This week is all about pineapple.  To continue with the pineapple theme, we have a pineapple cake (I mean a cake shaped like a pineapple) with pineapple jam and a pineapple flavor buttercream.

I have fond memories of pineapples.  As a child growing up my grandfather had a pineapple grove.  I loved pineapple so much, especially the core (which I called “the stick,”) grandpa would save them for me.  I remembered coming home from school and he would have a full plate of pineapple cores on the table.  Why? Because I had assured him that the core was the part of the pineapple I liked.  Now that I think about it, it is quite funny.  These are fond memories of my grandpa who passed away almost five years ago in August.  We miss him, but having moments like this means everything. It was perfect that I made this pineapple cake: (1) to remember grandpa and (2) to celebrate my sister’s birthday.

Making the pineapple cake was my youngest sister’s idea.  She also loves pineapple.  When we discussed what cake to make she immediately said how about a pineapple cake?  I was ecstatic. Here it is how I decorated the pineapple cake.

Making the Pineapple Skin

The pineapple skin is thick and spiky and very intricate.  To make the pineapple skin I took the skin of a pineapple and made a mold using the amazing mold putty kit. This was my first time making my own silicone mold and I am addicted.  The mold came out great and only took fifteen minutes.  Once the mold was set, I washed it and added a little bit of shortening before using fondant.  I colored some fondant golden yellow and rolled out a broad strip of fondant.  Then I cut the fondant into pieces similar to the size of the pineapple skin mold.  After that, I textured the fondant with the pineapple skin mold.

Making the Pineapple Crown

The pineapple crown was very easy to make.  I used gum paste that I colored green.  I removed pieces of the pineapple crown and made molds using the amazing mold putty kit of the small to large pieces.  However, I did not like how the first few came out.  Therefore, I took pieces of the crown washed them, added some shortening and that became my new mold.  I let them dry on the crown leave and removed them later to let them dry.  Once they were dried I dusted them with Wilton green color dust, then Wilton white pearl dust to get that whitish color.

Making the Pineapple Cake

The pineapple cake was made with three 6 inch pans.  My sister wanted a yellow cake, I made a sour cream yellow cake (from scratch of course).  For the frosting, I made pineapple jam with crushed pineapples (see my recipe here) and mixed it with my yummy Italian Meringue buttercream.  The combination of the pineapple jam and the buttercream was to die for.  I then carved the top of the cake to make it rounded and a little bit on the bottom as well.  The cake was carved to about 5 inches high, the actual height of a pineapple we had in the house. The carving took about fifteen minutes.  I filled the cake with the pineapple buttercream and frosted the outside with vanilla Italian Meringue buttercream.

Putting it all together

When the cake was chilled, I added the pineapple skin textured fondant to the cake by following the pattern. I worked out the seams as much as possible.  Then I used two brushes to pull the fondant in the middle of the pineapple pattern to get the spiky look.  Once I had the look I was going for painted around each spike with Wilton green color dust leaving the yellow in the middle.  This is where you will need patience because it was a lot of spikes. I added the pineapple cake to the final board that I decorated with fondant and painted green.

Next, it was time to add the crown.

I added a small amount of green fondant to the top of the pineapple cake and began to add the leaves for the pineapple crown starting at the bottom.  Be careful when adding the gum paste leaves because they break easily.  I kept having to remove leaves because they kept breaking.  A few good ones were spared and I was able to make a decent pineapple crown.  In hindsight, I should have added some floral wires to the gum paste leaves.  While this method was good, the wires would have been better to help prevent breakage. As soon as I was finished adding the crown, I added Happy Birthday to the board and the fondant decorations my sister’s kids and my son made for her.  That’s it you are done.  This is another easy carved cake.

Do you have a favorite carved cake? Comment below.

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