MRS JONES' PINEAPPLE CAKE

The Northland New Neighbors League recently had a luau.  It was so much fun.  The club furnished a whole pig and everyone brought a dish. Aren't you surprised that I chose to bring a dessert?

I immediately thought of my mother's pineapple filling and decided that would be perfect for a luau.  She always just used a yellow cake mix but I decided to try a pineapple cake instead.







Janice told me she had a pineapple sheet cake she liked to make and I asked her if she would share the recipe with me.  Before she emailed it to me, I was looking in my the Best of Ruby Jones cookbook and found her recipe for Pineapple Squares.  When Janice sent me her recipe, I noticed it was very similar.  (Mrs. Jones' recipe used less sugar than Janice's did.)

Mrs. Jones poked holes in her cake as soon as she brought it out of the oven and then iced the cake still in the pan and still warm.  Her icing contained 1 cup sugar, 1 stick margarine, 1 small can evaporated milk, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 1 can coconut, and whipped cream.  She boiled the sugar, margarine, and milk til it began to thicken.  Then she added the nuts and coconut and poured it over the warm cake.  She served hers cut in squares and added a dollop of whipped cream.  She called her dessert Pineapple Squares.

I liked Mother's pineapple filling I used and everyone else did too. 

MRS. JONES' PINEAPPLE CAKE

2        cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar (I used 3/4 cup stevia/sugar blend)
1        large can crushed pineapple (20 oz. undrained)
2        eggs
2        teaspoons baking soda
1/4     teaspoon salt
1/2     cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1        teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour and sugar and then add the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour batter into a 9 x 13 - inch greased and floured pan.

Bake until done.  (I baked mine for 25 minutes.)

Cool in pan (about 20 - 30 minutes) on wire rack.  Then turn out on cake tray.  Ice with the following pineapple filling after cake has cooled completely. 

(This is not the icing Mrs. Jones put on her cake, but this is my favorite.  My mother always made it.  She would make a 2 - 3 layer 8 - 9 in round cake using a yellow cake mix and then make this filling.)

MOTHER'S PINEAPPLE FILLING FOR CAKE

2     cups sugar (I used 1 cup stevia/sugar blend)
1/2  cup flour
1     #2 can (20 - oz) crushed pineapple, undrained
4     egg yolks
1/2  stick margarine (light margarine works well)

Combine the sugar and flour in the top of a double boiler.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Cook in double boiler until thick. (It took mine about 7 minutes to get thick, stirring fairly steadily.)


Start with an inch or two of water in the bottom pot.  Bring water to a boil.

Stir all of the ingredients in the top pot

After it cools somewhat, you can spread it on the cooled cake.