Fresh, moist and juicy this homemade eggless pineapple cake from scratch is to die for!!! A simple cake with that whipped cream frosting (or just with cool whip) makes it perfect for your summer parties or brunch.
Place a sieve above a mixing bowl and add the measured out flour to it. Take 2 tbsp out of it and replace the same with cornflour.
Dump rest of the ingredients namely baking powder, baking soda and salt into it. Sieve them together, give a quick mix and set it aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt and sugar until homogenous. Then whisking continuously add the oil so that it emulsifies well followed by milk and pineapple essence.
To this wet ingredients add the dry ingredients in two batches. So add half of the mixture. Mix and when you could still see some bits of flour left out that is when you add the remaining flour and mix to form a smooth batter.
Once the cake batter is ready divide it evenly between three 6 inch cake pans that has been buttered, lined with a parchment paper and dusted with flour.
Smooth and level the top and then bake them in a preheated oven of 180°C for 30 to 35 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Let it rest in the pan for 5 mins then invert on a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 2 - Pineapple Sugar Syrup
In a mixer add the tinned crushed pineapple along with sugar and water. Blend well and filter the juice out. We will use this pineapple juice to soak our cake.
Step 3 - Pineapple Compote
Take the crushed pineapple along with its juice in a saucepan. Add sugar to it. Allow it to simmer.
Meanwhile in a small bowl, dissolve the custard powder in little water (around 1 to 1.5 tbsp of water) to form custard powder slurry.
Take the whipping cream and pineapple essence in a big bowl. Whipping continuously add in the the icing sugar little by little until you get stiff peaks.
Once the crushed pineapple starts simmering, add the slurry to it. Stirring continuously cook everything until the mixture thickens.
Transfer to a bowl, cover with a cling wrap and let it cool completely.
Step 4 - Whipped Cream Frosting
To a mixing bowl, add the cream, icing sugar and pineapple essence. Then whisk till stiff peaks form.
To Assemble
Once the cake is cooled completely, trim the top crystallized layer.
Soak the cake well with pineapple sugar syrup especially the corners of the cake.
Add in 1/3 of whipped cream frosting and spread it all through the cake to get an even layer.
Next, add the pineapple compote and spread it through followed by pineapple pieces and tutti frutti.
Soak the second sponge layer with sugar syrup and place it on top of the cream. And repeat the layers until you reach the top.
Place the third layer of cake on top and do a crumb coating with whatever cream is left out. Chill the cake for 30 mins.
Step 5 - Stabilized Whipped cream
Start by whipping the cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
Once smooth, whipping continuously add the cream followed by icing sugar and pineapple essence. Whip till stiff peaks.
Use this cream to do the final frosting on the cake and decorate as you like. I have done a simple swirl using 1M Piping Nozzle and added some chocolate garnishes and tutti frutti for colour contrast.
Video
Notes
Use 1.5 cups of cake flour if you have it handy in place of All Purpose Flour and Cornflour.
Also the custard powder used to make the compote can be replace by cornflour slurry.
This recipe makes 3, 6 inch cake layers or 2, 8 inch cake layers.
You can skip making the stabilized whipped cream frosting if you are using non dairy based whipping cream and use the cream from step 4 to fill and frost the cake.
As a general rule of thumb, not only for this recipe but for any cake recipe that you are trying, always start with preparing the cake pan and pre-heating the oven. Watch this instagram reel to understand how to line a cake pan.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches to avoid over-mixing of the cake batter.
Once you add the custard powder slurry to the crushed pineapples while making the pineapple compote, it is essential to keep it stirring always so that nothing burns.
Cling wrap the compote in a way that the wrap touches the surface of the compote. This will ensure that there is no skin formation on top of the compote.
Soaking the cake well with pineapple juice specially around the edges of the cake ensures that the cake remains moist even for 3 days.
If you are storing the cake in the refrigerator for long then I recommend you place the cake in the cake box first. That is because whipped cream loses its moisture when kept open in the cold refrigerator and becomes dry. So place in a cake box to avoid that.
Always use a hot knife to slice a cake for clean slices.
If you are a homebaker and would like to learn how to price a pineapple cake? Then do consider checking this post on Cake Pricing Guide.