread, if not, add more icing sugar.
- Spread this over the cake and decorate as desired, lots of coconut around the edge works well. Slice and serve!
