Angel Food Cake Pineapple Parfaits — An EASY, 4-ingredient, NO-BAKE dessert!! Perfect for summer because you don’t have to turn your oven on! Fluffy, light, airy, and wonderfully refreshing!!
Easiest Pineapple Parfait Dessert
My mom has been making this 4-ingredient, no-bake angel food cake dessert for about 30 years. It never gets old, it tastes like summer, it’s ridiculously easy, you don’t need a mixer, and you don’t have to turn your oven on. Big scores.
It’s the kind of dessert that you can keep eating and eating because it’s fluffy, light, airy, and refreshing. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
Rather than make it the traditional way, which involves slicing an angel food cake into thirds and layering with the lush-scious filling, I chopped the cake into pieces and assembled the dessert in parfait glasses. Or use a large trifle bowl.
Simply stir together a box of instant vanilla pudding with a large can of crushed pineapple, stir in whipped topping, add the cake pieces, add to glasses, and top with fresh berries.
If you don’t use pudding mix or whipped topping, I can’t comment on how to make this dessert. It’s for those of us who love our (no)baking shortcuts.
Ingredients in Angel Food Cake Pineapple Parfaits
To make the pineapple and angel food cake parfaits, you’ll need just four basic ingredients:
- Crushed pineapple (in juice)
- Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
- Whipped topping (like Cool Whip)
- Angel food cake (store-bought or homemade)
How to Make Angel Food Cake Pineapple Parfaits
Angel food cake and crushed pineapple is a simple combination, but it’s absolutely delicious! Here’s how the pineapple parfait dessert is made:
- To a large bowl, add the pineapple with juice, instant pudding mix, and stir to combine until smooth.
- Fold in the whipped topping.
- Add in cubes of angel food cake and stir to incorporate and coat evenly.
- Evenly divide mixture among parfait glasses or a large trifle bowl, refrigerate for about 1 hour.
- Optionally garnish with fresh berries and serve.
Can I Use Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding?
No, you must use instant vanilla pudding! Cook and serve pudding has to be heated, whereas the instant pudding will thicken after being mixed with the crushed pineapple and its juices.
Can I Use Homemade Whipped Cream?
Possibly, but I’ve only tested the recipe using whipped topping since that’s what my mother has used for 30+ years. I worry that homemade whipped cream would lose its volume quickly and become watered down.
Can I Use Fresh Pineapple?
Possibly, but you’d need to either chop it finely or pulse it a few times in a food processor to crush it. If you experiment with fresh pineapple when making this pineapple angel food cake parfait, leave me a comment below letting me know how it turned out!
Tips for Making Angel Food Cake Pineapple Parfaits
Angel food cake: Normally I think homemade is best, but angel food cake is easy to overbake so I typically just buy a cake at the grocery store bakery and call it a day. However, you can absolutely make this dessert with angel food cake using your own recipe!
Crushed pineapple: Use pineapple that’s packed in juice, not in syrup. And save all that juice!
Pudding mix: Do NOT prepare the instant pudding mix as it instructs on the box. Mix it directly into the crushed pineapple. The pudding will set up as the parfaits chill in the fridge.
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Angel Food Cake Pineapple Parfaits
An EASY, 4-ingredient, NO-BAKE dessert!! Perfect for summer because you don't have to turn your oven on! Fluffy, light, airy, and wonderfully refreshing!!
Ingredients
- one 20-ounce can crushed pineapple with juice, undrained
- one 3.4-ounce package vanilla instant pudding (I haven’t tried with sugar-free)
- one cup thawed whipped topping (I used fat-free Cool Whip)
- one 13-ounce angel food cake (from the grocery store bakery or make your own), diced into 1-inch cubes
- fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. for garnishing; optional
Instructions
- To a large bowl, add the pineapple with juice, pudding mix, and stir to combine until smooth.
- Fold in the whipped topping.
- Add the cake cubes and stir to incorporate and coat evenly.
- Evenly divide mixture among parfait glasses or a large trifle bowl, refrigerate for about 1 hour, optionally garnish with fruit, and serve.
Notes
Dessert will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days, noting it becomes softer as time passes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 207Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 320mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 3g
More Easy Pineapple Desserts:
Pineapple Poke Cake with Pineapple Glaze — Fast, easy, one-bowl, no mixer, from-scratch cake that’s easier than a mix! The glaze soaks into every inch and you’ll be in juicy pineapple heaven!
The Best Pineapple Upside-Down Cake – So soft, moist and really is The Best! A cheery, happy cake that’s sure to put a smile on anyone’s face!
Tropical Escape Soft Pineapple Crumble Bars – Sweet, soft bars with big pineapple chunks that taste like a tropical vacation!
Hummingbird Cake — A super SOFT and moist cake with bananas, pineapple, coconut, cream cheese frosting, and pecans!! Makes a huge cake that’ll feed a crowd!
Pineapple Coconut Bars — Eat your piña colada rather than drinking one with these fast, EASY, no-mixer bars that taste TROPICAL!! Pineapple, coconut, white chocolate, and cherries!!
This sounds really delicious. Ever consider an adult version of this by soaking the angel food cake in rum? Maybe coconut flavored rum, even? I know I am going to try. I enjoy your blog.
Sounds delish! I would drain off most of the pineapple juice and replace with the same amount of rum. If you soak the cake I fear it will just disintegrate.
Came over from Instagram to see the ingredients, and wow, so easy! Love pineapple.
Thanks for clicking over! Have a great day!
Crushed pineapple + pudding – that’s a game changer for sure!!! Love easy desserts like these!
I have a feeling you would love this dessert! And it’s no-bake!
Whhhaaat! These are awesome! I love that they are in parfait form!
This is so MN/WI. It’s like my childhood in a parfait glass :)
This is new to me but it sounds like it’s been around for a while (a midwest classic?). Easy indeed but it sounds delicious too!
Total midwest special! Reminds me of every church function, potluck, picnic, graduation party, etc. that was held in the summer!