Granny Cake
Granny Cake is an old fashioned cake that is just as loved today as it was years ago. It’s not only moist and delicious, but it’s incredibly easy to make. This is a great cake for any occasion and I promise it will disappear in no time.
If you love pineapple upside down cake, you’ll really love this Granny Cake. You won’t see maraschino cherries in this cake, but there’s plenty of crushed pineapple, brown sugar, butter and flavor!
If you’re looking for a recipe that’s low calorie and healthy, you need to keep on moving down the road…far away from this recipe. Yep, although this cake is delicious, it’s totally a high calorie heart attack dessert. Ha!
Ingredients
CAKE
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spoon & leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 large (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice (don’t drain)
CRUNCHY TOPPING
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans
SWEET MILK GLAZE
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Making the cake batter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease or spray a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
- Add the granulated sugar, eggs and crushed pineapple and mix to combine. Spread the batter evenly in the baking dish.
Making the crunchy topping
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and chopped pecans.
- Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the cake. Lightly pat it down.
- Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean
Making the sweet milk glaze
Make the glaze while the cake is baking!
- Add the evaporated milk, granulated sugar, and butter to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Remove from the heat and mix in the vanilla. Pour evenly over the hot cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Wait about 15 minutes before serving so that the glaze has ample time to soak into the cake.
CAN I FREEZE GRANNY CAKE?
Yes, this cake freezes nicely. Make sure to cool completely and wrap securely. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in a 300 degree oven.
Note:
I’ve had a couple comments from readers about using baking powder in this recipe. You can use baking powder or baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to activate it. The pineapple juice is an acid. The baking powder works with or without the acid. If you use baking powder and your cake doesn’t rise, I suggest checking your baking powder to make sure it is still good. Here is how you can check both.
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Granny Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This cake is extremely easy to make, mixed in one bowl. It’s very moist and delicious and resembles pineapple upside down cake. It’s also great served at room temp but even better when warm.
Ingredients
CAKE
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spoon & leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 large (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice (don’t drain)
CRUNCHY TOPPING
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans
SWEET MILK GLAZE
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
CAKE
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease or spray a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add the granulated sugar, eggs and crushed pineapple and mix to combine. Spread the batter evenly in the baking dish.
CRUNCHY TOPPING
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and chopped pecans.
- Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the cake. Lightly pat it down.
- Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the glaze.
SWEET MILK GLAZE
- Add the evaporated milk, granulated sugar, and butter to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and mix in the vanilla. Pour evenly over the hot cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Wait about 15 minutes before serving so that the glaze has ample time to soak into the cake.
- Refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
- This cake freezes very nicely.
- You can leave this cake sitting out on a counter. However, it seems to become more sugary when sitting out.
Could you skip the glaze to cut down on sugar?
Hi Cassandra, I haven’t tried this but I’m sure you can since it’s so moist. Let us know if you try it and how it turns out. 🙂
It is very tasty, but mine did not have a “cakey” consistency.
Delicious cake but my cake did not rise it was a heavy gummy consistency can you offer any suggestions??
Hi Shelley, By any chance did you drain the pineapple? It doesn’t get drained. The only other thing it could be is expired baking soda, if you followed everything else.
Mine turned out the same way. I looked up some similar recipes & the only difference is that the others called for baking soda instead of baking powder. I remade the recipe using baking soda & it turned out great!
Hi Kristian, You can use baking soda or baking powder. Baking soda works great with acidic ingredients such as pineapple juice or buttermilk. However, the baking powder works equally as well. Was your baking powder possibly expired?
The taste is great but, like the others, it did not rise. More of a “bar” consistency. My baking powder expires in 2024. Will attempt again using baking soda.
Hi Kemie, This cake doesn’t rise a whole lot. However, it is very moist. You can use baking soda or baking powder in this recipe. However, if you use baking soda, it needs to go in the oven as soon as you mix it. It only reacts one time, when mixed with the wet ingredients. When using baking powder, it reacts twice, once when it gets combined with the wet ingredients, and once when it gets hot in the oven. Please let us know how it turns out next time.
Sorry to ask but do you add the crushed pineapple and juice together or do you leave the juice out entirely thank you x
Hi Tish, You don’t drain the pineapple. Use the juice too.
Thank Cindy for getting back to me x
You’re very welcome! 🙂
How much baking soda to use?
Hi Kim, It’s 1 teaspoon of baking powder, but you can use baking powder in this recipe since there’s acid in the pineapple.
Please take this recipe down and rework it. I LOVE your site and make things from here all the time. This is my first disaster. I should have read the other comments before making it. It was absolutely terrible and was made for guests at brunch. I had nothing to serve. And expensive wasted ingredients. I never comment but since I’m still so mad hours later I need to say something.
Hi Rebecca, I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out for you. I can’t rework it, because it turns out great when I make it. I think a couple of readers have drained the pineapple when they shouldn’t have. You should also be able to use baking powder or baking soda. If you search other recipes for this, they’re all basically the same. The only other thing I can think of is if your baking powder or baking soda was expired. Again, I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you.
rebecca so funny for you to blame someone else for your short comings ; and to demand they take down their post hahahahaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!
I was wondering if I could add the sweet glaze just after it’s baked then add the brown sugar pecans on top & return 2 over for a crunchy topping?
Hi Judy, I haven’t tried it that way, so I honestly can’t say. I don’t see as to why you couldn’t though. Let’s us know if you do, and how it turns out.
I made this cake and it turned out fantastic! My revisions: I added a tsp of vanilla extract in the cake for flavour. I used 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the cake mix (instead of 1.5 cups as the recipe states). When I compared similar recipes, most called for 1 cup of sugar. I just wanted it be less sweet. In Canada, our commonly available canned crushed pineapple (Dole brand) is 14 oz (not 20 oz, as the recipe calls for). I was worried it would be too dry, but it was great. Beautiful fluffy cake texture. I cooked it for 35 mins in a 9″x9″ pan — I switched it out last minute because the batter seemed way too low in a 9″x13″ pan. I’m allergic to nuts, so I omitted the nut crumble. Wasn’t missing it at all. I brought it warm to a New Year’s party (and kept it warm in the oven, but microwaving a slice as you need it works perfectly). Everyone raved about this cake!
Since I used a 9×9 cake pan and the rise was generous, the cake was quite domed and most of the sweet glaze went into the outside pieces. Maybe next time I would poke the cake throughout with the handle of a wooden spoon before pouring on the glaze so it’s better distributed.