Pineapple Pudding Cake
Since making our move to Farmette 825, I’ve been more focused on unpacking than I have on cooking. I am embarrassed to even admit how many times we’ve eaten out in the past two weeks, which is really an amazing feat in and of itself because our new town only has one restaurant. Ha!
I’ve slowly made enough progress in the kitchen to find my way to the stove and have been easing back in to meal planning. Meal planning and limiting our trips to the grocery store are going to be a lifeline for us because of our distance away from any big grocery stores. We do at least have access to a local farmers’ market and also two small convenience style food stores.
This past weekend we hired someone to come clear the back half of our land. We just happened to notice his business across from the school, but turns out that his wife is one of Isabella’s teachers! I am so loving small town living, everyone knows everyone here.
James’ dad came over to help and the three of them spent almost the entire day (in 95 degree Texas heat) outside moving brush and clearing trees. I wanted to make a treat for the guys while they were working but didn’t have anything planned or prepared, and knew I couldn’t just run to the store around the corner.
I’ve made a recipe before for a super easy pineapple cake that uses a can of crushed pineapple, but since I didn’t have any in the pantry I decided to try it with frozen pineapple chunks. I used my blender to “crush” up the chunks and added canned pineapple juice to thin it out.
I absolutely love this cake recipe because it is a one bowl wonder and doesn’t require any butter or oil! Not only that but you also frost this cake while it’s still warm, so it cuts down on time waiting for it to cool. Bonus: your kitchen will smell amazing while it’s baking.
Don’t let the recipe name fool you though, there’s no pudding in the mix. The cake forms a soft crust that rises to the top and beneath is a gently set creamy layer. I like to add pecans for crunch and added texture.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 16 oz frozen pineapple chunks
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice or water
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Use a blender to crush the frozen pineapple. Add pineapple juice (or water) as needed.
- Mix all of the cake ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, until top is golden brown.
- Once the cake is out of the oven, prepare the frosting.
- Cream the butter and cream cheese; add vanilla.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar until mixture reaching spreading consistency.
- Gently spread the frosting on the still warm cake.
- Top with nuts.
Well, I learned my lesson not to try recipes that aren’t vetted on trusted sites like the NYT. This was a very strange dessert. Took forever and ever in the oven to achieve something even remotely solid (as the edges got steadily darker), and even after refrigerating to try to set it up was a melty, pudding-y mess in the center. Odd textures all ’round. No one could figure out what it was meant to be. Definitely a one-off experiment.
This is my favorite dessert of all time. Do you think I would be able to do it gluten free?
So glad you like it Cailyn! It should work with the 1-1 GF free flour. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Thank you for the delicious recipe, however one thing I would change is only putting half the sugar next time. I felt like the sweetness from the pineapple, juice, icing, and two cups of sugar was a tad too much, but otherwise an amazing and simple recipe. Thank you!
Made this afternoon, and had for dessert this evening. I was skeptical of the cake working without butter or eggs, but work it did! This is probably one of my favorite cakes ever, if you leave out the frosting. We found it to be just too much for the great cake. Thanks for a terrific recipe!
If you are making this recipe in little jars, how many do you need and of what size?
Can you bake them in the little jars and for how long?
Thank you!
Hi Katie, I’m not sure. I made the cake in the large pan and then scooped it into the little jars after it was baked.
This cake looks so tasty! Little jars make everything look so cute too 🙂
That looks so good! I love anything with pineapple so I am sure I will love this recipe. I am printing it so I can try it over the weekend.