Baking

Pineapple Coconut Birthday Cake

The tropical flavors of pineapple and coconut in this pineapple coconut birthday cake are sure to please family and friends and make any occasion special.

I have been facing writers’ block for a while. There is so much going on that I don’t know where to begin. This space has always been snippets of my life and a recipe. While I have recipes to share, its difficult to put down in words what all has been going on. I have been sitting with this post for a couple of days, and since nothing is coming to me, I will start this post by talking about this pineapple coconut birthday cake and leave it at that.

4th July was my dad’s birthday and since I was home for his birthday, I wanted to make a cake for him. I decided on a soft, fluffy coconut cake I had made for one of his previous birthdays, this time with a crushed pineapple filling and a whipped cream cheese frosting.

I worked on the cake recipe when I was working on my home based baking business, The Pink CakeBox. The recipe is adapted from here. The coconut cake is soft and fluffy because it uses a mix of oil and butter, and mildly flavored with coconut extract which gives the cake a lovely coconut flavor. The pairing with pineapple makes it a pina colada sort of cake, which is what I love about this pineapple coconut birthday cake.

A lot of people are not particularly fond of buttercream frosting. While I love buttercream frosting with a rich chocolate cake, for more tropical flavors or fruit based cakes I prefer either a simple whipped cream frosting, or my current favorite this whipped cream cheese frosting which is made from cream cheese and whipping cream. Its light, with a slight richness from the cream cheese. Its not sweet at all, and is great for piping too.

To decorate the cake, I used a small star tip and made 9’s all across the cake. Its a simple technique with beautiful results.

Often we (including me) complain about social media, and that as bloggers social media can consume so much of our lives and it can make one feel that they are under performing or not getting anywhere while everyone else is making the most of their lives. I guess like everything else, there is always a plus side and a negative side. Its about looking at the positive side of things. I am so grateful to be a part of this blogging community and over the years have met such wonderful and talented people, that continue to inspire me in so many ways. The same social media that can sometimes make me feel incompetent, has been a great way to connect with people, meet like minded people and has given me some beautiful opportunities. Thanks to instagram, over the weekend, I got the chance to meet some of my favorite Delhi bloggers including Shivesh, who I have been working with on videos, Natasha of Tashasartisanfoods, Hina of Fun Food and Frolic, Radhika of Sugar and Spice, Himanshu of The White Ramekins and Gayatri of The Dessert Project. I have found new friends and am so happy that my blog has been able to give me that.

I am also grateful to all of you who leave a comment on the blog. Sometimes I am not able to individually reply to all the comments because of work, or time schedule, but I do read and appreciate every message. I might be slow in replying, but please know each message of yours means a lot to me. Thank you so much for your continued support.

Hope you enjoy this pineapple coconut birthday cake recipe. If you do make it, please share your results with me. You can tag me on instagram, Facebook, twitter or leave a comment here on the blog.

Pineapple Coconut Birthday Cake

Recipe Type: Cake

Author: Shumaila

The tropical flavors of pineapple and coconut in this pineapple coconut birthday cake are sure to please family and friends and make any occasion special. Makes 1 8-inch 3-layer birthday cake

Ingredients

For the Cake:
• 250 gms unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 ½ cups castor
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
• ½ tsp coconut extract
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Dessicated coconut, for decorating
For the Pineapple Filling:
· 1 can pineapple tid-bits, drained, reserving the liquid to soak the cake layers
· 1 tbsp lemon simple syrup
For the Whipped cream cheese frosting:
· 226 gms cream cheese, softened
· ¾ cup -1 cup icing sugar, sifted (adjust according to the sweetness you prefer)
· 1 tsp vanilla
· 1 ½ cups whipping cream

Instructions

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 160 degree C/ 375 F. Grease three 8 inch round cake pans with butter, and line with parchment rounds
In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt two times. Keep aside.
Add the butter into a bowl. With an electric beater, beat the butter for 2-3 minutes till light and slightly creamy. Add the oil, and sugar. Beat on medium speed for 5-7 minutes until the butter mixture becomes creamy, fluffy and pale.
Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition, making sure you scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Add the vanilla and coconut extract and beat again till incorporated.
Add the flour in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk in two additions. Each time making sure you fold in the ingredients only till just combined. Be careful as to not over mix.
Divide the batter equally between the 3 pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool on wire rack for 15 minutes till pans are cold enough to touch. Remove the cakes from pan and let cool on wire rack till they come to room temperature. Cling wrap the cakes twice and refrigerate the cakes for easy handling while assembly.

For the Frosting:

In a bowl whip cream until stiff peaks form.
In another large bowl beat together the cream cheese with sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
Using a spatula fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

For the Filling:

Add the lemon simple syrup to the reserved pineapple juice.
Chop the pineapple tidbits, up a bit. Keep aside

To assemble:

Place the bottom layer on a serving plate. Brush the cake with 3 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice.
Spread the cream cheese frosting evenly and pipe a border of the frosting around the cake. Generously place the chopped pineapple tid-bits in the centre.
For the second layer, brush each side of the cake with 3 tbsp pineapple juice. Repeat layering. Top with remaining cake layer and drizzle with remaining juice. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Decorate as desired. Sprinkle dessicated coconut onto the top. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

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