This sunshine cake will brighten anyone’s day and it is so easy to make! All you need are 5 simple ingredients. (see picture below).
Do not add anything that the box of cake mix calls for on the back of the box. All you do is add the can of crushed pineapple to the box of cake mix and stir. That is IT. Bake the cake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. While the cake is baking in the oven prepare the frosting. Combine the dry pudding mix with the cool whip and gently fold in your drained can of mandarin oranges. Sometimes I just make the frosting for this recipe and eat it out of the bowl, it is so good.
Can I use a sugar-free cake mix?
Yes, you can. My stomach cannot tolerate sugar-free products and that is why I used the regular cake mix in this recipe. Please use your WW recipe builder to figure out points for sugar-free cake mix.
Sunshine Cake
Ingredients
- 1 (15.25 oz) box yellow cake mix (18 oz cake mix works with this too)
- 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
- 1 (8 oz) container fat-free cool whip (12 oz is ok)
- 1 1 oz package of instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 (11oz) can of mandarin oranges, drained
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a bowl, mix yellow cake mix and pineapple. Do not drain the pineapple.
- Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Pour cake mix you mixed together in step 2 into a pan and bake for approx 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
- While cake is baking, prepare the frosting by mixing together the whipped dessert topping, the package of instant pudding, and the mandarin oranges(drained). Set frosting in a refrigerator to set. Frost when cake has thoroughly cooled.
Notes
Points Plus: 6
Smart Points: 8 (Freestyle)
Makes 15 servings total.
recipe from food.com
If you are struggling with entering my recipes into the WW recipe builder and come up with different points that is OKAY. Don’t worry about getting the exact same thing as I did. We all live in different parts of the World, and with different grocery stores that carry different products. Not all points will be the same.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 166.6
- Sugar: 19.8g
- Sodium: 228.7
- Fat: 5
- Saturated Fat: 2.9g
- Carbohydrates: 29.9g
- Fiber: .6g
- Protein: 1.6g
looks like a refreshing cake!
Looks delightful. Do you have the mandarin oranges and pineapple reversed in the instructions for putting the cake together?
Your recipe isn’t complete. Where is the pudding and mandarin orange?
When do you add the pudding and oranges?
What do you do with the Mandarin oranges and the pudding mix?
Drained mandarin oranges go in cake mix. Crushed pineapple with juice goes into topping mix, with the pudding mic and cool whip..
And that’s what I get for not questioning before I made it. I read instructions. Put the pineapple and juice in cake mix….hoping for a good outcome…….ugh
Im confused now,the picture shows the cake with the mandarin oranges in the frosting but the recipe says it goes in the cake and pineapples in the topping .Which is the correct method ?
I made this but kinda tweaked I bit. Instead of 8 egg whites (which I think is a lot) ,I used three whole eggs as I per instructions on box of cake mix. Then I put in a half can of crushed pineapple in it’s own juice,half small can mandarin oranges drained,and half cup of unsweetened apple sauce. Was plenty of “liquid” and made a good consistency. Turned out great! Then used a container of cool whip,the other halves of pineapple (in juice) and mandarin oranges and vanilla pudding. I used 1/2 cup low fat milk and mixed up the pudding mix with that then added the other ingrefients. YUMMY
I make a much more simple version of this cake.
1 box of angel food cake mix
1lg can crushed pineapple
Lg container of Cool Whip
Any kind of fresh berries
1. Preheat oven to whatever the cake mix says
2. Dump the undrained can of crushed pineapple into cake mix. Mix well. Pour into 8 x 13 ungreased pan. Bake until cake is done/firm in middle……doesn’t take as long as a regular cake so check cake often.
3. Cool cake
Top with LOTS of whipped topping. My favorite is to add lots of sliced fresh strawberries scattered over the top of the whippe topping but any kind of berry is good….or a mixture of fresh berries. Chill for 2 hours and dig in!!!
The recipe calls for a 5 oz. SF vanilla pudding, but a small box is 1 oz. and a large box is 1.5 oz. Small or large, anyone?
