Pina Colada Cake
This moist and flavorful Piña Colada Cake is an amazing blend of pineapple, coconut, and a hint of rum. Coconut cake layers are brushed with rum syrup, filled with pineapple and flavorful cream cheese frosting!
Servings: 15 servings
Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter (holds it shape but dents when pressed)
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups (342g) cake flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled off) If you do not have cake flour see substitution in Notes below.
- 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 ¼ cups (296g) buttermilk (if you do not have buttermilk, see substitution below)
- ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoon (6g) coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
For the Rum Syrup
- ⅓ cup water
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ cup rum (we used white rum) See Notes
For the Pineapple Filling
- One 20 ounce can 567g of crushed pineapple
- ½ cup 200g granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons 14g cornstarch
For the Coconut Rum Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 16 oz (452g) cream cheese , softened This is equal to two (8 oz) packages of cream cheese. Use full fat.
- 1 ½ teaspoon (6g) coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon (4g) rum extract
- 6 to 6 ½ cups (747g) powdered sugar
Coconut for the Outside of the Cake
- 1 bag (14 oz) Sweetened Coconut
- Maraschino Cherries (ours was with stems) Optional for decoration on top
Instructions
For the Cake Layers
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
- In another bowl, add the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, and coconut extract. Set aside..
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk is blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid). After the last addition, mix just until ingredients are incorporated.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out.
For the Rum Syrup
- Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir, heating until the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for one minute and remove from heat. Stir in the rum and allow to cool. *You will not use all of the rum syrup. Adjust rum amount to your liking- you may like for it to be a bit stronger.
For the Pineapple Filling
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat.
- When the mixture begins to boil, stir constantly until it begins to thicken, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Keep in mind that it will thicken even more as it cools.
- Cool completely in refrigerator before using.
For the Coconut Rum Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add the softened cream cheese that has been cut into small to medium size pieces, beating with the butter until well blended and smooth.
- Add the rum and coconut extracts.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar, beating until smooth.
- Use the frosting while it is still chilled. If it becomes too soft, refrigerate until it firms up a bit or put in the freezer for 5 minutes or so to return to a good piping consistency.
Assembling the Cake
- Place a cake layer on a cake board or serving stand. Brush with rum syrup using a pastry brush. You will not use all of the rum syrup on this cake. We used approximately 2-3 Tablespoons per layer.
- Next, spread the top with a thin layer of frosting. Pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake layer (approx. ½ inch in). Spread a layer of pineapple filling over the thin layer of frosting within the dam.
- Repeat with the next layer, brushing with rum syrup, adding frosting and pineapple filling, and top with third layer.
- Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. We like to chill to firm everything up at this point. Freeze the cake for 15 minutes or chill for longer in the refrigerator.
- Then, spread cake with final layer of frosting. Press in the coconut on the sides and top of the cake.
- Optional: Using a 2D tip, decorate the top with swirls of the remaining cream cheese frosting and top with maraschino cherries (optional).
Serving Instructions
- This cake needs to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting and pineapple filling. Store in an airtight container. For best flavor and texture, remove from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving to allow the cake to warm and soften.
Notes
Rum Syrup: Simple syrups generally consist of equal parts sugar and water (which are heated to dissolve the sugar and slightly thicken), and then flavoring is added at the end. In this case, rum. For a stronger rum flavor, simply use more rum! Try it before brushing the syrup onto your cake layers and decide if you'd like a stronger flavor.
Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice. Add milk to the 1 ¼ mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
*We updated this recipe in July 2023 to change to our preferred recipe for coconut cake layers. If you are searching for the older version of this recipe, you can find it here- Pina Colada Cake- Previous Version.