Coconut Pineapple Cake
Description
The pineapple has been a symbol of hospitality since the days of the early American colonies. This beautiful cake will show your guests your hospitality and how welcome they are in your home. It is a moist, delicious cake that will feed a crowd.
Ingredients
Filling:
½ c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
¼ t. salt
20 oz. can crushed pineapple in juice
2 T. unsalted butter
Cake:
2¾ c. sifted cake flour
1 T. + ¼ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1¼ c. 100% unsweetened coconut milk (NOT sweetened cream of coconut) Look in the Asian aisle of your supermarket or at specialty stores.
13 T. unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
1¼ c. sugar
1½ t. vanilla extract
Italian meringue buttercream, vanilla variation
3 c. sweetened long-shred coconut
Directions
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Filling:
Put sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan; whisk to combine. Drizzle a little juice from the pineapple over the dry mixture; whisk until smooth. Add remaining pineapple and juice; bing to a boil over medium heat; cook for several minutes, whisking occasionally until thick and translucent. Whisk in the butter; cool completely.Refrigerate until chilled and firmed or in an airtight container for up to 3 days, if desired.
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the insides of two 8 x 2 inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line bottoms with parchment rounds, then spray parchment.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl to combine and aerate; set aside.
Whisk together egg whites and milk in a small bowl; set aside.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually and beat until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice; beat in vanilla.
Add flour mixture in 4 additions, alternating with the egg white/milk mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture; beat briefly until smooth. Divide batter evenly in pans; smooth tops with offset spatula.
Bake about 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick shows a few moist crumbs. Cake will be tinged with light golden brown around the edges and the top and will have begun to come away from the sides of the pan.
Cool pans on racks for about 10 minutes. Unmold, peel off parchment, and place directly on racks to cool completely. Layers are ready to fill and frost. Alternatively, place on layers on cardboards and double wrap in plastic wrap; store at room temperature if assembling within 24 hours.
Assembly:
Make sure buttercream is ready to go. It should be very soft, almost like mayonnaise.
Place bottom layer on an 8 inch cardboard round. Fill cake with the pineapple filling. There may be extra leftover. Frost the top and sides with the buttercream. Application doesn't have to be perfect, because the whole cake will be covered with coconut.
Be sure to have a nice thick layer of buttercream all over. There might be some extra, which can be frozen for a later use.
Place coconut in a large bowl. Pick up cake while still on its cardboard round and hold it over the bowl. Scoop up coconut with the other hand and press generously all over top and sides of cake.
Cake is now ready to serve. It may be refrigerated for up to 2 days covered with a cake dome.
Serve at room temperature.