Ambrosia Cake

(from 226-2tone’s recipe box)

Makes one 9-inch cake
Ambrosia, food of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology, is something a bit more humble in most American households, where it’s better known as a chilled fruit salad, often made with mandarin oranges, pineapple, and coconut. The tall and tropical ambrosia cake, made with angel food cake, pineapple curd, and orange and vanilla frostings, has more heavenly aspirations.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To prevent our Ambrosia Cake recipe’s pineapple curd from curdling, we combined the hot juice and egg-and-sugar slowly. We cut our angel food cake into four layers and sandwiched the curd and the orange and pineapple slices in between. We then used orange-flavored frosting to adhere the orange slices, and the pineapple curd to adhere the pineapple slices.

Source: Cook's Country April​/May 2006 (from RecipeThing user Bethany)

Categories: Desserts

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup pineapple juice
  • 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Pinch table salt
  • 3 cups vanilla buttercream frosting (see related recipe)
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest plus 2 teaspooons juice from 1 orange
  • 1 (9-inch) angel food cake (see related recipe)
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans mandarin orange segments, drained and cut in half lengthwise
  • 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
  • 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple slices, drained and cut into half moons

Directions

  1. For the pineapple curd: Bring pineapple juice to boil in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk eggs, yolk, and sugar in medium bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot juice into egg mixture, then return mixture to saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until thick enough to cling to spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in butter and salt, then strain into small bowl. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until thickened, at least 1 hour.

  2. For the orange frosting: Transfer 1 cup vanilla frosting to small bowl. Stir in orange zest and juice.

  3. To assemble: Cut cake horizontally into 4 even layers. Place bottom layer on platter. Spread 1/2 cup orange frosting over cake and top with 20 orange slices. Place next layer on top of oranges and spread with pineapple curd. Top with next cake layer and spread with remaining orange frosting and 20 more orange slices. Finish with top cake layer and coat top and sides of cake with vanilla frosting. Press toasted coconut into sides and decorate with orange and pineapple slices.

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