Pineapple Sheet Cake flavored and moistened with crushed pineapple and topped with a sweet icing laced with shredded coconut, and sprinkled with pecans is a wonderful dessert to make to feed a crowd.
With the pineapple, coconut, and pecans it’s perfect for summer.
Crushed pineapple and vegetable oil help the cake stay exceptionally moist so it can be baked well in advance. It’s super easy to make. No mixer needed. The icing does take 10 minutes of stir time, but that’s the most involved part.
Oftentimes Pineapple Sheet Cake is topped with a cream cheese frosting, but this icing is made from butter, evaporated milk, and sugar. Basically the same ingredients you would use to make caramel icing. The coconut is added into the icing to give it some extra sweetness and a little texture contrast. You can mix the pecans into the icing as well, but I like to sprinkle them on top.
Typically pineapple sheet cake would be baked in a sheet pan, but I baked mine in a 13X9-inch pan to give it a little more height. It’s so hard to take good pictures of flat cake! If you’re serving it at a potluck or picnic, a sheet pan is nice to use. It looks like more cake 🙂 and is easier to slice into squares.
But anyway you cook it, Pineapple Sheet Cake is sure to be enjoyed by all. Except pineapple haters. I have a few of those in my family.
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Try These Other Delicious Pineapple Desserts:
- Pineapple Carrot Cake
- Pineapple 7-Up Cake
- Pineapple Coconut Macadamia Pie
- Pineapple Delight
- Slow Cooker Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Watch the short video below to see how to make Pineapple Sheet Cake.
Pineapple Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Challenge butter, cut into chunks
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13X9-inch pan or a sheet pan.
- Combine all cake ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until evenly combined and then pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes if using a 13X9-inch pan or 20 -25 minutes if using a sheet pan.
- Make icing while the cake bakes. Combine sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and then lower heat. Simmer and stir for 10 minutes.
- Add the coconut to the icing. Pour icing over cake. Sprinkle with pecans. Let cake cool before cutting.
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally published June 9, 2014.
Recipe adapted from Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House Cookbook: A Celebration of Traditional Southern Dishes that Made Miss Mary Bobo’s an American Legend
Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link.
3 cups sugar for cake and icing is too much, no matter how delicious it might be. It was easy to make, but the final product is gooey and lacks taste. Sorry.
Where did you get using 3 cups of sugar? It only calls for 1 cup of sugar
Well, the receipt does day 2 cups for cake part and 1 cup for icing….
Is it 2 cups sugar for the cake ingredients?
Taste is always subjective…some like it, some don’t. Negative remarks are always unnecessary. Not sorry!
My mom used to make a very similar cake many years ago but after the icing was added, she would put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes. It was exceptial.
My icing didn’t thicken either..it says put on simmer and stir for 10 min….is that constantly for 10 min..I love this
You’re supposed to let it sit. It’s not going to immediately thicken after boiling . Just give it some time.
I baked this today and I cannot wait until it cools to try it. I dumped all the ing. in a bowl and used the mixer. SUPER EASY!!! It looks amazing and I followed the directions to a T. It would make a wonderful cake for a crowd. I used the sheet pan and it looks so rich I inagine a small piece will do. I definitely will make next July for our family reunion. I know it will be a big hit.
Hope you really enjoyed eating it Barbara. It is really rich and perfect for sharing with lots of people! 🙂
I’ve made this cake twice in two weeks. The first time I made half batch in a glass 7×10 baking dish. The last ten minutes of cooking time I added 1/2 cup of the coconut to the cake top and finished baking it. It was delish and I skipped the icing altogether. My family devoured it while it was still warm. I made full batch yesterday, with coconut ontop. Baked perfectly! I live in seattle and after reading all the comments, I think the humidity could effect how the cake bakes up, depending on where you live.
I think you are right about the humidity Kelly. Adding coconut sounds wonderful!
This cake was amazing!!! One of my new favorites
I agree, everyone loved it no left overs , it was moist and had a lot of flavor .
i saw a recipe similar to this but it had lemon juice in the cake and icing. i love lemony flavors and my daughter loves pineapple. could i put some lemon juice in the recipe and, if so, how much please?
Some lemon juice sounds really good, but I am not sure how much as I have never tried it.
