Sweet & light: spring cakes

I adore cake…a little too much. If it’s in my house, I can’t resist it, even for breakfast.

A few years ago I had a piece of coconut-and-pineapple cake at my grandpa’s 80th birthday party in Midland, Texas. It started a little obsession for me. I decided I wanted to track down that cake recipe, to have at my wedding. Unfortunately the baker was uncooperative. So I decided the next best thing was to enlist my sister Katie, who works here at EatingWell, to come up with a recipe for Pineapple-Coconut Layer Cake (recipe below). And even though the final cake would certainly be healthier than the original, I wanted to make sure that it was still rich and delicious. It needed to have layers filled with a sweet pineapple curd and covered in frosting. Katie ended up working through endless tests to get this cake just right. We stoically tasted all the attempts along the way until it was perfect. This recipe makes 16 servings, so it didn’t work for my wedding, but it is just right for Easter dinner this year, at my sister’s house.

I realize you may not be quite so obsessed with the pineapple-coconut combination, so here are a couple more lightened-up cake recipes that would be perfect for an Easter celebration, a birthday or perhaps breakfast. (And if you’re looking for the rest of your Easter menu, check out this healthy Easter recipe collection.)

Key Lime Cake: This is a riff on key lime pie, with the same flavors but just made into a cake. The light meringue topping is easy on the waist, but makes the cake taste great and look amazing.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting: We like to keep things as “natural” as possible, so we tried this cake with all-natural food dye made from beets. It turned out just fine, but a tad less red.

Carrot Cake: This cake has crushed pineapple in it. (Come to think of it, maybe it’s just pineapple I’m crazy about.) Anyway, you need to make sure you really drain the pineapple well or it will make your cake a little too wet. Just put it in a strainer, over a bowl, and press on it before you mix it into the batter. I made two of these cakes recently for a ski weekend with friends in Lake Placid, New York. They were a huge hit.

Pineapple-Coconut Layer Cake
Equipment: Two 9-inch round cake pans

Cake
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour, preferably white whole-wheat (see Note)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup nonfat buttermilk or milk
2 tablespoons coconut rum or dark rum
2 teaspoons coconut extract
3 large eggs, separated (reserve 2 yolks for pineapple curd)

Pineapple Curd
2 large egg yolks
1 6-ounce can pineapple juice (3/4 cup)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch

Frosting & Garnish
12 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), at room temperature
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon coconut extract or rum
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups finely diced fresh pineapple, divided
2 tablespoons toasted coconut (see Tip)

1. To prepare cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray.
2. Sift cake flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a medium bowl. Beat 3/4 cup sugar, honey, oil and melted butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Whisk buttermilk (or milk), rum and coconut extract in a small bowl. With the mixer on low speed, alternately mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients into the sugar mixture, starting and ending with dry ingredients and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, until just combined.
3. Clean and dry the beaters. Beat 3 egg whites in a medium bowl with the electric mixer on medium-high until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions until just combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, spreading to the edges.
4. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 26 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn out and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
5. To prepare curd: Whisk 2 egg yolks, pineapple juice, 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until thick and beginning to bubble, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool completely.
6. To prepare frosting & assemble cake: Beat cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, extract (or rum) and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
7. Place one cake layer, top-side down, on a cake stand or plate. Spread evenly with the pineapple curd, stopping just short of the edge. Scatter 1/2 cup diced pineapple over the curd. Place the remaining layer, top-side up, on top. Spread the frosting over the
top and sides. Decorate the top with the remaining 1 cup pineapple and toasted coconut.

Makes 16 servings.

Per serving: 317 calories; 13 g fat (5 g sat, 4 g mono); 48 mg cholesterol; 45 g carbohydrate; 6 g protein; 1 g fiber; 205 mg sodium; 101 mg potassium.

Note: White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole wheat. Whole-wheat pastry flour can sometimes be used as a substitute. Find it in the baking section of the supermarket or online at King Arthur Flour, (800) 827-6836, bakerscatalogue.com.

Tip: Toast coconut in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat until golden, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

By Jessie Price

EatingWell deputy food editor Jessie Price's professional background in food started when she worked in restaurant kitchens in the summers during college. She started out testing recipes for EatingWell and then joined the staff here full-time in 2004 when she moved to Vermont from San Francisco.

Related Links from EatingWell:

• Find healthy recipes in over 100 recipe collections—from chicken to Chinese to cake—at eatingwell.com.
• Find over 100 delicious seasonally-inspired recipes in our newest book, EatingWell in Season: The Farmers’ Market Cookbook.
• Sign up for EatingWell's free weekly newsletters and get healthy recipes, diet tips and nutrition news delivered right to your inbox.
• Get a free trial issue when you subscribe to EatingWell Magazine.