Old fashioned (vintage) cake that just screams summer. This Tropical Summer Cake is layered with angel food cake, marshmallow, pineapple, nuts and topped with whipped topping and coconut.
“This post and recipe were created for #SummerDessertWeek! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions are 100% mine.”
Big shoutout to Dixie Crystals Sugar for making this recipe possible. Dixie Crystals is my favorite sugar for all of my baking needs.
We all have childhood memories that revolve around food. This is one of those memories I have. This Tropical Summer Cake made the rounds of my elementary school and was present at ever bake sale I can remember.
You really cannot find a more summer cake if you tried. It was easy to find in an old school cookbook and I immediately got a little nostalgic. I mean, the cake is delicious, but it’s so easy and I ate it so often as a kid. When it comes to things like that, you just can’t help but have associated memories. Am I right?
It’s not a difficult recipe. You start with an angel food cake. You can make it from scratch, which I did because I happened to need another one for something else.
You can also simply purchase a store-bought one. They are relatively inexpensive.
Next you just need a bag of large marshmallows and some milk, a can of crushed pineapple, nuts of your choice (we used chopped walnuts), and either homemade or store-bought whipped cream.
Top it all with some shredded coconut and you have a cake that tastes completely homemade.
I let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour but two is better, before serving. It allows all the flavors to meld and makes cutting it much easier. Also keeps it from falling apart when serving.
Not that falling apart is a bad thing because nobody will care once they take a bite. As you can see we pop a maraschino cherry on top for presentation purposes. Because we can.
I love old-style vintage cakes and when they are as easy and delicious as this one is, you just can’t go wrong.
Check out the amazing #SummerDessertWeek recipes from our bloggers today!
Ice Cream Recipes:
- Mint Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches from Southern From Scratch
Pies of Summer:
- Sweet Tea Pie from For the Love of Food
Sweet Summertime Cakes:
- White Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caramel Espresso Buttercream from The Food Hunter’s Guide To Cuisine
- Blueberry Lemon Mini Poundcakes from Forking Up
- Bee Sting Cake from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
- Coffee Cake from A Blender Mom
- Tropical Summer Cake from Daily Dish Recipes
No-Bake Treats:
- Banana Pudding No Bake Cheesecake from The Bitter Side of Sweet
- Strawberry Cloud Dessert from Shockingly Delicious
Baked Desserts:
- Homemade Blueberry Cream Cheese Danishes from Big Bear’s Wife
- Black Cherry Kolaches from The Spiffy Cookie
- Blackberry Bread Pudding from Eat Move Make
- White Cake with Vanilla Cherry Buttercream Icing from The Beard and The Baker
- Lemon Poppyseed Scones from Mildly Meandering
Sweet Sips:
- Watermelon Slushies from The Domestic Kitchen
Are you ready to make this Tropical Summer Cake?
Tropical Summer Cake
Old fashioned (vintage) cake that just screams summer. This Tropical Summer Cake is layered with angel food cake, marshmallow, pineapple, nuts and topped with whipped topping and coconut.
Ingredients
- 1 angel food cake, homemade or storebought
- 30 large marshmallows
- 1 cup Dixie Crystals granulated sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large can crushed pineapple, undrained
- 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
- 1 8 ounce container whipped topping
- 1 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- In a large and tall saucepan, mix the milk, sugar and marshmallows. The marshmallows rise as they begin to melt so you will want to watch carefully that it not boil out.
- Cook over medium heat until marshmallows are melted.
- Remove from stove and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Tear the angel food cake into 1" pieces and layer them in the bottom of a 9x13 dish.
- Pour the melted marshmallows over the top of the pieces of angel food cake. Using a spatula, pat the marshmallow coated angel food cake down to sort of form a crust.
- Layer the crushed pineapple over the top of the marshmallow coated angel food cake.
- Layer the nuts over the pineapple.
- Spread the whipped topping evenly across the top.
- Sprinkle the coconut over the top of the entire cake.
- Chill for at least 2 hours.
Looking for more great cake recipes?
Banana Split Cake
Grilled Angel Food Cake Triple Berry Trifle 
Chocolate Espresso Bundt Coffee Cake
Here are some more fun summer dessert recipes!
- Tropical Summer Cake
- Strawberry Lemonade Pie
- No-Bake Strawberry Nutella Cream Cheese Pie
- Green Tomato Spice Cake
- Coconut Mocha Shakes
- Easy Chocolate Camping Cake
- Strawberry Cantaloupe Smoothies
- Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes
- Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- Tropical Fruit & Honey Swirled Donuts
- Pineapple Pistachio Marshmallow Cream Cake
Nicole Cook is the owner/editor of Daily Dish Recipes, a lifestyle blog with an emphasis on food/cooking/cocktails and much more.
She calls the Midwest home – Missouri to be exact. Coffee is her go-to drink, music is her vice and she is endlessly tethered with devices to her online world. She loves all things planner, lives for her great big family and loves her pets endlessly!
Her motto in life: Live Simply, Dream Big, Be Grateful, Give Love, Laugh Lots. Always, always laugh lots.
Erin Vasicek
Oh my gosh I love that you deconstructed the angel food cake to make another cake! Those flavors definitely scream summer.
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
This looks like the PERFECT summer dessert! All of those tropical flavors are screaming helllllo summer!