This Chilean Pineapple Cake brings back many memories because it is my cousin’s favorite cake, and he asks for it every year. It was perfect because his birthday is mid-summer, and this cake is fresh and quick to bake.
Chilean pineapple cake, or “Torta de Piña,” is a delightful dessert in Chile. It’s a sweet and moist cake with a tropical twist, featuring pineapple slices and coconut.
The Chilean pineapple cake typically consists of 3-4 layers of light, moist vanilla cake filled with sweetened whipped cream and pineapple slices.
Torta de piña is a classic children’s birthday cake because of its simple and mildly flavored. It is also very popular for summer birthdays.
Some of my friends always enjoyed this traditional cake and still request it yearly for their parties. Celebrating birthdays in Chile is a special occasion filled with traditions and food.
Like many cultures, celebrating a birthday in Chile often involves gathering with close family and friends. It’s a time for loved ones to come together and celebrate the person’s life.
The birthday cake is an essential part of the celebration. The cake is typically decorated with candles, and the number of candles corresponds to the person’s age. In recent years, themed and customized cakes have become more popular.
Like in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the traditional birthday song in Chile is “Cumpleaños Feliz.” The birthday person makes a wish and blows out the candles as everyone sings.
Torta de Piña is still made at home in Chile but is also easily found in bakeries. Its combination of sweet, fruity flavors and moist cake makes it a favorite among those with a sweet tooth.
You may also like the recipe: Chilean Mil Hojas Cake.
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Chilean Pineapple Cake
A delicious summer cake.
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 16
Ingredients
For the vanilla sponge cake,
- 170 grams of butter at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 200 grams of all-purpose flour
- 60 grams of potato starch or cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the filling,
- 1 large can of pineapples in cubes
- 3 cups of very cold heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- chocolate sprinkles to decorate
- roasted coconut flakes to decorate
Instructions
For the vanilla sponge cake,
Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F.
Prepare 3 round cake pans 9″, cover the bottom with parchment paper.
Sift the flour, potato starch or cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat for 3-5 minutes. It should be creamy.
Add the eggs one by one, beating until incorporated.
Add 1/3 of the sifted flour mixture (you can eyeball it), beat a little, add half of the milk, beat. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat the rest of the milk with the vanilla. Finally, the rest of the flour mix well but without overbeating. Beat at medium-high speed for 20 seconds.
Distribute the mixture into the prepared pans; I weigh them to be sure they are the same. Spread with a spatula and bake 25-28 minutes until they are golden brown, and when you bury a stick, come out dry.
Allow cooling on a rack in the pans for half an hour. Then, release the edges with a knife and unmold, remove the parchment paper, wrap in cooking plastic and refrigerate for up to 5 days. This helps to make it easier to cut them. They can also freeze for up to 2 months.
For the filling,
Strain the pineapple and save the juice. Chop the pineapples with a knife so they are smaller.
In a large bowl, beat the cream when it thickens, add the sugar and continue beating until it holds stiff peaks.
To assemble the cake,
Reserve the most beautiful and even sponge cake for the top layer.
On the tray where they will assemble the cake, put the first layer of sponge cake, soak with 1/3 of the pineapple juice reserved. Spread a layer of whipped cream, place 1/2 of the pineapple, continue with another layer of cake, repeat, finish with a layer of sponge cake, soak in the juice. Cover with the remaining cream all around.
Decorate, cover the side of the cake with coconut flakes—the center on top with chocolate.
Notes
Recipe for the sponge adapted from “Cake love” by Warren Brown.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hours
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Oven-baked
- Cuisine: Chilean
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 418
- Sugar: 25.9 g
- Sodium: 185.1 mg
- Fat: 28.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 17.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 39.8 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 4.9 g
- Cholesterol: 121.3 mg
This recipe was amazing!! Everyone was asking for seconds, the sponge was really easy to make and was easily doubled. This is definitely a recipe I’ll make again and again, thank you!
Hi Sophie.
So glad you enjoy it. Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment.
I made this for my boyfriend. It was for his birthday. He’s Chilean. He loved it! The only thing I did a couple things different, but nothing too different. I used half all purpose flour and half cake flour. I used crushed pineapple in between the layers with the juice and then chunks on the top. Oh and no chocolate. I asked him if he wanted it and he said no. It was delish and I am going to make it again when his daughter comes next week to visit. I will probably make the Thousand Layer Cake too. She will be here for 2 weeks. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to post this recipe…I’m sure I will be using it often in the future. ~ Keri
Thanks, Keri for commenting. I’m so glad you had a good experience, it’s a classic cake and more so Thousand layers.