I have been asked to make my cousins 30th bday cake. Her mom sent me a recipe for her favorite pineapple cake that her grandmother used to make, but its a layered type of cake and they want me to do a theme cake in fondant..heres the recipe she sent me, she didnt say how to make it, just that its layered. I think she just sent it to give me an idea of the flavors....

1 yellow cake mix
1 8 oz cream cheese
1 sm package vanilla instant pudding mised with 1 1/4 cup milk
2 lg cans crused pineapple (drained and squeezed)
1 larg container cool whip (spread over pineapple)
Sprinkle with nuts and coconut.

I think Im going to do a beach bag/theme cake. It doesnt have to be very big so I was thinking that would travel pretty easy. It will have to travel 2 hours in July heat so I need something that doesnt need to be refrigerated. I was thinking yellow cake filled with pineapple and maybe an vanilla pudding or bavarian cream but how would you suggest I incorporate the coconut and nuts? They can be such a strange texture. Flavor the bc? Im not very good with flavor combos so any suggestions would be welcome! TIA!
Kathy

Yellow cake with bavarian filling with pineapple and nuts, then flavor your BC with coconut extract.. only combo I could think of.. you obviously cant put shredded coconut on cake if youre decorating it..

When I saw your list of ingredients, it reminded me of a pig picking cake.
<http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pig-Picking-Cake-III/Detail.aspx>

It's called a pig picking cake because it goes the cool sweetness goes well after the spicy hot pork bbq . Pig Picking = Pork BBQ.

I would assume the cream cheese went into the frosting.

I could be way off base, but this is what came to my mind.

Good Luck!

Pig Picking cake would not travel well in the July heat and would need to be refrigerated.

If I had to do this cake, I would just try to incorporate the flavors.

Again, I wish you luck with this cake! Let me know how it comes out and please, be sure to upload photos when it is done!

Do you have air conditioning in your car? If the cake is well chilled (like overnight) and you box it well to travel in an air conditioned car, you aren't going to have any problems.

You could put the pineapple in the cake mix and add the nuts and coconut to the filling. I'd skip the Cool Whip altogether and use a regular buttercream for stability's sake.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions! I am going to just try and incorporate the flavors somehow...I think I may be doing a couple test cakes to see which combo tastes best....good thing my husband could live off cake..lol. I am excited to do this one so I hope to get the flavor thing out of the way so I can plan on the fun stuff.. Thanks again!
Kathy