The Easiest 5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake Recipe
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This 5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake is a simple dessert that only uses a few pantry staples that you probably have on hand. You can mix up the recipe in just 5 minutes!
5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake Recipe
I will confess: I used to make a TON of desserts. You can find pretty much all the recipes here on the blog. I definitely had a sweet tooth, and it showed.
But believe it or not, I quit sugar over 10 years ago and haven’t looked back. Now, we only make desserts on occasion, usually mostly for the kids to have a treat.
I was rarely making any desserts recently, but we made a deal with the kids…if they did a good job on school during the week, I would make them a dessert to enjoy over the weekend.
So, although we haven’t been big on desserts lately, I do have a few new recipes that I want to share with you from things that we ARE making!
This recipe is adapted from a recipe in Mennonite Country Style Recipes Cookbook. One of my favorite cookbooks!
Why We Love This Recipe
This recipe is very easy to make and takes advantage of a few convenience foods. You can absolutely make the cake mix from scratch and use your own home-canned pineapple to avoid any pre-boxed/canned products if you want to!
This is a fun dessert to make when you want a dessert but want to spend very little hands-on time making it.
Ingredients in Pineapple Cake
- Brown Sugar.
- Water. This one doesn’t count toward our 5 ingredient total because although it’s an addition, it’s not another product you have to buy. Maybe that doesn’t count…it’s still an easy recipe!
- Crushed Pineapple. I like to stock up on this at Aldi when I’m in a town that has one. They have a canned version that doesn’t have additives like sugar.
- Cake Mix. You can use homemade or you can use one from the store. To make this recipe I’m using the boxed gluten free cake mix from Aldi. I have a recipe for Homemade Cake Mix in my book.
- Butter. You can replace this with a buttery spread if you need to for dairy-free.
- Shredded Coconut. This is our topping! You could probably go without it, but it adds a nice extra flavor if you like coconut.
FAQs About Pineapple Cake
Can I use fresh pineapple instead of canned?
Yes, you can! Just cut up your fresh pineapple and then run the pieces through the food processor or blender to have “crushed pineapple” for this recipe.
What makes a cake heavy or light?
Adding too much liquid or not baking a cake long enough will make it dense. Also adding in too many add-ins can also make it dense if you do not cook it long enough.
Can you make chunk pineapple into crushed?
Yes, with just a few spins around your food processor or blender, you can turn chunk pineapple into crushed pineapple if that’s all you have on hand.
What to Serve With Pineapple Cake
You can serve this recipe with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or with whipped cream. It’s good warm or cold and with or without any extra toppings!
Instructions for Making Pineapple Cake
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and water. My stainless steel kettle is from Libby’s, and I love it! They have some similar ones on Amazon here.
Pour the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9×13 baking dish.
Add the can of (undrained) pineapple over the top of the brown sugar.
Sprinkle the coconut flakes over the top of the entire cake.
Sprinkle the cake mix over the wet ingredients evenly. Do not mix the ingredients.
Slice the butter and place the pieces over the mixture.
Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes in the oven or until the cake looks firm and done or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve!
How to Take The Pineapple Cake to the Next Level
If you have the time, you can make these minor tweaks to the original cake recipe to make it taste even better!
- Use toasted coconut instead of regular coconut.
- Add some chopped pecans or other chopped nuts when you add the coconut for a more classic spin on this recipe.
- Add a few cherries to the top of the cake with the crushed pineapple to make a cherry pineapple dump cake.
Need to print this 5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake Recipe for your Recipe Binder? Grab it below!
5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake Recipe
How to make a simple but tasty Pineapple cake with only 5 ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 20 oz crushed pineapple undrained
- 18 oz yellow cake mix can be homemade
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
-
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and water. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9×13 baking dish.
-
Add the can of (undrained) pineapple over the top of the brown sugar.
-
Sprinkle the coconut flakes over the top of the entire cake.
-
Sprinkle the cake mix over the wet ingredients evenly. Do not mix the ingredients.
