An Authentic Taiwanese Pineapple Cake Recipe | 鳳梨酥

What is a Taiwanese Pineapple Cake?

Visitors to Taiwan will likely have enjoyed pineapple cakes 鳳梨酥, which are widely sold and enjoyed throughout the year. Pineapple cakes are typically square or rectangular, with a jammy pineapple filling encased in a tender short crust pastry. As such, Taiwanese pineapple cakes fall somewhere between a filled cookie or biscuit and a hand pie; not what we commonly think of as cake.

The pineapple filling is sometimes embellished with nuts, sometimes with morsels of salted egg yolk – probably an acquired taste! The pineapple cakes are usually packaged individually and sold in beautiful, sturdy gift boxes for safe transport.

If you have brought back pineapple cakes from your trip to Taiwan for friends and family, you have not only given them something delicious to eat but also your wishes for good luck. In Hokkien, a widely spoken Chinese dialect in Taiwan, pineapple has the same pronunciation as “luck arrives” 運來. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the immense popularity of these cakes in Taiwan. The third Chinese word in the name of these treats, 酥, is a generic term for pastries with a high fat content, whether the pastry is flaky or short, baked or deep fried.

Taiwanese pineapple cakes in serving dish, individual ones on plates, and tea and tea pot behind

Making Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes at Home

I became interested in learning to make pineapple cakes after tasting some utterly delicious ones made by a friend. The crust was particularly tender and flavourful. I was also intrigued by how the thin pastry is wrapped around the filling in a perfectly shaped square.

It turns out that the secret ingredient in the pastry is full cream milk powder! As for shaping, I should have guessed – the filled pastry is pressed into a mould. There are many Chinese pastries traditionally shaped by pressing dough balls into carved wooden moulds, some of which can have very elaborate designs. The difference with Taiwanese pineapple cakes is that they are baked inside the metal moulds that are used to shape them.

Some pineapple cake recipes include glutinous rice flour and maltose. I think these two ingredients, which serve to stiffen the filling, crept into recipes from commercial manufacturers who substitute all or part of the pineapple with winter melon, a vegetable in the squash family that is much cheaper than pineapple, and is also softer and less fibrous. Since winter melon has little flavour, artificial flavours and colours are added to the pastries to make them attractive to consumers. If you are tempted to substitute the pineapple with other fruits, you will probably also need to add the stiffening ingredients. Beware, however, that it would eliminate the luck-inducing power of pineapple cakes.

My friend based her recipe on a version by Chinese-language blog, Carol Easy Life. This site includes instructions on how to make homemade moulds from cardboard and aluminium foil. Alternatively, you can purchase the specialist moulds online.

I have adapted the recipe further to simplify the jam filling (since we are using fresh pineapple, we don’t need glutinous rice flour or maltose), and to make the pastry in a food processor instead of mixing by hand.

Taiwanese pineapple cakes in serving dish, individual ones on plates, and tea and tea pot behind
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4.96 from 21 votes

Taiwanese Pineapple Cake Recipe | 鳳梨酥

Servings 18 pieces
Author Diana Chen

Ingredients

Pineapple Jam Filling

  • 660 g fresh pineapple, peeled and cored with ‘eyes’ removed
  • 220 g caster sugar
  • 80 g unsalted butter

Pastry

  • 60 g unsalted butter
  • 40 g shortening (Trex, Crisco or lard)
  • 40 g caster sugar
  • 25 g full-fat powdered milk
  • 230 g pastry flour (such as Italian 00 flour)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 70 g beaten egg (this is approximately 1 ½ eggs; beat 2 eggs, then weigh and use 70g)

Instructions

Pineapple Jam Filling

  • Peel the pineapple and remove core and ‘eyes’.
    Weighing fresh pineapple to make a pineapple jam filling
  • Cut the pineapple flesh into small dice, about 5mm.
    Chopping fresh pineapple to make a pineapple jam filling
  • Strain for about 10 minutes to remove excess juice.
    Draining the juice from chopped fresh pineapple
  • Place pineapple and sugar in a wide non-stick pan and cook over low medium heat until most of the moisture has evaporated, about 30 minutes, stirring often.
    Cooking pineapple jam
  • Add butter and stir continuously until butter has melted into the pineapple. Keep the heat on to help evaporate moisture from the butter, but do not cook for more than about 5 minutes in order to preserve the taste of the butter. The mixture will appear soft, but it will stiffen when cooled to room temperature.
    Adding butter to the cooking pineapple jam
  • Spread mixture thinly on a large plate to cool completely before using.
    Cooked pineapple jam, spread on a plate to cool