I made this today.. I used a combinaed the recipe and one of the hints. I used the 3 eggs instead of egg whites, used the apple sauce foto replace the oil, and used half of the mandarin oranges and pineapple and half the juice in the batter. The othe half went in the coolwhip frosting.. Along with the small box of SF vanilla pudding. To save some calories I used Libbey’s crushed pineapple made with Splenda. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks for the recipe and for the hints. Oh, at the preheated 350 oven, it was done in 28 min. Which was the lower end of the baking time on the bad. I’m glad I started there!
Added pineapple undrained into mix along with apple sauce. Added about a third cup of milk to pudding, leftover pineapple and chopped up Mandarin oranges then mixed in ff coolwhip for frosting. Yum!
I was a bit confused by the recipe since clearly there is oranges in the frosting. Thanks for those who corrected the recipe. I was wondering if I could use egg beaters in place of the egg whites?
I made this following the recipe exactly and it was a complete flop
The cake was way too dense and therefore got
Really hard … did I miss something. I keep reading in the comments
About egg whites? Nowhere does it say egg whites or eggs!
The cake looks delicious so I know I must
Have missed something. Help!
I’m really sorry to hear that. I updated the recipe just last month because the egg whites are not need. All you need is a whole can of pineapple tidbits. Don’t drain juices. The cake comes out really moist and shouldn’t be hard.
Where is everyone getting egg whites from? I don’t see that in the directions at all, Just dump the cake mix in with the pineapple. Do not actually prepare the cake mix according to the box.
Am I reading the same thing everyone else is?
I too though, am curious about the size of the pudding??
I made this today per the instructions stated and it did NOT turn out like the picture at all. The cake was flat and hard also. Won’t make this again.
Can I substutute pineapp,e for tinned peaches???
This cake is awesome. Mine turned out perfectly. I love that it doesn’t have a lot of ingredients. I followed the directions exactly except the oranges I didn’t have any. So moist and yummy.
The only thing I did different was I had pineapple chuncks instead of crushed pineapple. I poured the juice in the Caleb mix and put the chunks in blender and pulsed a d the. Added to cake. I’ll Will make again and try with oranges in the topping.
Glad to hear Lisa!
I made this per the directions just mixing the cake mix and the pineapple and it was a complete fail, didn’t rise, was hard. If you are supposed to actually mix up the cake mix per the box instructions and add the pineapple, your recipe should state so!
Janice you do not need to follow the back of the box cake mix. I would have stated that in my recipe. I don’t understand why your cake turned hard? It should have been moist is you didn’t over bake it. Sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you.
I just made it and it came out pretty tasty for a weight watcher cake – very moist and tastes like I’m biting into a marshmellow fluff – it looks like there are 20 points to a bite but didn’t feel guilty about my weigh in tomorrow as the ingredients were low in points. I will definitely make it again. Obviously making the cake from the box you would have to add eggs but if you go by your recipe you can’t fail with it!!
I made this cake for first time and it was AMAZING. The cake rised so much and was very moist. I tried it again last night and cake barely rose an inch. So I tried it again, same thing today. So frustrated. I thought it was the amount of pineapple/juice first but when I tried again today it did same thing????
I made it just like you said! The only thing I changed is I used a pillsbury sugar free yellow cake! It was so delicious still. Thank you for this now I don’t feel I have to skip out on something that taste sweet!
★★★★★
You updated the recipe in June 2018. It didn’t calculate the current WW Freestyle point, that’s disappointing.
Alexis – Freestyle points are still smart points and that is listed in the recipe notes.
I liked this cake. It is the simplest cake I’ve ever made. I ate the whole pan since my sons wouldn’t try it.
★★★★
This recipe is amazing!! I made it for my mom and her best friend who are doing weight watchers together. They love that it’s not too sweet, but sweet enough to satisfy cravings. I did two 6”x2” round pans and put them in for 30 minutes. They came out so perfect and moist. I didn’t change anything with the recipe and I’m glad!
★★★★★
I made this cake and it is easy and delicious. My husband even loved it and he never eats cake.
★★★★★