If a sweet moist delicious pop of fruit brightens your day, then this pineapple sunshine cake is for you! Fruit cake recipes with pineapple are typically yellow cake recipes and this one is no different. It’s one of those easy sheet cake recipes with a tasty twist and let me tell you – it is gonna’ be one of your favorite cake recipes!
This pineapple sheet cake recipe is super moist and refreshing and it has so many possibilities. Swap out a few simple ingredients to make a pina colada sheet cake or a decadent pineapple upside down cake. I mean, it just doesn’t get much better than this!
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What I Love About This Recipe
- A sweet, moist and delicious pop of fruit loaded flavor
- One of the easiest cakes you’ll ever make
- This cake is a cinch to make!
Pineapple Sunshine Cake Video Tutorial
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How To Make Pineapple Sunshine Cake Recipe
Serving up this light and fluffy cake is so simple. Just blend up the cake batter with an electric mixer and toss it in the oven. Then, mix up the icing while the cake is cooling. Garnish with decorative fruit after icing and enjoy. Voila!
Pineapple Cake Recipe Notes
Cake Mix – When making this yummy pineapple cake, forget about the directions on the box. The cake mix is for flavor and convenience, but we can just forget they printed those there. We’re going to be blending the cake ingredients together all at once. It’s a bit unusual but super simple and full of flavor!
Pineapple in the cake – Remember to leave the only one can of the pineapple AS IS when adding to the cake batter. You want to make sure the juice is mixed in. It adds a substantial amount of flavor. You’ll fold in another can of drained pineapple after, once your batter has been fully mixed, but before pouring into the pan.
Pineapple in the frosting – When you mix up your frosting, DRAIN the pineapple tidbits very well. This will save your end result from becoming runny. Any garnishes, I suggest pineapple and maraschino cherries, should be drained well too!
Storing Tips
Your super sweet refreshing cake will need to be refrigerated. Even if you’re using a cake pan with a top, you’ll want to cover your cake with cling wrap to prevent drying. It’ll also help prevent your cake from absorbing other fridge odors.
Can You Freeze This?
That’s affirmative! You can toss your pineapple cake in the freezer without the icing. Just be sure it cools completely first. Slow thaw it in the fridge overnight and whip up a batch of icing before serving time. Easy Peasy!
Make Ahead Tips
This insanely delicious cake gets better over time. I know, hard to believe! If you’re making ahead, simply let it cool and then wrap to prepare for storage. Freeze or refrigerate as needed and whip up the icing when the time comes.
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
Your cake is picnic-ready and potluck approved. It’ll stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days but this full-flavored moist and tasty treat is likely to disappear long before then. Don’t be surprised if you find an empty dish where your cake used to be!
Tools to Make
Whipping up this sweet sunshiney pineapple cake only takes about 15 minutes of prep time. It’s just a simple summer FAV that doesn’t take a bunch of crazy utensils, but it does really help to have an electric mixer on hand.
Recipe Variations
There are so many scrumptious variations of this sunshine cake you won’t know what to do with yourself! Here are a few delicious options.
- Turn it into a carrot cake with pineapple for a sweet-n-healthy variation.
- Grab your wooden spoon and turn this tasty treat into an irresistible pineapple poke cake.
- Swapping a few simple ingredients will give you an addictingly delicious pineapple angel food cake.
- Pig pickin cake – this is very similar to this recipe, the topping is the same, the only difference is that it uses mandarin orange.
More Fruit Cake Recipes
Here are some other awesome recipes you may enjoy. I love, love, love this pineapple sunshine cake which makes it hard to pick a favorite from this list.
- Strawberry Sheet Cake
- Lemon Sheet Cake
- Banana Poke Cake
- Strawberry Poke Cake
- Coconut Poke Cake
Pineapple Sunshine Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 2 cans (8-ounces) crushed pineapple, juice from 1 can reserve for use in the cake, the second drained and discarded
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting:
- 1 can (15-ounces can) crushed pineapple, juice well drained
- 1 pack (3.5-ounce) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 (16-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
Garnish:
- 2 cans (15-ounce can) pineapple tidbits drained
- maraschino cherries rinsed and drained
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9X13 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the cake mix, canned crushed pineapple with the juice of ONE can, eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla and mix with a hand-held electric mixer for 2 minutes.