Pastry Dough

  • Dice butter and shortening into approximately 1cm cubes. Freeze for 15 minutes.
  • Add dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and mix.
  • Tip frozen butter and shortening, and the beaten egg into food processor bowl, and pulse until crumbly.
    The pastry ingredients in the processor after blitzing
  • Tip mixture onto a pastry mat and quickly press together with your hands to form a ball. Do not knead, to avoid gluten developing and toughening the baked crust. Press dough into a disc and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
    The pastry turned out onto a surface and gently formed by hand into a ball
  • Note: The dough can also be made by creaming together the fats and the sugar, then adding the egg, and finally combining with the dry ingredients to create a crumble. This can then be pressed together to form a ball, in the same way as the food processor method.

Shaping Cakes

  • Precise weights are important to ensure each pastry fits the mould snugly. Divide pineapple jam filling into portions of 20 grams each, and roll each portion into a ball.
    Cooled pineapple jam, weighed into portions and rolled into balls
  • Divide pastry dough into portions of 25 grams each, and roll each portion into a ball.
    Portioning pastry dough by weight into equal portions
  • Flatten a dough ball. You can do this in your palm or with a small rolling pin, but It is easiest to do this in a tortilla press between two pieces of silicone greaseproof paper.
    Flattening a ball of pastry using a tortilla press
  • Place a portion of filling into the centre of the flattened dough. 
    Placing pineapple jam filling into flattened pastry dough
  • Gently wrap the dough around the filling, pinching away and setting aside excess dough at the top and where the edges meet. Roll the filled dough between your palms to form a smooth ball.
    Forming pastry dough around pineapple jam filling
  • Place the ball into a metal mould.
    Placing rounded pineapple cake into metal mould
  • Gently press down using your fingers or a small pointed spatula, to ease the dough into the corners of the square mould. The dough will not quite reach the top of the mould – the pastry will expand when baked in the oven. Pave over any thin patches and cracks with the excess dough set aside earlier, smoothing the surface with the spatula. Turn the mould over and repeat on the other side.
    Pressing pineapple cake into metal mould, during making of Taiwanese pineapple cakes
  • Place the shaped pastries, all still inside their moulds, on a baking sheet.
    Taiwanese Pineapple cakes in moulds, ready to bake

Baking

  • When all pastries have been shaped, put the baking sheet into the fridge and chill for 15 minutes.
  • While pastries are chilling, heat the oven to 170 C. 
  • Bake the pastries for 8 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn each pastry over.
    Taiwanese Pineapple cakes, just out of the oven, still in moulds
  • Return the pastries to the oven and bake 5-8 more minutes, until the top is slightly golden, checking regularly after 5 minutes. Do not over bake or the filling could expand and crack through the dough surrounding it.
  • Remove the pastries from the oven, lift off the moulds and cool the pastries on a rack. 
    Removing Taiwanese pineapple cakes from the metal moulds
  • One side of the pastry might be more coloured than the other – this is fine, you can turn them all on the same side for a uniform look, or turn them on different sides for contrast.
    Just-baked Taiwanese pineapple cakes on a cooling rack

Serving and Storing

  • The pastries can be enjoyed fresh and warm.
  • However, convention is to leave the pastries overnight in an airtight container, after which the crust will have become more tender.
  • The pastries should keep at room temperature for 3-4 days. Mine are all eaten within this this period so I’m afraid I don’t know what their maximum shelf life would be.

Save this recipe on Pinterest:

Taiwanese pineapple cakes in serving dish, individual ones on plates, and tea and tea pot behind

Guest post by Diana Chan. Images by Kavita Favelle.

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!
130 Comments to "An Authentic Taiwanese Pineapple Cake Recipe | 鳳梨酥"

  1. Jacqueline Meldrum

    What a wonderful recipe and the step-by-step photos make it seem more doable. I just posted a pineapple cake recipe too. Great minds and all that.

    I hope you and Pete have a wonderful Christmas xx

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Thanks, we felt that step-by-step photos would be helpful for something like this, which is quite unfamiliar. It was pretty straightforward in the end!

