Homemade Hawaiian Cake

By Kate Shungu ● Updated April 29, 2025

This Homemade Hawaiian Cake is packed with pineapple, bananas, coconut, and pecans, and topped with cream cheese frosting and coconut. It’s a little taste of Hawaii, and WOW is it good!

slice of hawaiian cake with cream cheese frosting and coconut on a white plate.

Featured Comment:

“Best cake I ever made.” -George

woman scooping pistachio salad into a parfait dish, with colorful vintage bowls in the background.
Kate’s Recipe Rundown

My husband is not a sweets person. But he ate nearly this entire Homemade Hawaiian Cake over the course of a week. It’s THAT good!  

It’s moist and tender, and full of textures and flavors. The cake itself is reminiscent of banana bread, but with crushed pineapple, coconut, and pecans, too. And the homemade cream cheese frosting is the literal icing on the cake!

It’s decadent, not too sweet, and an all-around crowd pleaser of a cake. Which is perfect, because it feeds a crowd. Here are a few of my tips for making it:

  1. Be sure to soften the cream cheese and butter before starting. If you’re in a hurry, check out my post on how to soften butter quickly (it works for cream cheese, too).
  2. Don’t have a bundt pan? An angel food cake pan or even a 9×13 inch pan works instead.
Enjoy! Kate

P.S. If you love tropical flavors, don’t miss my Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies!

Some of the links featured in this post are affiliate links to products I enjoy and recommend, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase.

Ingredients

bananas, pineapple, pecans, flour, and other ingredients on a wooden serving tray.
  • You’ll want to use bananas that are brown/have spots on them for the best banana flavor.
  • You can use either sweetened or unsweetened coconut. I used sweetened.
  • I like using pecans that have been very finely chopped. I recently discovered that Fisher sells very finely chopped pecans—no extra chopping necessary!

How to Make Hawaiian Cake from Scratch

  1. Start by whisking together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  2. Mash the bananas well with a fork. Add the remaining cake ingredients, and stir to combine.
  3. Bake for 65–70 minutes at 350°F.
  4. When the cake is cool, use a hand mixer to mix the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.

Assembling the cake

Place the cooled Hawaiian cake on a cake platter or serving platter. Carefully spoon the frosting on top and spread around. You may not need all of the frosting.

Top the cake with additional shredded coconut.

whole hawaiian cake topped with cream cheese frosting and coconut.

Bundt pan alternatives

Don’t have a bundt pan? You can make this cake in an angel food cake pan.

You can also make it in a 9×13 inch pan. Since the pan is more shallow, you’ll need to decrease the baking time. Start checking the cake for doneness around 30–35 minutes. If it’s isn’t done yet, give it another 5 minutes at a time before checking again.

slice of hawaiian cake with a bite taken out.

More old fashioned cake recipes

Since this is an old fashioned recipe blog, there is no shortage of vintage cakes! This old fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is similar to the Hawaiian Cake, but without pineapple or coconut.

I LOVE a good poke cake, like this traditional Jell-O Poke Cake or a Coconut Poke Cake for coconut fans.

And I can’t forget classics like Ding Dong Cake, Sock it to Me Cake, and Old Fashioned Date Cake. They’re always crowd pleasers!

📖 Recipe

slice of hawaiian cake with cream cheese frosting and coconut on a white plate.

Hawaiian Cake From Scratch

Published by Kate
This simple homemade cake is packed with pineapple, coconut, bananas, and pecans.
4.75 from 8 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 15 servings
Calories 630 kcal

Ingredients
  

For the cake:

  • 4 medium-sized ripe bananas
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • cups vegetable oil
  • 8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
  • cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 cup finely chopped pecans

For the frosting:

  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ cup shredded sweetened coconut

Instructions
 

For the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.
  • Place the bananas in a large bowl. Mix with a handheld electric mixer until mashed. Add the eggs, sugar, oil, and pineapple, and mix until combined.
    4 medium-sized ripe bananas, 3 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1½ cups vegetable oil, 8 oz crushed pineapple,
  • In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture with a spatula. Stir in the coconut and pecans.
    2¾ cup flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut, 1 cup finely chopped pecans
  • Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 65–70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Let the cake cool completely.

For the frosting:

  • Once the cake is cool, place the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix with a handheld electric mixer until soft and creamy.
    8 oz cream cheese,, ½ cup (1 stick) butter,, 3 cups powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • Invert the cake onto a cake pedestal or serving platter. Top with the cream cheese frosting (you may not need it all). Sprinkle with coconut.
    ½ cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • Cut into slices and serve.

Notes

Don’t have a bundt pan? You can use an angel food cake pan, or even a 9×13 inch pan. If using a 9×13 inch pan, the baking time will need to decrease quite a bit. Start checking the cake around 30 minutes to see if it’s done. 
Store any leftover cake in the refrigerator. The cake can also be frozen (either frosted or unfrosted). 

Nutrition

Calories: 630kcalCarbohydrates: 69gProtein: 6gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 14gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 192mgPotassium: 254mgFiber: 4gSugar: 46gVitamin A: 275IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 29mgIron: 2mg
Keyword hawaiian cake
Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a star rating and comment below!

More Cakes for coconut Fans

6 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Best cake I ever made. I did a couple minor adjustments to suit me. I added 1 teaspoon of baking power and a 1/4 cup sour cream. When it came out I brushed the hot cake with pineapple juice. When I turned it out I spooned a mixture of coconut,pineapple and confectioners sugar glaze on top and brushed the rest of the cake . I’ll be making this again and again! I didn’t add nuts. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!

    1. Your adjustments sound wonderful! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

  2. I came across thus tecipe abd i am going to try this. I will cone back abd let you know how my picky eaters enjoyed it. Thank you for this tecipe

4.75 from 8 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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