A square of pineapple delight traybake on a plate
Traybakes

Pineapple Delight

I received several requests to feature a recipe for Pineapple Delight. So, I’m hoping it’s a favorite for a few more of you out there. I definitely consider this to be up there with Fifteens as one of the classic, Northern Irish, traybake recipes.

However, I held off making this for a while, as all versions of the recipe that I have contain raw egg. And I was a little wary about making a traybake with raw egg in it. Although I’m not at all wary about licking the bowl after I’ve just made cake or cookies. Yes, I obviously have double standards. Then I decided to make the Pineapple Delight without the egg and see how it worked. And it worked out great. But, if you’re not averse to a bit of raw egg in your baking, go ahead and add an egg to the buttercream layer.

For anyone reading who is not familiar with Pineapple Delight, this traybake has a crunchy Digestive biscuit base, then a smooth buttercream layer and is topped with a creamy, pineapple mixture.

Make sure to open your tins of pineapple when you start to bake. It’s best to drain the fruit thoroughly before you fold it through the whipped cream. You really don’t want the cream layer to get too soggy.

And as with all buttercream recipes, take your butter out of the refrigerator well in advance. This will make it much easier to cream with the sugar. I also add a splash of milk to my buttercream layer. I find this helps it to spread more easily over the biscuit base.

Pineapple Delight

One of the classic traybake recipes. Digestive biscuit base, smooth vanilla buttercream and a top layer of whipped cream and crushed pineapple.
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Servings 9 squares

Ingredients
  

Base

  • 8 oz or 225g Digestives/Graham Crackers
  • 4 oz or 110g butter, melted

Buttercream

  • 6 oz or 175g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 4 oz or 110g butter, softened
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp cream
  • 1 egg (optional, it's fine without)

Topping

  • 10 fl oz or 300ml cream, whipped
  • 2 x 8 oz or 227g tins of crushed pineapple, well drained
  • grated chocolate, to cover

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Line an 8inch/20cm square tin with baking parchment.
  • Crush the Digestive biscuits to fine crumbs. Melt the butter. Mix the butter with the biscuit crumbs and press firmly into your traybake tin.
  • Place in the oven and bake the for 10-15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  • To make the buttercream, cream the icing sugar and butter with the vanilla and a splash of cream until light and fluffy. At this stage, if you choose to use the egg, add it to the buttercream and beat well. Spread this buttercream carefully over the cooled base, so as not to dislodge too many crumbs.
  • Whip the cream. Fold the drained pineapple through the whipped cream and spread this over the buttercream layer. Put in the fridge to set overnight.
  • Sprinkle the top with some Digestive biscuit crumbs. Or crumbled Flake bar. Or grated chocolate. Or crushed Ginger Nuts. Or just leave it plain.

Video

Keyword buttercream, cream, pineapple

*I updated this recipe in August 2021 and increased the amount of pineapple used in the cream topping. I had previously used one small tin of crushed pineapple. My recent update has increased that to two tins.

11 Comments

  • Beryl

    I love Pineapple and made this yesterday. I made a few alterations. I added Coconut to the base layer and instead of Vanilla Extract in the middle layer I used Pineapple Extract and also added some Coconut. I had a difficult time getting the middle layer to set up during baking which resulted in the crust over baking.. For the topping I added a small package of instant Vanilla Pudding and also added Coconut. It turned out delicious. I will make this again but for the middle layer I think I would use a Cream Cheese layer.

    • CJ

      So, I used two small tins of crushed pineapple. The net weight for each tin was 8oz/227g. (I didn’t weigh the drained pineapple). But there is a certain amount of leeway for the pineapple in this recipe, as I’ve made it before with half the amount and it still tasted great.
      Hope this helps!

      • Jane

        5 stars
        Thanks so much for replying! I actually used two of the 435g net weight tins in the end and it was perfect! Delicious ?