    Reply
  2. Mary Twiss Connolly

    This looks amazing and something I would try once I bought those little square molds!

    My favorite line in the article:
    “Beware, however, that it would eliminate the luck-inducing power of pineapple cakes.”

    Happy Christmas!!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Those language lessons are such a part of Chinese dishes, and one of the aspects of Diana’s writing that I particularly love!
    The moulds are great to use, but if you don’t have any, the post we link to shows how to make some yourself. You can use Google Translate to read the instructions.

    Reply
    Millie

    This recipe would be perfect if the measures were the ones used in the United States. We don’t use your measures for cooking or baking, so it is imposible to figure it out when you are not a math genious. Thank you.

    Reply
    Ashton

    Personally, I think prioritizing grams over ounces and such is better. A majority of the world uses the metric system, and only America uses the imperial system, so it only made sense. Either way, you have the internet; converting the measurements would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Have a good day.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Exactly this, thanks Ashton.
    It’s certainly not impossible, and there are as great many conversion tools in the internet that make it the work of mere moments.

    Reply
    Kimberly

    Only 3 countries in the world use the imperial system USA being one of them
    For people who do not have access to purchasing baking supplies in metric or metric/imperial and can’t do the math there are many east options available on the internet. I am constantly amazed at how Americans act so entitled to have measurements in imperial rather than adapting or looking up one of the many conversion charts or apps like the one shared below since they are the minority.

    https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cooking-calculator.php

    Kirsten

    Go buy a food scale off Amazon for $10. Your life will be easier and your recipes will be more accurate (and therefore better). No math needed. Signed, an American that looked for a solution instead of demanding the rest of the world conform to my base knowledge.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Thanks Kirsten, I appreciate your comment and I agree, it’s worth getting a scale for baking recipes anyway, as it’s far more accurate. And it’s important to understand that the rest of world creates content that suits the way they and most of the world approach cooking measurements. Some sites do choose to provide conversions for American readers but for those of us who don’t, there are many very easy to use conversion tools available online.

    Reply
  3. Amy Chung

    Looks absolutely delicious! I am terrible at making anything sweet so I tend to either buy them or I send a link to my baker friends hinting that I’d like a batch. LOL! I am Malaysian and we eat a lot of pineapple tarts, quite similar to these pineapple cakes. They are devine and I can smash a whole box in a very short period of time!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, interestingly, Diana also bought a mould that allowed her to press this same pastry into individual tart cases and used the same filling to make little pineapple jam tarts. I have a friend from Malaysia who hosts a Perananak supperclub here and he has made those for dessert on occasion too. So good!

    Reply
  4. Anjali W

    This recipe for Taiwanese Pineapple Cake looks brilliant. With all those easily available ingredients I would love to try it out in my kitchen too. Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, it’s all readily available ingredients, so well worth trying. The moulds are unusual but in the post we link to, there’s some tips on making homemade ones if you don’t have the metal set.

    Reply
  5. Daniel

    I was looking to learn how to make something authentic for my girlfriend these holidays and this post gave me a great idea. The Taiwanese pineapple cake looks delicious. I’m so glad I came across this article, thank you 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    These are a little bit of a labour of love, but actually not difficult at all, and so delicious. They are rich and butter and so good. If she loves pineapple, she’ll hopefully love these!

    Reply
  6. Lisa

    Oh yum, these look totally delicious! I love baking, but have never tried anything like this before. I do love pineapples though, so will be giving it a go. Very interesting about the full milk powder they use too.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Same here, I’d eaten these but not tried making anything like them previously! Was easy learning from Diana!

    Reply
  7. Marcia

    Big fan of pineapples but not of baking. I appreciate how the instructions are very clear. This would make a very special gift to take to a celebration, especially here in Miami, USA where this would not be a common treat!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I imagine you could do similar with a different fruit, but needs to be something that would work nicely with that butteriness.

    Reply
  8. Sinjana Ghosh

    These pineapple cakes look delicious. I love the fact that the number of ingredients are less, however, i haven’t seen such smallmetal containers you used. Will try making it some day

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, not too many ingredients and really good results. The metal moulds are special to these pastries but in the Chinese-language blog post we linked, you can find instructions on making your own instead.

    Reply
  9. Courtney Hopkins

    Wow these look amazing! I don’t think I’ve had one before but would love to try one. Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to try to make them.

