Pineapple Topping for Cakes and Desserts

This pineapple topping recipe is another one of my made from scratch topping recipes. It can be made using both fresh and canned pineapple, making it flexible enough to be made even when fresh fruits are not available.

This pineapple topping recipe requires only 5 ingredients – pineapple, sugar, water, lemon juice and cornstarch. All these ingredients are very basic pantry supplies except for pineapple. And even if fresh pineapple is not readily available, it can be easily substituted with canned pineapples which can be easily obtained.

This is a very versatile topping recipe. It is great on cakes, cupcakes, pancakes, ice creams, and many other treats. And despite calling this a topping recipe, it is also great as a filling, especially for individual-sized treats like mini cheesecakes.

I have another recipe for pineapple filling which is pretty much similar to this topping recipe, except that I choose to make that filling without any chunky fruit pieces in it. Smooth fillings work better for desserts like cheesecakes that require cutting (like my baked pineapple cheesecake here). Chunky fruit pieces in the cheesecake can make it difficult to cut neat pieces, hence my preference for a smoother filling in such treats.

Nevertheless, this pineapple topping tastes equally great as the pineapple filling recipe and can be used interchangeably.

---

How to Make

Ingredients

• Fresh or canned pineapple
• Sugar
• Cornstarch (mixed with some water)
• Lemon Juice
• Water (pineapple syrup if using canned pineapple)

Preparing the pineapple

Option 1: Fresh pineapple - peeling & processing

• If you plan on making this topping with fresh pineapple, start by preparing the pineapple first. Peel and chop it into small cubes. Not sure how to peel a fresh pineapple? Check out my detailed, step-by-step tutorial (including a video tutorial here).
• The next step is to chop the pineapple into tiny pieces. You can do this in a food processor or by hand. In a food processor, pulse the fruits until they are all chopped roughly. There is no need to blend until smooth. Suffice if they look like crushed pineapple.
• If cutting by hand, chop them into as small pieces are you wish.

Option 2: Canned pineapple (crushed pineapple, pineapple cubes and pineapple rings in syrup) -Processing the pineapple

• Place the pineapple cubes into a food processor. If using pineapple rings, chop them into smaller pieces first. Pulse until the pieces are chopped into smaller pieces.
• If you are using crushed pineapple, there is no need to chop them further.

Cooking the pineapple topping

1. Once the fruit is all prepared, transfer the chopped fruit into a medium-sized pan.
2. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and water.
3. Stir and cook them over low heat. The mixture will appear runny initially.
4. Let the topping simmer slowly to allow the chopped pineapple to cook. As it starts to thicken, keep stirring to avoid it from burning.
5. Mix corn starch with some water. Pour it into the pineapple topping mixture. Stir quickly and thoroughly to avoid clumping.
6. Continue to cook until the topping thickens up. Once it reaches your desired consistency, turn the heat off. Let it cool before transferring it into a clean container. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

---

  Notes

How to choose a ripe pineapple?

• This recipe can be made with both fresh pineapple or canned pineapple.
• If using fresh pineapples, the topping is best made with well-ripened fruits. I often use 2 methods to choose a ripe pineapple. The first method is testing the fruit by pressing it. A well-ripened pineapple will be slightly softer as compared to an unripe one. This is not always an obvious method, and if you are not used to pineapples, it might be a little hard to notice this as the thick and rough pineapple skin often makes it hard to feel this. Too soft a pineapple is not necessarily good, as it could indicate the pineapple having gone bad on the inside.
• The second method is testing by smelling it. This is another way to test if a pineapple is ripe. As I have indicated in my post here on how to cut a pineapple, a ripe pineapple cannot be determined by its skin color. You can, however, do a simple smell test to determine if a pineapple is ripe. Simply hold the pineapple and smell it at the bottom. Often, ripe pineapple will have a sweet pineapple fragrance. If you get the smell, that is a good indication of ripe pineapple.
• If you are not able to find a pineapple that is fully ripe, you can buy an unripe fruit and continue to let it ripe at home. Simply wrap it well with a newspaper (you can remove the crown and the stem at the bottom of the pineapple by simply snapping them out) and keep the it wrapped in a cool and dry place. Check every day for progress. Do note that this method will not work if you have already cut or peeled the pineapple.

How to chop the pineapple?

• If you are using crushed pineapple in a can, there is literally no chopping or processing required in making this fruit topping. You can simply drain the syrup and proceed with cooking the fruit.
• If you are using fresh or canned pineapple cubes or rings, the easiest way to chop the fruit is by using a food processor. Place your fruits in the processor and use the pulse function to crush and chop the fruit into small chunks.
• You can also choose to chop the pineapple by hand. This can take a bit of time, but it is definitely an option. Slice and chop the fruit into small chunks.
• Another way is to grate the pineapple with a vegetable or cheese grater. This is best for fresh pineapple as you need the fruit to be a little firm for easy grating. Also, if you use this method, cut the pineapple into long wedges for easy holding when grating.

Cooking the pineapple

• Regardless of whether you are using fresh pineapple or the canned version, pineapple chunks do not generally soften easily with cooking. Hence you will notice that I have used quite a lot of liquid (water or syrup) in making this fruit topping. The water helps the fruits simmer longer and that helps to soften them better.
• Fresh pineapple is often a lot firmer compared to the canned version. Hence, given the same cooking time, you will find that the topping made using canned pineapple is softer than that made using fresh pineapple.

Sugar

• This pineapple topping is made using white sugar. You can always substitute it with brown sugar is you wish.
• Do take note that brown sugar will result in your pineapple topping to be of a brown hue and white sugar will keep it yellow.
• Also, there is no diference in the amount of sugar used for the topping made with fresh pineapple and canned pineapple. Despite the canned pineapple being soaked in sugar syrup, it still requires sugar to be added to it when making the topping for best results.

Lemon Juice

• Lemon juice is used in very little quantity in this topping recipe and it is meant to enhance the taste. If you leave the lemon juice out, your pineapple filling will still be ok, but there will be a difference in taste. For best results, use fresh lemon juice and strain it to remove any seeds or pulps.

Cornstarch

• The purpose of cornstarch in this pineapple topping recipe is to thicken it up. You can omit the cornstarch and continue to cook the filling until it thickens up via longer cooking, however, when thickened in this manner, what effectively happens is that the liquid in the filling is let to dry up, resulting in a thicker, but drier filling.

---

Like this recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out

• How to Cut a Pineapple without Waste
• Blueberry Filling - A Quick and Easy Homemade Recipe
• Strawberry Filling - An Easy Homemade Recipe
• Pineapple Nata Jelly - An Easy Tropical Konnyaku Dessert
• How to Make Lemon Curd
• Pineapple Cheesecake with Coconut Cookie Crust
• Pineapple Filling Recipe

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my pineapple topping recipe.

And that’s pretty much my super easy and super versatile pineapple topping recipe.

Enjoy!