Easy Pineapple Coconut Dump Cake

I love pineapple. Coconut is delicious. Dump cakes are scrumptious. What happens when you put all three of those items together? Magic. Magic is what happens! It’s a heavenly delicious perfect dessert dish! Dump cake recipes could not be easier and they turn out perfectly and so very delicious every single time. You ready? Let’s jump right in!

Have you been looking for easy dessert recipes with simple ingredients? Look no further than this Easy Pineapple Coconut Dump Cake! The first time I made a dump cake I could not believe how easy it was and what an impressive dessert these cakes turn out to be! And it’s such an easy recipe!

Cake Mix – You need a box of dry cake mix. I prefer yellow cake mix for this recipe, but a white cake mix would also work well. Coconut cake mix would be amazing too!

Pineapple – You really want to use canned pineapple here, because you need the juice in the can to make the cake do its thing and be all gooey! You can use crushed pineapple if you’d like. I prefer to use pineapple chunks and mash them up, or I’ll use the pineapple tidbits if I can find them. I find crushed to be too… well… crushed. It’s more of a puree and I want some texture to my pineapple.

Butter – I use unsalted butter for this dump cake. I don’t think it needs the salt. I prefer to use the solid butter cut into pieces to top the cake, but other folks prefer melted butter. Either way will work!

Coconut – I used sweetened shredded coconut for this recipe.

Vanilla Ice Cream – This is an optional topping for the delicious dump cake. Trust me though, you need this warm pineapple coconut goodness with a cold scoop of ice cream in your life. You just do!

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• 9×13 baking casserole dish – I have this dish and I adore it because it comes with a lid that fits it. No more fooling with aluminum foil or plastic wrap! Plus it keeps the smells of your dish inside the dish and not in your refrigerator as foil and plastic wrap do!
• Potato Masher – This is the one I use time and time again. I love anything that’s the OXO Good Grips brand, and this potato masher is no different!
• Dough Cutter – This is the closest to what I am using in the picture. My pastry cutter is an OLD Pampered Chef tool, but this would do the exact same thing and I love my dough cutter too.
• Oven Mitts – This is a heavy and hot dish! Make sure you have good oven mitts to protect your hands!
• Table Serving Trivet – This dish is HOT and will stay hot. Make sure you put it on top of something to protect your countertop or table!
• Can Opener – It took me a long time to find a hand-held can opener that I really liked. This is it! Again, it’s the OXO Good Grips brand, and I love it. I find a big can opener too bulky and it takes up too much countertop space.
• Spatula Set – This is the greatest set ever. Not only does it have several handy spatulas, it has a few tiny ones too, to help you get every single scrape out of jars and containers!

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350*

Step 2

Open pineapple and “dump” both cans with their juices into your baking dish. No need to grease the dish! If you used pineapple chunks, now is the time to use your pastry mixer or potato masher to break up the chunks into smaller pieces. I find that crushed pineapple is too crushed and lacking texture for me. But the pineapple chunks are too big as well. If you can find the pineapple tidbits, they are perfect. However, in my experience, they are a little bit hard to find! It’s almost as easy to just mash up the pineapple chunks just a little.

If you think there is way too much pineapple juice in the pan after you mash up the chunks, feel free to take a few tablespoons of juice out. I usually do have to take a little bit of the juice out. If there is too much juice, it’s a really mushy cake situation and it’s just not the best result.

Step 3

Sprinkle yellow cake mix (dry mix) evenly over the top of the pineapple mixture.

Step 4

Sprinkle shredded coconut evenly over the top of the cake mix.

Step 5

Cut the butter into 16 even pieces and evenly distribute the butter slices across the top of the cake. Some people melt their butter and pour it on top for the dump cake recipe, but I like the extra “crunchiness” the top has with the actual pieces of butter instead of everything being covered in melted butter. It just creates a different texture and I love it.

Step 6

Put the dish in the preheated oven and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until the sides are bubbling and the top is golden brown. CAUTION – watch the coconut closely after about a half hour. If it looks like it’s browning too fast, you can always just throw a piece of aluminum foil loosely over the dish to keep it from getting too brown.

Step 7

Let the cake cool slightly (at least 10-15 minutes) before serving. It will be piping hot!

I would serve this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That’s how we do it, and let me tell you, this great dessert is just to die for!

You can do so much with dump cake recipes! A classic dump cake recipe is 2 cans of some kind of fruity pie filling, a box of cake mix on top of the fruit, and a stick of butter on top of cake mix. And there you have it, a quick dessert that is also a delicious dessert! You can use whatever flavor of cake mix you want as well! Some super easy variations on this cake include:

Pineapple Upside Down Dump Cake – omit the coconut, and add a few tablespoons of brown sugar on top, along with a handful of maraschino cherries on the bottom and the top, and voila, easy pineapple upside down cake!

Cherry Dump Cake – Cherry dump cake is one of my all-time favorites. All you do is exchange the pineapple for cherry pie filling and you’ve got cherry dump cake! With or without the coconut, cherry dump cake is amazing. Lots of folks will do an easy cherry pineapple dump cake recipe and you’ll just use one can of cherry pie filling and one can of crushed pineapple. If you are a fan of cherries, it’s amazing.

Peach Dump Cake – Canned or frozen peaches with yellow cake mix are DIVINE.

Here are even more dump cake recipes from The Spruce Eats!

For sure! Coconut isn’t for everyone! You could just leave that part out and bake the cake exactly as instructed and it will come out perfectly with a ton of pineapple flavor. If you want a little crunch, add about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and a half cup of pecans to the top, and then put the butter on top of that. It’s DIVINE too! That’s the beauty of a dump cake recipe, you can do whatever you want with the ingredients!

Sure! These would be adorable baked in muffin tins or even little ramekins for individual servings! I would just put 2ish tablespoons of pineapple on the bottom, cover with about a tablespoon of cake mix, sprinkle with a handful of coconut, and put a little square of butter on top to bake. Individual cakes would bake for much less time, I’d guess around 20 or so minutes. Watch the top of the cake for browning and the sides for bubbling. This would be an impressive dessert for sure!

Of course! Please make this to suit your tastes and needs! This pineapple dessert would be delicious with whipped cream on top, or it would be amazing with no topping at all. Do whatever works best for you!

I like to keep this cake stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. I would not suggest leaving this cake at room temperature. There’s a lot of butter in that mix, so I think refrigerated is best. Then you can just warm a slice up in your microwave when the urge for a sweet treat hits!

This delightful pineapple dump cake is not to be missed. I love the tropical flair the coconut gives this recipe! It makes me think of desserts in the islands and I can practically hear the ocean waves as I’m eating this sweet treat! This easy pineapple dump cake is the easiest cake recipe you could ask for! Seriously, it’s one of my all-time favorite recipes. The best part about dump cake recipes is that you can mix and match ingredients and totally make them your own. I want to hear all about if you make this simple dessert recipe, or if you have another variation of your own! Share it with us!

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