Best Pineapple Strawberry Layer Cake

Have you been to Starbucks and requested their most popular pineapple strawberry drink? Well, today, I will take that combination and make it into a layer cake. Yes, that’s right, I will walk you step by step through the process of making the best pineapple strawberry layer cake with light and fluffy icing on the outside. This will make the perfect spring or summer dessert.

Now, it’s quite a few steps, but I want to make this as easy as possible for you by showing you exactly how I made this delicious cake your friends and family will love for years to come. It’s a perfect balance of sweetness from the pineapples and the less sweetness of strawberries.

Ingredients you will need

You will need a few ingredients, well quite a few ingredients

Yellow boxed cake

Eggs

Milk

Pineapple juice

Vanilla pudding

Fresh pineapples

Fresh strawberries

Cornstarch  

Vanilla Extract

Vegetable oil

Whew…… there you have it, it is quite a list, but I promise you, it will be worth it.

Ok, on your mark get set, go

First, you will need to start mixing your cake using all room-temperature ingredients.

Set your oven to 325

This recipe will make a 3-layer cake, so grease your cake pans and cut your parchment paper. If you do not have 3 8 or 9-inch pans, don’t worry. You can reuse the previous cake pan.

In a large bowl, add the cake mix to the bowl, and add the instant pudding (and flour if you are cooking at a high altitude).

Make a hole in the middle of the dry mix and add your melted vegetable oil; if you are using the solid kind like I did, melt it in the microwave for about 30 seconds before adding.

In addition, to the melted oil, add the vanilla extract, pineapple juice, and milk and mix well, now.

Bake each layer for 25-30 minutes or until done.

While the cake is baking, now I’m going to show you how to make the cake filling.

You will need 2 saucepans, Dice 1 cup of strawberries, and 1 cup of pineapples (you can use store-bought sundae toppings if you want to save time)

Put each fruit in its own saucepan with ½ cup sugar, vanilla, and ½ cup water, and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. After 20 minutes, remove from the heat and add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. Set to the side to cool off. Now on to the icing.

I did not make a frosting from scratch but don’t worry; no one will ever know. So, I guess you can call this a semi-homemade cake. Which is ok, I like great-tasting desserts, and I like to save time.

Now, hear me out. I would prefer whipped cream icing, but we need a stiffer frosting because this cake has a filling, and we don’t want the filling to spill out of the cake when frosting it.  

Remember, this is a 3-layer cake so we need a lot of frosting. So, I’m going to use 2 store-bought cans of buttercream icing and add 2 blocks of cream cheese (I don’t like super sweet icing as well). In another bowl, mix the buttercream icing and the softened cream cheese together.

After you have baked all your cake layers and they are cooled, it’s time to assemble.

Lay your first cake layer down, add a small thin layer of icing, and then make a border of icing in a circle. Now, it’s time to add your first fruit filling. Add your pineapple, add another layer of cake, apply a thin layer of icing, and apply a border, then apply your strawberry filling. Add the last layer and frost your cake with the remaining frosting. If the cake is moving too much to frost, put it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, then apply the remaining frosting.

Now your cake is ready to serve.