I love tropical flavours in food, and with the pineapple and coconut in this Hawaiian cake, I of course love this recipe!

The cake is baked and frosted in a rectangular (glass) baking dish, making it portable and perfect for taking on picnics, or to potlucks. Or cut it up into small squares to serve at parties or a Hawaiian luau.

This cake is made without any oil or butter, and each bite is bursting with coconut, walnuts, and pineapple. The cream cheese frosting is light, creamy, and tart, not overly sweet.

It’s one of those cakes that gets better with time – it’s just as delicious on day four as it is on day one!

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 1¾ cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 (20oz/570g) canned crushed pineapple, in its own juice (do not drain juice)
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

For the Frosting

• 1 (8oz/225g) cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick (½ cup/115g) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup powdered (icing) sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a 9″ x 13″ (33cm x 23cm) baking pan.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, eggs, crushed pineapple and juice, coconut flakes, and walnuts. in a large mixing bowl by hand until well combined.
3. Pour cake batter into greased baking pan.
4. Bake for 45 minutes until cooked through. (Insert a cocktail stick into the center of the cake, it should come out clean.)
5. Cool completely in the pan.
6. Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add butter, powdered (icing) sugar, vanilla extract, and salt then beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
7. Spread cream cheese frosting over the cake and sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts.