Okay, I knew that for Lilo and Stitch, I had to make something that captured all the wonderful flavors of Hawaii, so why not the Hawaiian Dream Cake? This is a cake that was designed to be very simple and can be made with a box mix, but we all know that over here on “Kay’s Cakes”, I’m way too extra for my own good, so I’m going to make it from scratch. And there are several elements here.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 2 3/4 cups cake flour (AP also works)
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp turmeric (just for the yellow look)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups canola oil
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 20 oz crushed pineapple
• 8 oz vegan cream cheese
• 30 oz instant vanilla pudding (AFTER making it. Do not use 30 oz of pudding MIX)
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup vegan heavy cream
• 2 TBS powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Chopped pecans
• Shredded coconut
• Mandarin orange slices

Start by preheating the oven to 350F and prepare a 9 x 13 baking dish. Then, combine all the dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, salt, turmeric, and sugar.

Strain the pineapple juice from the pineapple and SAVE the pineapple. Add water to the juice until you have 1 1/2 cups total. Stir it into the cake batter, then also add the canola oil and stir. Pour your cake batter into the pan and bake for about 35 min.

Prepare the vanilla pudding. You can use regular Jell-O pudding mix with nondairy milk, but it MUST be prepared on the stovetop to thicken up. Once you have your pudding made and measure out 30 oz, combine it with the cream cheese and 1 cup soy milk and stir until smooth. Then fold in the pineapple chunks.

Combine the soy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla, and whisk with a mixer until it forms whipped cream.

Once your cake is baked and cooled, spread the pudding/cream cheese mixture on top of it. Then add your soy whipped cream on top of that layer. Sprinkle the chopped pecans and shredded coconut over the top of the cake and let it chill in the fridge for at least one hour.

When you go to serve the cake, top each piece with a slice of mandarin orange and enjoy!