I am not a blogger and I actually have made this cake three times now. I love the flavor but am having a hard time making it work as a dessert. The first time I made it as written with mixed reviews for a Global Gardening group I volunteer for made up mostly of children so I was not too surprised that it did go over so well. Then I made it for a BBQ but there was a lot of other desserts so when it didn’t get eaten I thought, Oh well. The last time, last weekend I made it as a layer cake with Caramel American Buttercream. I was just too wet and unappetizing, I really want this cake to work since I liked the flavor so much but I think maybe a whole can of pineapple maybe too much.
I made this yesterday. I love pineapples and coconut. Just by mistake, (I misread the instructions) I mixed all the ingredients for the icing and brought to a boil. It was too late by the time I realized I was not supposed to. However my icing thicken up nicely and it stayed on top of the cake. I added some more coconut and pecans on top. It was delicious!
Just made this for a family get together for Labor Day. Looks exactly like the picture, want to cut into it right now! Had a few pecans left over, added them to the little frosting left in the pan, tastes delicious! I let the cake and frosting cool some before frosting the cake
I followed the instructions for the icing exactly as written, my icing soaked the cake and only the coconut flakes and pecans stayed on top. I am not sure what happened, it doesn’t look like your icing, however it is cooling right now, I hope it still tastes good, fingers crossed.
A few people have commented that this happened, but said it still tasted very good. If you make it again, it might help to cook the icing a little longer or let it cool slightly before putting it on the cake. Hope you enjoy it anyways! 🙂
Hi Christin thanks for your response, and yes the cake was absolutely delicious. So if anyone runs into the same issue, don’t worry it will still be fabulous.
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I made this yesterday with gluten free flour (wheat causes me major intestinal distress) and it was wonderful!!! Even my family, who does not need to avoid wheat, loved it!
This cake looks delicious. I plan to make it for a pool party – 20 people are attending. I am a bit confused about the icing. I would think you need to use icing sugar, not granulated sugar. Icing sugar makes a wonderful buttercream icing. I will be using icing sugar, which is the white fluffy sugar. I think I will cool the cake first and then apply the icing since the icing will disappear into the cake if it is just out of the oven because of the butter content.
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I am going to make this for our family reunion in at the end of June. I saw this recipe last week on Facebook & foolishly didn’t copy it. I’ve been looking for the recipe for several days now, & I’m so glad I found it.
I’m so glad you found it too Brenda! Hope you have a great time at your family reunion and everyone enjoys the cake!
hi. I tried the cake today and it was yum. I wanted to know if I can use this cake for a wedding cake order I have next week? It’s a 5 tiered cake, serving a 100 people. So could I use this cake as one of the tiers? Maybe put the frosting in between each sheet cake? Will it hold up ? Would love to know what you think.
I wish I could help you but I have zero experience making wedding cakes, so I really can’t say for sure. Your idea sounds really good though and if you try it, I would love to know how it turns out.
Ok Christin, will try it next week and let you know.
Hey Sapna – you can always make one for me and we can taste test it !!! 😉
Hello I tried out my idea and it was a big success. The pineapple cake with the coconut filling was crumb coated with pineapple flavoured buttercream and covered with fondant. Worked brilliantly. Everyone wanted to know what was this exotic flavour. They had never eaten such a gorgeous cake before. Thanks for the recipe.
I made this last week and toasted the coconut for the frosting and sprinked on top along with the toasted nuts. Very good.
So glad you liked it Nancy! I like your idea of toasting the coconut!
This looks delicious! This may be the perfect cake to bring to work because it looks so sturdy.
I LOVE pineapple flavor and this looks amazing! I will be trying this out for SURE!
has anyone frozen this cake? Wanting to make several ahead of time for a large group.
it has never lasted around my house long enough to need freezing!
This cake is incredible! Moist, slightly spongy, and buttery tasting even though it uses oil. Yay! 😉 Then when you add the icing, it becomes this ooey gooey slice of heaven. 🙂 It’s fantastic warm, and it’s also just as moist and delicious cold out of the fridge. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us!
This cake not only looks so delicious, but pretty, too! I plan to bake it for a get-together later this Spring.
Thank you Joanne! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