    Reply
  10. Natalie

    What a great recipe! I love the step-by-step photos! I tried baking with raw pineapple cake once but it turned out awful haha, I should really try this recipe tho.

    Reply
  11. Renata

    Hi! Thanks a lot for this recipe! Do you think I could use a silicon mold?

    Reply
  12. Cat Lin

    I am a Taiwanese and I have never ever attempted to make pineapple cake at home! Now that I live overseas, I do miss pineapple cakes on occasions. Maybe I should give it a try this holiday season!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Oh you definitely should, they aren’t difficult, even though there’s a few steps, hopefully these step by step instructions will make it straight forward and they are so good!

    Reply
  13. Bhushavali N

    The recipe doesn’t look too difficult! I might only have to replace the eggs with egg-free options but otherwise recipe looks easy to follow.
    I have most of the ingredients except for the square moulds. I guess it wouldn’t harm if I make round cakes instead. Haha!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    It would work fine, and you can also make moulds yourself if you want! ❤️ Let me know how you get on!

    Reply
    Kat

    Hi. Has anyone used a canned pineapple to make the jam? My mother in law is a big pineapple fan and I thought she might love these for her birthday, the only thing is, I am very allergic to pineapple and can’t touch or try them. I scrolled quite a bit but haven’t seen this particular substitute and I know canning kills off the enzymes that I am allergic to, making it safer for me to work with, but it can change how it reacts chemically when baking. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I’m really sorry, Kat, but I’ve not tried this using canned pineapple, but I think it would be worth a try. If you try it, would absolutely love to hear your feedback on how it worked out!

    Reply
    Sharon

    I’ve done it with canned pineapple and it works great. Just get the kind canned in juice (not syrup) and drain before cooking.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Great to hear that worked well, Sharon, thanks so much for letting us know! Much appreciated!

    Madeleine

    I’m in the U.S. and glad the measurements are by weight. I would like to make the filing one day and the pastry another day. Any problems with that?

    I am going to follow your filing recipe but will have to use someone else’s pastry recipe that does not use lard or crisco. That’s something I won’t buy.

    Is there a substitute for powdered whole milk. I went to three stores and can only find nonfat powdered milk.

    kaveyeats

    Hi Madeleine
    You won’t have any problem making the filling the day before.
    I can’t comment on using nonfat powdered milk as I’ve not tried it but I might add a couple of grams of extra butter to counter the reduced fat? But iif you have an alternative pastry recipe to use, do go ahead and try it.

  14. Choclette

    These look absolutely gorgeous and I think I prefer the idea of a pastry cum biscuit rather than cake. The step by step photos are particularly useful, though I’d need to use different moulds.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, the name is definitely a misnomer as they aren’t really cake as we’d think of it So good!

    Reply
  15. Priya

    Ooooh, so much yum! The Taiwanese pineapple cakes sound and look absolutely delish. Thank you for sharing this authentic recipe with us. 🙂

    Reply
  16. Caro

    What delicious sounding cakes, I’ve never heard of these. I have heard that pineapèple brings luck. Your recipe looks great especially with all the photos to follow.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, pineapple is considered lucky which is perhaps one reason (alongside their deliciousness) for the popularity of these lovely treats!

    Reply
  17. Fiona Maclean

    They look beautiful and sound quite delicious. Way beyond my own cooking skills, but lovely to learn how they are made (and I do like pineapple!)

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Definitely not beyond your skills, they aren’t difficult, but do take time, but it’s quite enjoyable to sit and make them.

    Reply
  18. Tiff

    Hi! Your recipe look awesome! I was wondering what size is your mold and where can I buy them at? Thank you !

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Tiff, these belong to my friend Diana, I’ll ask her to check the size, she had a friend bring them for her from Taiwan.

    Reply
    Conrad

    The traditional mould is the rectangular mould but the proportion of this recipe is too much , would cut down by 20%, meaning 20g filling, 15g dough . I just tried this recipe , that’s how I know the proportion is too much for the traditional mould haha

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    The traditional moulds come in different sizes.

    As you can see from the photos we also used traditional moulds and the proportions in the recipe are correct for the moulds we used.

    I went again to Taiwan recently and different brands seem these in different sizes, for example ChiaTe are much bigger than Dawn Cake brand.

