A couple months ago my friend Vina asked me to make her daughter’s birthday cake. She wanted pineapple and it was a luau themed party. That’s all the info I got. Then Tayun (Vina’s daughter) sent me cake idea pictures. I almost died. One was a two-tier fondant covered cake with gum paste, hand painted orchids. Another was white fondant with a surfer made from modeling chocolate. Ummm…what did Vina tell her daughter I can make?!?!
Turns out Vina just told her whatever I baked would taste amazing. Okay. It’s a starting point. Tayun’s only big request was pineapple filling for the cake, like with pineapple chunks in it. Other than that she said to do whatever, cococnut cake, mango frosting…as long as it had the pineapple filling. Well screw that! Let’s go balls out pineapple!! So I made her a Triple Pineapple cake for the base and got luau crazy.
I went to ABC Cake Decorating Supply in Phoenix to get all the cake decorations, some great new food colors, flavored oils for the cake, the board, the box, EVERYTHING! It’s like freaking candy land for bakers. I can’t wait to go back. The hand baskets turn into little carts – the boys flipped over that – and I grabbed them each a pose-able alien from the cake toppers area for $1 each. They saved my sanity. This cake is about fun and bright colors and it’s perfect for any summer backyard BBQ or birthday party!
Triple Pineapple Luau Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup cubed pineapple in juice
- 2 boxes white cake mix
- 3 egg whites
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon pineapple extract
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons pineapple juice
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- Milk as needed
- Americolor electric blue and turquoise gel food coloring
- 2 sheets of graham crackers crushed into crumbs
- White candy melts
- Seashell candy mold
- Various beach/luau themed cake toppers
- 4 bright flowers {I made origami flowers using this tutorial}
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9"x13" cake pans.
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Prepared cake mix according to package directions, adding pineapple extract after batter is mixed together.
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Pour cake batter into prepared pans, and back according to package directions. Remove cakes from oven and cool completely.
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In a large bowl, beat together butter, powered sugar, and pineapple juice until smooth and fluffy. Add milk (1 tablespoon at a time) if frosting is too dry. Add powdered sugar (1 to 2 tablespoons at a time) if frosting is too wet.
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Place 1/3 of the frosting in a separate bowl, and add the pineapple chunks to this frosting. Stir to combine.
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To the remaining 2/3 of the frosting add 2 parts electric blue food coloring to 1 part turquoise food coloring for a bright ocean blue color. I did 6 drops blue to 3 drops turquoise - adjust the colors as needed to your liking. Be sure to thoroughly stir the food coloring into frosting before adjusting colors.
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Melt candy melts according to package directions. Fill seashell molds with melted candy. Be sure to scraper the top of the mold to remove excess candy so the seashells have a flat back. Place mold in fridge while you assemble to cake, until the candy is set.
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Once cakes are cooled, take a serrated knife or cake saw and even out the layers. Place one layer on the cake board, and top with the pineapple chunk frosting. Spread evenly over the cake layer. Top filling with the other cake layer, putting the layer bottom side up. Frosting the entire cake with the blue frosting.
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choose one side of the cake to be the "beach" and sprinkle your graham crackers crumbs over that side and around the corners a bit to make the "sand." Top cake with luau themed cake toppers and candy seashells.
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Place 2 flowers in the top opposite corner of the cake from the beach. Place 2 flowers in the bottom corner of the cake below the beach (as pictured). Use the ocean as your space to write any message you're putting on the cake. Refrigerate if not serving within 30 minutes of finishing the cake.
Recipe Notes
For the cake topper decorations I used a small sea turtle mold, plastic palm trees, a flip flop pick (I cut the pick off of so I could lay them flat), a pineapple pick (carrying on the theme), an umbrella, and some different colored flower rings.
