Aloha Cake recipe from 1937

on

This fluffy, colourful, pineapple-filled Aloha Cake recipe appeared in a newspaper on October 30, 1937.

The original recipe is light on instructions and basically says: ‘Make a three-layer cake; colour 1 layer yellow and 2 layers pink; make it with pineapple filing; ice.”


INGREDIENTS


Pineapple Filling:

¾ cup canned crushed pineapple
¼ cup sugar (50g)
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ cup unsalted butter (56g) (cold)
Yellow food colouring (optional)


Cake:

⅔ cup unsalted butter (151g)

1 ½ cups sugar (300g)

3 eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

3 cups sifted cake flour (300g)

5 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt


Vanilla Buttercream:

1 ½ cups unsalted butter (340g)

3 cups icing sugar (375g)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons heavy cream

¼ teaspoon salt


Note: All ingredients should be at room temperature unless otherwise stated.


Method:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C
  • Grease and line three 8-inch cake pans

Pineapple Filling:

  1. Combine crushed pineapples, sugar, corn starch, cream, and lemon juice in a saucepan.
  2. Mix well and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in cold butter until melted and fully incorporated. 
  4. Stir in food colouring, if using.
  5. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl to completely cool.

Cake:

  1. Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated before adding the next egg.
  3. Mix in vanilla extract.
  4. Sift flour, then measure or weigh.
  5. Sift flour again with baking powder, and salt.
  6. Add flour mixture alternately with milk — beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
  7. Divide batter evenly into 3 parts. Colour 2 parts pink and 1 part yellow.
  8. Pour each part into a separate cake pans and level with a spatula.
  9. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F/175°C for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle of the cake comes away clean.
  10. Leave in the pans for 15 minutes before removing from pans and fully cooling on cake racks.


Buttercream Frosting:

  1. In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy.
  2. Add icing sugar, vanilla, heavy cream, and salt.
  3. Mix until a spreadable frosting forms. 
  4. If necessary, add more icing sugar or heavy cream to adjust to your preferred taste and texture.

Assembling the cake:

  1. Once the cake layers have cooled, place 1 of the pink cake layers on a serving tray or cake board. Pipe buttercream along the edge of the cake to create a border. Fill the middle with half the cooled pineapple filling and spread evenly.
  2. Top with the yellow cake layer and pipe a buttercream border same as the first. Fill the middle with the rest of the cooled pineapple filling and spread evenly.
  3. Place the second pink cake layer on top.
  4. Apply a very thin crumb coat of buttercream on the cake. 
  5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat.
  6. Once the crumb coat has set, ice the cake as you like. 

Cut, serve, and enjoy!


Original newspaper clipping:



Comments

Post a Comment