- Pour the batter into prepared baking dish and bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
- Cool, the cake in the pan, set on a wire baking rack, until completely cooled.
Frosting:
- In a medium bowl combine the well-drained crushed pineapple and the pudding mix until the pineapple is evenly coated with the mix. Let mixture sit for 2 minutes
- Fold in the thawed whip topping until evenly combined. Spread frosting even over top of the cake and garnish, if desired, with well-drained pineapple tidbits and Maraschino cherries.
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Sounds delicious. Have you tried this recipe as cupcakes? I’m worried about it being too moist for the wrappers.
Hi Connie. No I haven’t made this as cupcakes. I’m sorry. If you try them, let us know how it works out!
Could I substitute with a strawberry cake mix? Do you think the favors would work? Thanks
Hi, Beka. I haven’t tried that but I think that’ll work. Let us know how it turns out 🙂
Can you use a pineapple cake mix and take out the pineapple in the recipe for the cake?
Hey Peyton. Well, to be honest, I haven’t tried it that way. That said, it seems that the flavors would be comparable. The thing that would be different is the pineapple itself adds a lot of moisture to the cake.
This is a all time fav for me. My grandma taught ne how 2 make it. Tho we never put the pineapple n the cake just the juice i am anxious 2 try it with the pineapple n the cake as well i wanted to share how we did the topping. . . use French vanilla instant pudding make it as instructions say when cakr is cooled put pudding on the add drained crushed pineapple topped with cool whip. I love this cake. Enjoy
Thank you, Lizz! I’m glad you love this 🙂
I really want to try this cake however I’m not a fan of whipped cream so would it work with a pineapple cream cheese icing? Will it make it too sweet?
Hi Erica, Sorry, I haven’t tried that one before.
Hi Erica!
Not a fan of whipped cream or cool whip but, if you use Jello instant cheessecake flavor pudding it tastes like pineapple cheesecake!!
Hi Kathleen , I’m excited to make this cake but I was wondering could I use tidbits instead of crushed for the whole thing I’m asking cause I got a 6lb 10oz can of tidbits and want to try to use as much of it as I can when I open it ! If I can now I just have to find out how much of the tidbits it takes to makes to m
the size cans I need for this recipe
Hi, Tanya! I only found the chunk to crushed pineapple equivalent. Chunks and tidbits are almost the same so I think this is ok 🙂
The cake needs 2 (8-ounces) canned crushed pineapple. What you need is to crush the tidbits in a blender and measure them in a measuring cup.
For the cake you’ll need:
1 and 1/3 cups drained crushed pineapples and half a cup of liquid.
For the frosting that needs 1 can (15 ounces) of crushed pineapple…
You need:
1.23 cups drained crushed pineapples.
I hope my computation is correct. Let me know how it turns out. Thank you so much!
This looks and sounds delicious. I can’t wait to try it. Does this cake need to stay in the pan, or is it stable enough to put on a tray to serve? I’m just looking for a nicer presentation as I’m thinking of making this as a birthday cake for my pineapple loving teen.
Hi Nancy. I think it would be fine to serve out of the pan. Just be sure to put a double-strength sling in the pan before you bake so you can easily pull it out. Best of luck <3
Thank you …..I’ll be trying this soon.
I really hope you enjoy it, Nancy. It really is a delight!
Brightens up my day!
Awesome Cake ! It’s in the Fridge now overnight. I will try it out sometime tomorrow 🙂 As for the Frosting ; i only added 8 oz of whipped topping ( it was enough ) & you said drain the pineapple before adding it to the mixture…..but when i added the dry pudding mix to the pineapple , it was way too dry , i had to add some more juice to it to thin it up before adding the whipped topping. It still came out okay & not runny & was firm & creamy , but a little too sweet for my taste. Maybe it needed more liquid ( juice ) ? Can’t wait to eat it in a few hours. Next time when i make it , i will add way more juice to it….it needs it. It wont be too runny either way, cause it got the pudding mix in it….& will set just fine.