    Reply
    Conrad

    Yes , went to the shop the order day and saw the square moulds that you used in your photos , thanks for the recipe , tasted really good

  19. Mayuri Patel

    An interesting version of a cake, pie or cookie. Just simply love how cute they look. Making them from fresh pineapple jam must have made them so so delicious.

    Reply
  20. margaret

    Hi. I noticed that the flour you used is pastry flour, if not available is there any substitute.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Margaret, pastry flour is simply wheat flour that is low in gluten and protein. If you can find Italian flour tagged as 00, that’s perfect. But basically, any plain / all-purpose flour is fine. Avoid bread flour which has high gluten levels, great for bread but not for crumbly pastry.

    Reply
  21. Thu Nguyen

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. My husband used to work for HTC phone so he traveled to Taipei monthly. He always brought back chia te pineapple cake. Rather pricy (even more if bought in US) but they are so good. He no longer travels there and I’m so glad I came across this website. I will try making this..seems labor intensive but your detailed step by step photos are very helpful.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    My pleasure and I’d love to hear how you get on, please send photos if you are willing! 💜

    Reply
  22. Jazz

    It looks so yummy! I have wanted to bake these but I don’t know where to buy the square molds. Where did you buy yours? Do you have a suggestion? I’m from the Philippines. Thank you so much 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Jazz, my friend had her friend bring them from Taiwan. But there’s a link in the post to making your own lives with cardboard and foil if needed! 👍

    Reply
  23. Lucy

    I have always wanting to make these tarts but do not have the recipe. thanks for sharing

    Reply
  24. kaveyeats

    I haven’t tried but I have recently found and bought a set of moulds from the internet, very cheap want perfect for these!

    Reply
    Stephen Ng

    Glad to visit Taiwain 2 weeks. Discovered a delicious pineapple pastry. I was addicted to it. We ate it eveyday after lunch. Your receipe can help us to try. Thank you.

    Reply
  25. Tom

    Excellent recipe with clear step-by-step instructions and photos! Many thanks for sharing.
    Brings back memories to the many, many pineapple cakes I enjoyed when visiting Taipei 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    My pleasure, glad you have found it useful. We too loved the pineapple cakes when we visited Taiwan!

    Reply
  26. Ellie H

    I made the filling using brown sugar, its turn about a bit darker and a bit more flavor as well. The cookie dough is spot on, work well in my high humidity kitchen like mine. Overall, very tasty treat, thanks for putting together the recipe 😘

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Very pleased it worked for you and your brown sugar variant sounds wonderful! ♥️

    Reply
  27. Joyce

    Hi! If we use the rectangular pineapple cake molds, do we need to increase/edit the amount of filling/pastry that’s needed in each mold? Or is it okay if we just follow your recipe exactly and maybe ours turn out a little flatter? For reference, the molds I have seem to be 6cm x 3.6cm; not sure how that compares with yours.

    Planning to make this for my boyfriend this weekend since he took me to meet his family in Taiwan over CNY, super excited to see if he likes them!! The pineapple is ripening on the counter right now 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I will need to measure the ones we used, the set I have now is rectangular but not the same size as yours. I would make these amounts and try making one cake, see how it fits in your mould, then maybe you can adjust the amount of pastry and filling for each cake, it doesn’t matter if you make a few less, right? Let me know how you get on, I love these so much I need to make them again soon. If only I can find my moulds, we moved last year!

    Reply
    Joyce

    I made them yesterday!! They turned out very well, though my color was not nearly as beautiful as yours (they stayed very pale except on the bottom side). I also really struggled to wrap them, but they were still good.

    Also I looked at my molds and they definitely are not as big as I said!! (I went off the online description before.) I don’t have a ruler to measure, but I’d say they’re maybe a little over an inch tall to a little under an inch wide, and maybe half an inch deep. Pretty small, I think. The measurements here yielded too large of a ball; I found that 12g of filling to 16g of dough was about right; I could have maybe added a gram or two more to one or both components.

    My boyfriend said the flavor was really good, and though he wasn’t expecting the slightly chunky texture of the pineapple (I don’t have a food processor so I just diced super small by hand), he actually liked that more since it felt more natural and handmade.

    Loved this recipe, I’ve been recommending it to all my friends who ask!

    More tips for anyone else who makes this and reads this far down the comments:

    * Reducing the pineapple filling took quite a bit longer for me than the recipe states, maybe more like 45 minutes. I also didn’t reduce as much as needed at first and had to put it back on the pan because it was too fluid. It seemed about right when bubbles didn’t really come up from the middle of the pan, but basically all from the sides. That seemed to congeal more reliably.

