Today was my father-in-law’s birthday. He would like everyone to believe that he does not eat sweets…because he is sort of a health nut. He has worked in the health industry as a nurse all of his adult life and because of, and maybe in spite of that, has done an incredible amount of research of and dealings with alternative medicine. He is a vast fountain of untapped knowledge where it concerns most people. Us family though…we get glimpses into whatever kick he is on at the time!

Back to my point. He would have you believe that he doesn’t like sweets. Those of us close to him, on the other hand, know the truth! He LOVES sweets. Maybe that is why he tries to stay away from them most of the time, to avoid eating all of something {believe me, I understand this specific issue}.

Papa is known to bring by a fresh pineapple and bananas on a birthday. He gets out the DeWalt, drills holes in them, and then stick candles in the poor unsuspecting fruit. This, of course, is his way of helping us to make a healthier choice instead of gorging ourselves on cake and icing. That is the special thing he does for us.

When trying to think of what I could make for him for his birthday the first things that came to mind were the pineapple and bananas. That is his thing though. I wanted to do something special for him. So I thought some more. He introduced me to the wonders of coconut oil and using coconut milk in cooking to replace dairy. He introduced me to grinding my own whole wheat flour. He introduced me to those hens that lay those eggs we get on the farm. He introduced me to the wonders of canning apple and pear sauce {among other things, but this is my focus right now}. And once again, he introduced me to having pineapple and banana on my birthday. So I decided to make him a cake that incorporated all of these things. And so I did.

All of these words to introduce you to: Papa’s Whole Wheat Banana Pineapple Coconut Cake. {Okay, maybe that is a bit of a long name.} To shorten it, how about for the sake of this post we call it Whole Wheat Tropical Cake.

It is absolutely de-lish! The pineapple juice kind of caramelized on the outside of the cake, giving it the slightest, wonderful crust. No frosting on these guys. But I promise, you will not miss it! Try out this healthier {well healthy…except for all of the sugar in them…eh’hem…} cake and, of course, enjoy! -Shelley.

Whole Wheat Tropical Cake:
2 1/2 c whole wheat flour {I used freshly ground whole wheat white flour}
1 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 can pineapple slices {liquid drained and reserve 1/4 c of liquid}
1/4 c pineapple juice
2 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup applesauce {I used pear sauce because that is what I had on hand}
3/4 c coconut milk
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

{Update: I decided that completely cutting out the 1 cup of white sugar and keeping the 1/2 cup of brown sugar would make for a much nicer muffin, per say, than cupcake. The cake is good and sweet. For everyday purposes I thought this would make a great breakfast item if it wasn’t quite so sweet.}

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

First, put in medium bowl all dry ingredients: flour, sugars, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.

Whisk it all together…

Next you will need your “liquid” or wet ingredients:

Oh! Don’t forget the vanilla! Whew…that wouldn’t have been good!

In a separate bowl put bananas and mash them. I like to use a potato masher.

Add the rest of the “wet” ingredients.

Now you have your two bowls: dry ingredients and wet ingredients:

Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients…

And mix well…

Use the coconut oil to grease pans. I used an extra large muffin tin and a regular sized muffin tin. You could use a 9 x 13 inch pan, or 8 or 9 inch cake pans as well.

Fill the greased muffin tins {or pans} to the half way point.

Top with the pineapple slices. {In the extra large muffin tins, the pineapple slices fit perfectly btw!}

For the smaller muffin tins I cut the pineapple slices into quarters and placed two pieces on the top of each.

Bake at 350 degrees. I baked the bigger cupcakes about 25-30 minutes and the smaller cupcakes about 15-20 minutes. Check yours though and when they start to get golden on top they are done.

Let cool about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and let cool the rest of the way.

Not exactly your “traditional” birthday cake, but delicious none the less!

Enjoy!