Hi Alexandra. So glad you enjoyed the cake. I LOVE this cake. It is a bit on the sweeter side. I just made it for a big family BBQ and it was devoured <3
Can I use 2 9 inch cake pans for this cake?
Hi Sandra. The volume of the batter should be just fine in 2- 9 inch rounds. The topping is loose and not very structured so it won’t frost up like a buttercream. It will just have a more casual look. Hope that helps <3
Can you make this in a bunt pan?
Hi April! I haven’t tried making this in a bundt pan so I can’t advise! But if you give this a try, please let me know how it turns out for you! ?
When I come home from my social, & all cake isn’t gone, can I freeze it with the icing on it?
Hi Linda!
Technically, you can freeze with the icing on but it won’t be quite the same when you thaw it out. Depending on how much cake is left, I recommend scraping the icing off and freezing the cake. When you’re ready to serve, just whip up another batch of icing. Hope this helps 🙂
Hi Ann!
I am so sorry to hear that and I have never had this problem myself. This can is usually anything BUT dry. Did you add the pineapple juice to the cake batter? Just wondering..
Dumb question but do you make the pudding mix or use the mix dry???
Hey Clover! That’s a totally fair question! You simply use the pudding mix as an ingredient. Pour it straight out of the box dry <3
I was not able to find 8 oz cans of crushed pineapple anywhere in my area. So I used a 20 oz can and drained it very well. Added all the pineapple but only half of the juice to the cake. It came out great and baked in the suggested amount of time.
Hey Jami! Great resourcefulness. Double pineapple sounds delish 🙂
Hi. I am making this for my neighbor’s birthday on Friday. Why do you add sugar to the cake mix?
Thank you. The pictures look so yummy.
Hi Madeleine! Well, it’s just how this particular recipe was developed originally. This one of the most popular recipes on my site and on FB. Lots of people have made it this way and loved it. Just saying so you know the taste is well received and loved by a lot of people, not just my family :)! Honestly, I add a little extra sugar to quite a few cake recipes and often I find that it takes a good cake recipe to the next level of great cake recipes. Hope I didn’t ramble too much and hope this helps <3
We are going to a family reunion on Saturday but are leaving Friday and staying at a hotel. Should I take the cake wrapped in plastic and the made up frosting in a container inside of ice chest and put it on cake at the hotel the morning of the reunion? Would it be beast to completely make the cake and have frosting on and carry in ice chest? Please advise.
Hi Sue! I would frost the cake the day you’re going to serve it. If you need to bring 2 cakes, the Pig Pickin cake is also a fabulous cake for potlucks and such!
Love, love, love your recipes! I am particularly impressed that you include a “Recipe Notes”section. That insures that it will come out just right. I have followed other recipes perfectly only to later find out that there was actually another step, or another thing to watch out for. I am so happy that you took the guesswork out of your recipes for us! THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for your kind words Janet! I really love sharing recipes and want things to come out as perfectly as possible for everyone. <3
Fantastic Recipes and Absolutely the Best site and page we enjoy all your recipes your the Best!!?
Oh my goodness, Karen, you just made my day!! Thank you so much for your kind words!! I hope you find more recipes you and your family enjoy <3
Hi, I am making your Sunshine cake and am confused.
In the ingredients for frosting it calls for crushed pineapple but in your comments below it says tidbits? Which one do I use?
Thanks, Susie
Sorry about the confusion. The crushed pineapple goes into the frosting and the tidbits are for decoration.Hope that helps <3
Can i make frosting made of whipped cream toppings with pineapple minus the pudding?thank you. I’ll love to do it because its new in my taste and looks delicious. Tnx
Hi Shiela, not sure the whipped topping will support the pineapple.