    Pressing into a ball caused the pastry to crack for me very easily, so when shaping them, I found it helpful to instead lightly tap very vigorously. If there are holes or cracks, you can cover them by taking a very small piece of dough (crumbs, really), mushing them between your fingers, and then covering the hole and again, vigorously lightly tapping it into place.

    Thanks again for a great recipe!! Looking forward to making it again.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I’m really pleased you had success even though you needed to adapt a little as you went along. I think the pure pineapple filling is better than many of the commercial ones you can buy in Taiwan as they add cheaper fruit to bulk or the more expensive pineapple. And then add extras to compensate for the texture and flavour!

    Reply
  28. Kim

    Most of the comments on here are from people who are looking to make these cakes, but haven’t tested the recipe, so it’s hard to know. But I did follow this recipe to the T and the 40g of shortening (I used Copha which is coconut based fat you can get in Australian stores as a substitute for shortening) just ruined the short pastry crust. As soon as I placed this in the oven the cakes started sweating and forming puddles of melted shortening. The end result was nothing worth keeping. Despite the lack of form, I hoped the taste would redeem these cakes but it just tasted like cardboard. I’ll try again and just follow a butter-only crust recipe and also omit the butter from the pineapple filling – I didn’t think this was necessary.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I’m sorry you didn’t like the recipe, and it didn’t work for you, but we have made it exactly as written, and you can see the step by step photos throughout.

    Unfortunately, substitutions often change the texture and behaviour of pastry significantly, so it may be that the coconut based fat that you used didn’t behave in the same way as regular shortening.

    Reply
    Sabrina

    I was just about to comment the same. All the comments are not about having done it with an end result. It’s all thanks you for a recipe. Maybe someone who have tried it give me assurance of its goodness. Thanks for recipe anyways.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    There are at least two comments from people who HAVE tried it and enjoyed it, if you take the time to look through. In addition, they made sure to follow the actual recipe as written whereas Kim made substitutions, which will have affected the results.

    Reply
    Joslyn

    Hello, just made this recipe. Use butter only for the pastry. Shortening taste is offputting. Butter creates a flaky tasty crust. I live in California so i was able to buy a tortilla press cheaply and that really helped insuring a thin crust. I was ggod with only 20 grams for crust with 15grams of filling for my particular molds from Amazon. They look a little more shallow than those pictured. I baked on a lower rack so i wouldn’t have to flip since the first time I tried to do that, the cake fell out of the mold. Both sides came out golden. Amazon link for molds. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7598W8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_6W3aGbH80KFGQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

    Reply
  29. kaveyeats

    The pastry is quite specific, and I would think changing the fat content would change the finished texture, but by how much, I couldn’t tell you. This is definitely a recipe that uses lots of butter, and that’s very much part of the taste.

    Reply
  30. kaveyeats

    I’ve had a look and I think I’d try it. My only note is that it may mean the baking time isn’t quite the same, and I wouldn’t be able to give guidance on that. But I can’t see why it wouldn’t work!

    Reply
  31. Tina Chew

    So excited to come across your recipe. Prepackaged pineapple cakes vary greatly. Can’t find the ones we love so much from Taiwan here in the states. Your ingredients are exactly what we expect from our favorite brand. Can’t wait for my molds to arrive so we can make them. thank you for posting.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I hope you enjoy the recipe and that the result reminds you of your favourite brand. I’d love to see how you get on, so please come back and let me know, and maybe send me a photo by email of your results!

    Reply
  32. Angela

    Hi. I would love to try this recipe! But before I do I hope you can help me with 2 questions
    1. Do I need to grease the molds or will the pastry stick?
    2. Can I substitute the shortening with butter?
    Thank you

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Angela,
    On the first question, I don’t grease the moulds, the high butter content in the pastry means they slip out fine.
    On the second, I’m afraid I’ve never tried it as I know it works as it is, so I’m hesitant to swap. Sorry I can’t help but if you try it, I’d love to hear back on how well it worked with the substitute.

    Reply
    Jos Tillar

    I would not substitute the butter out because the taste would be lacking. Substituting the butter with shortening would increase shelf life however.
    The pastry is front and center as a foil to the sweetness so the butter flavor adds to the overall flavor.