-
Slice the butter and place the pieces over the mixture.
-
Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the cake looks firm and done. Cool slightly and serve!
Gluten Free 5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake
Use a gluten free cake mix (like I did) in place of a regular cake mix to make this recipe gluten free.
Dairy Free 5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake
Use a buttery spread (I used Earth Balance) in place of butter to make this cake dairy-free.
This is a delicious cake that takes on all of the pineapple juices to give it a pineapple flavor, while the coconut adds a little extra flavor to make you feel like you found a tropical vacation dessert. It’s similar to many other dump cake recipes, with a few extra additions to take it to the next level.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge or on the countertop.
More Cake Recipes
- Simple Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
- Recipe for Rhubarb Cake with Buttermilk
- Easy Angel Food Cake without Special Cake Pans
- Simple and Easy Carrot Cake Recipe
- Lemonade Poke Cake Recipe
- Simple Banana Cake Recipe
- Homemade Strawberry Cake Recipe
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Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This recipe for 5 Ingredient Pineapple Cake was originally posted on Little House Living in January 2023. It has been updated as of March 2024.
The pineapple cake recipe looks yummy…I saw that you canned 22 jars of whole cranberries. I was wondering if you could tell me how you canned whole cranberries and how they can be used in the future. TY
I use cranberries for making a “nomato” sauce (tomato sauce without the tomatoes) which I eat a lot at the moment because I’m unable to eat tomatoes (I hope will be able to someday!) and I use them to make a meatball dish that our family loves (cranberries, sauerkraut, and maple sryup in the slow cooker with meatballs. It sounds weird but it tastes good.) To can them, I heated them up in water in a stockpot until they were ready to pop. Then I loaded up pint jars and processed in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. (The recipe said 15 minutes but I have to add 5 for my elevation) It’s super easy! I do blueberries and cherries the same way.
Perfect for my sweet tooth mood. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Okay, and I say this fully-admitting I didn’t actually make YOUR cake. It looks ABSOLUTELY STUNNING and DELICIOUS, by the way!!! But, with my personal diet, I just cannot have that many calories…My hack?!?! Was it as wonderful and sumptuous as yours??? Probably not!!! I fully-admit that!!! BUT… It was calorie-friendly, and I desperately wanted a taste of the tropics as we’re under ANOTHER blizzard in central-West WI!!!
I literally just mixed 20 oz of crushed pineapple with the cake mix; I had a can of mandarin oranges, and I drained that into the batter, and baked it!!! I took the oranges and mashed them up, mixed them with a bit of Lite Cool Whip, to dollop on top. But it actually worked!!! No eggs, no butter, no extra cals – just the cake mix and the water from the pineapple and the oranges… I was honestly surprised it worked, but I’m not about to argue!!! Next time, I gotta plan on toasting some coconut flakes to make it more like yours!!! 🙂
PS I pressure-canned GALLONS of soaked beans because I needed space in my pantry!!! Had room in the basement for the jars, but doggone… the pantry!!! lol It was a multi-day process (I had no idea how many #2 bags of beans I’d collected!!! Wanna know the rub??? The jars take up more stinking space than the bags of beans did!!! ALTHOUGH – making ANYTHING (chili, refried beans, beans/rice, etc!) takes minutes and costs us literally pennies, as opposed to buying beans… Still… The irony!!! Saving the room in one storage space to quadruple the storage space in another… Sigh… I’m still figuring it all out!!! lol BTW – I love your blog… It settles my soul, as I try to navigate this whole “country” “thang” as a Chicago girl… Ask me, once, about the 1st time we lost power and I couldn’t figure out why the toilet wouldn’t flush!! The whole power:well thing I didn’t have to know… until I had to know…!!! lol
That version of cake sounds great too. Thanks for sharing! I love canning beans as well, it’s so nice to have ready-to-go beans in the pantry.
Chicago girl too. Can relate to the toilet thing! It’s a whole different world out here.