The lovely people at All Things Cupcakes featured this pineapple hibiscus cupcake on their Weekly Roundup of Cupcakes. Woohoo! How exciting is that? 
I don’t know if its something to be proud of but I can eat a whole baby Bethonga by myself. Bethonga Pineapples are in season now which means that I have squirreled three Baby Bethongas away in my fridge which I will then attempt to eat by my greedy self. I refuse to eat the normal acidic, tongue burning pineapple, it gives me the same react as sour lollies, that of gagging and wanting to rip my tongue out. By the time that my husband reads this post, the Bethongas will be long gone. I can be ruthless this way.
I did put half an pineapple aside for the decorations which are an interesting way of making these gorgeous yellow “flowers”. The cake itself is easiness personified, no beaters or creaming, just stirring in one bowl. The fussy bit are the hibiscus flowers although this requires exacting knifework (being able to very thinly slice thin pieces of pineapple) and patience (waiting for it to dry in a low oven for over an hour). Neither of which I possess.
I made these pineapple hibiscus cakes for Tropfest, the outdoor film festival at the Domain in Sydney. I confess that I was too lazy to make a batch of the lemon cream cheese frosting, instead using some sour cream icing that I had leftover. The consequence of my laziness was that the sour cream icing was too runny to sufficiently hold the flowers properly. I just hate it when laziness isn’t rewarded…
Pineapple Hibiscus cupcakes
Pineapple carrot cake
- ½ cup (125ml) vegetable oil
- 3 eggs, beaten lightly
- 1 ½ cups (225g) self-raising flour
- ¾ cup (165g) caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups (440g) firmly packed coarsely grated carrot
- ¾ cup (160g) drained crushed pineapple (make sure to drain this well)
Pineapple flowers
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 12 wafer thin slices fresh pineapple (I used 3 slices per cupcakes for the effect that you see pictured. WW use two but I suggest that do cut some extra just in case)
Lemon cream cheese frosting
- 30g butter, softened
- 80g cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
- 1 ½cups (240g) icing sugar
Pineapple Carrot cake
1. Make Pineapple flowers
2. Preheat oven to moderate (180°c/160°c fan forced). Line a 6 hole texas or 12 hole standard muffin pan with paper cases
3. Combine oil, eggs, flour, sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and stir until combined. Stir in carrot and pineapple
4. Divide mixture among cases
5. Bake large cakes about 40 minutes, small cakes about 30 minutes (I found mine done closer to 20 minutes). Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool
6. Make lemon cream cheese frosting, spread on top of cakes. Decorate with pineapple flowers.
Pineapple Flowers
Preheat oven to very slow (120°c/100°c fan forced). Stir sugar and water together in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar has dissolved; boil 1 minute. Brush both sides of pineapple slices with sugar syrup. Place slices in a single layer on wire racks over oven trays. Dry pineapple in oven for about 1 hour. Immediately remove slices from rack, and carefully shape into flowers. Dry over an egg carton.
Lemon cream cheese frosting
Beat butter, cream cheese and rind in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
gradually beat in sifted icing sugar
Recipe from Australian Womens Weekly Cupcakes book
15 Comments | Add your own
wow! that is really genius making flowers out of thin slices of pineapple…the end result certainly worthy of the hard work because they look gorgeus!
Well, today I’ve learned about Bethonga pineapples.. I didn’t know they came in this delightful variety (and LOL re: you hiding them)!
I also have never seen flowers made from pineapple like this!
Thank you for encouraging us not to be lazy when it comes to shortcuts with frosting/icing!
I have the 500 cupcakes book (the pink, pretty little hardback book)..and haven’t made anything from it yet.
You’ve done a great job on these beautiful cakes. When I read “cupcakes” in the title I knew straight away they’d look fantastic, coming from you.
I definitely have to try one of those pineapples now!
These cupcakes would make an impressive “plate” when needing to take something to a morning or afternoon tea.
woah awesome! your pineapple flowers look amazing i must ‘borror’ your idea…
Hey, where’s my PINEAPPLE???
Hi airy fairy-Thankyou! It was a bit fiddly but I liked the end result. I wasn’t too sure that they’d work out to be honest
Hi Maria-I only discovered super sweet pineapple while holidaying in Thailand. They have the best pineapple and fruit there and I couldn’t get enough of it. So when I came back my friend told me about Bethongas. Sometimes they’re not as sweet but I’ve found the Baby Bethongas reliably sweet.
I don’t have 500 cupcakes so I look forward to seeing your creations!
Thanks, I agree, they would love lovely on a sunny day for a garden party on big plate!
Hi chocolate suze-Thanks! Hehe its not my idea, its from the WW Cupcakes book (which I love) so feel free to borrow away!
Hi Mr NQN-Ummm, oh dear. I think I’m in trouble!
NQN where did you get those cupcake paper? I never seen those one, look like it’s from USA cupcakes?
I was wondering about red velvet. I tried the magnolia red velvet cupcake recipe as in the http://chockylit.blogspot.com/2005/10/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-vanilla-bean.html, but it come out as too dense, not swell enough and hard to swallow yet the taste is nice. why? I need your expertise in baking cupcake, help me…
Your cupcake has been chosen for ATC’s Weekly Cupcake Collection! Click the link to see more. Looking forward to your next cupcake creation!
http://tinyurl.com/yqgnd8
That is sooo gorgeous!! I’m so impressed!
Hi Lilia-They’re by Donna Hay and they’re called French pleated Paper cups from David Jones but several of my readers have told me that they are sold out and indeed I have a look whenever I got to a DJs and they’re gone
I don’t know if it helps at all but Red velvet is a fairly dense cake, its not really light like a sponge. I made a Red Velvet cupcake here, I don’t know how the recipe compares of Magnolia (that link isn’t working) so you could certainly try that. Good luck and let me know how you go!
Hi CB-Thanks so much! I am so happy about that!
I’ve updated this post now. Thanks again and love your site too!
Hi Stef-Thanks so much! Oh wow I just saw your last cupcake (Corned beef and cabbage). That is genius!
congrats on this lovely creation making the cut in ATC’s weekly cupcake collection
it was absolutely deserving…ya see i knew all that hard work on the pineapple flowers would pay off!
Such beautiful cupcakes, and they sound delish!
Hi airy fairy-Thanks so much. Yes the flowers were an exercise in patience for me
Congratulations on your Berry Chocolate cupcakes making it! Very well deserved 
Hi Sandra Eileen-Why thankyou so much!
Congratulations on having your cupcakes ‘featured’.
BTW, the pleated Donna Hay paper cups are back at DJs. I just bought some yesterday!
Hi Belle-Oh cool! Thanks for letting me know! That’s good to hear, they fit my pans perfectly so I want to stock up.
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