    Reply
  33. Joslyn Tillar

    I purchased the rectangular and pineapple shape molds. PINEAPPLE mold is super cute. The pastry is really good… buttery, light and flakey. I bought and used a cheap tortilla press. What a difference that makes to insure a thin crust. Great idea. I should have cooked out more moisture next time but the flavor is very yummy. I will be keeping this recipe. Awesome recipe. Btw, the pastry and filling keeps in the refrigerator at least 4 weeks. I was going to make these for Christmas but ran out of time. I actually made them today. Your recipe made 26 pieces with left over filling. Going to make more or use on toast.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    This recipe is proving popular at the moment! I’m really pleased you enjoyed it and will be making it again. Thanks so much for your comments to let me know, I love to read them!

    Reply
  34. Daphne

    Wow never knew this can be done at home. So awesome! 🤩. I just hope one day I have time to bake these cakes. Thank you… 😀

    Reply
  35. Ian G

    Hey Kavey!
    Thank you for the wonderful recipe, it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a while and the came out delicious! Leaving them in the fridge for 24 hour is a protip 😉 It made such a difference, they were much closer to the store-bought texture! Plus that filling, like you and others here have mentioned, there’s so much more to it compared to the stuff you normally get.

    For folks like me who can’t (or folks who won’t) eat animal dairy I did it with a vegan butter and using coconut milk powder in place of the milk powder. I meant to do two half batches to compare, one with the powder and one without, but spaced 😐

    The only thing I will say that didn’t turn out quite right was the crumb was still pretty big, closer to a traditional shortbread. I’ll have to look into it, whether it was technique or the non-dairy swaps or something else.

    Anyway thanks again!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I’m so pleased you enjoyed!
    Shame the pastry wasn’t quite right, but thank you for aknowledging it could be because of substitutions, I hope you can find the right tweaks to correct that, do please let me know as I’ll edit the recipe to share your recommendations!
    Thanks!

    Reply
  36. ashok

    Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.

    Reply
  37. Eve Stephanie

    Thank you so much for your wonderful recipe. After failing many times with other online receipes, I finally successfully made pineapple shortcakes this afternoon.

    Reply
  38. Bonnie

    Can’t wait to make these with our children! Where can I buy the square molds in your photograph? They look like a great size.

    Reply
    Vanessa

    Thanks for the article and recipe! I made this, but didn’t have lard/crisco on hand so just used all salted butter, I also cut the sugar down. I also tried half recipe with all purpose flour,, and the other half i used buckwheat flour. The pineapple cakes Turned out good, the reg flour did taste better.
    I also tried making the molds, but since the article was in Chinese I made some assumptions. Tip for those making the molds, test out one before making and stapling all of them! I had to readjust all of them made.
    All butter dough- i left the pieces in the fridge, and took out one by one, so it would be easier to handle.

    Reply
    Madeleine

    I used powdered nonfat milk, which is all I can get and in place of lard/ crisco just added that amount of butter because I don’t buy lard or crisco. . I just tasted one. Delicious! Just my first 9 were ugly. LOL! But they still will taste good.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Oh lovely, so glad they turned out and you find them delicious! Thanks for coming back to let us know the nonfat powdered milk and butter instead of lard worked out! The shaping, you get better with practice but as long as they were delicious, that’s the important thing!

    Reply
  39. Alphabet

    Thanks! Love the mini portion size – easier to make and even easier to eat! Great in Taste.

    Reply
  40. Dotdotgot

    Hey Kavey,

    Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! I tried to make this but my pastry kept breaking when I went to make the balled with pineapple and it wasn’t smooth enough and when I baked it, they looked all wrinkly? Any tips on how I can fix this?

    Reply
  41. Barbie

    I was watching a show called The Brothers Sun and one of the characters baked these pineapple cakes, they looked so delicious My local newspaper had a recipe but it didn’t look quite like the ones on the show, but your recipe and pictures are exactly what he baked. So I will make your recipe and hope it works. I don’t have the square molds but may try to shape them differently and will order the proper molds for next time.Thank you!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hey Barbie, as long as you don’t substitute ingredients, you should be OK. Most people who’ve followed the recipe exactly have had success! Good luck and I hope you enjoy them!

    Reply
  42. Dennise

    So excited to make them myself, these were my absolute favorite when we were living in Taiwan and have been missing them.

    Reply

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