Preacher Cake

Preacher cake is such an amazing dessert that originally started out as a Southern treat with the goal of being fast! This cake is loaded with a huge variety of different mix-ins. The flavor of the pineapple, coconut, and walnuts is a subtle part of the cake, which is then paired with a tasty cream cheese frosting and topped with more walnuts and coconut!

Best Preacher Cake Recipe

This preacher cake is loaded with so many different flavors and textures! You have sweet pineapple, crunchy nuts, chewy coconut, and moist cake! Not to mention the delicious cream cheese frosting!

The best thing about this delicious cake? It doesn't matter how good of a 'baker' you might think you are. It's really easy and turns out with great results! You'll look absolutely brilliant!

Jump to:

• Best Preacher Cake Recipe
• 🌎 Origin
• 🥘Preacher Cake Ingredients
• 🔪 How To Make Preacher Cake
• 💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Notes
• ❓ Is There A Difference Between Preacher Cake And Hummingbird Cake?
• ❓ Can I Make Preacher Cake Using Boxed Cake Mix?
• ❓ How Can I Make My Cake Moist And Fluffy?
• 🍰 More Cake Recipes!
• 📖 Recipe Card
• 💬 Reviews

🌎 Origin

The name 'preacher cake' refers to back when preachers used to stop by your house to visit. This, of course, typically involved serving them dinner.

The idea here is that this cake is made up of ingredients that you already have at home, so you won't need to plan it in advance or make a grocery store run. Therefore, you can make this cake in a pinch when you're having a last-minute get-together.

🥘Preacher Cake Ingredients

Don't let the long ingredient list fool you, these are almost all common items that you already have at home! Anything else can easily be purchased at any grocery store.

Preacher Cake

• Flour - 3 cups of all-purpose flour.
• Baking Soda - 2 teaspoons of baking soda.
• Salt - 1 teaspoon of salt.
• Cinnamon - ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
• Nutmeg (optional) - ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg.
• Sugar - 2 cups of sugar.
• Eggs - 3 large eggs.
• Vegetable Oil - 1 cup of vegetable oil.
• Vanilla Extract - 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
• Crushed Pineapple - 1 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple (not drained, or 2½ cups of fresh, pureed pineapple).
• Walnuts - 1½ cups of finely crushed walnuts (or pecans, divided into 1 cup and ½ cup portions).
• Coconut - 1 cup of sweetened coconut flakes.
• Toasted Coconut (optional) - ¼ cup of toasted coconut flakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream Cheese - 8 ounces of room temperature cream cheese.
• Butter - ½ cup of softened, room temperature butter.
• Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Heavy Cream - 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.
• Confectioner's Sugar - 2 cups of confectioner's sugar.

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for ingredients, amounts, & instructions!*

🔪 How To Make Preacher Cake

Don't forget to let your cream cheese and butter come to room temperature! You're going to need mixing bowls, a stand mixer or hand mixer, and a 9x13 baking pan.

This recipe will give you 12 decently-sized portions of cake, so you'll have plenty left over!

Make The Preacher Cake

1. Preheat. To begin, preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and spray or coat a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter (*see note).
2. Combine dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg. Set aside.
3. Combine wet ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of sugar, 3 eggs, 1 cup of vegetable oil, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Mix until smooth and creamy.
4. Combine dry and wet ingredients. Next, gradually add the dry ingredients mixture to your large bowl that contains the wet ingredients until all of the dry ingredients have been added, mixing gently between each addition. Mix just until the flour is all wet and do not over-mix.
5. Add mix-ins. Add a 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple, 1 cup of crushed walnuts, and 1 cup of flaked coconut. Mix just enough to fully combine the ingredients and make more of a normal batter.
6. Bake and cool. Pour the batter into your prepared 9x13 baking pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, in the pan, on a cooling rack.

Make The Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Cream the butter. First, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream 8 ounces of cream cheese, ½ cup of butter, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla together until light and fluffy.
2. Add cream and sugar. Next, alternate adding 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and 2 cups of confectioners sugar, whisking or beating between each, until it is fluffy and spreadable (*see note).
3. Frost the cake. Finally, spread the cream cheese frosting over the cake, then top with ½ cup of crushed walnuts or pecans and ¼ cup of toasted coconut.

This preacher cake is loaded with a variety of different mix-ins and topped with cream cheese frosting- how could it possibly need anything else? If you're feeling extra daring, you could always add on a scoop of some vanilla ice cream! Enjoy!

💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Notes

• After spraying your pan with the nonstick spray, you can coat it with sugar which gives it a fantastic crunchy crust on the cake!
• When adding cream and confectioners sugar, make sure you are alternating by adding 1 tablespoon of heavy cream, then 1 cup of confectioners sugar, then repeat.
• If the frosting is too thick, drizzle in another tablespoon of heavy cream, whisk/beat some more. If it is still too thick, add another tablespoon of heavy cream and repeat until the texture is fluffy and easily spreadable (but not runny).
• I made my cake in a 9x13 pan. However, you can layer it by using two round cake pans but they’ll take slightly less time to bake so watch them closely.
• To store your preacher cake leftovers, place them in the fridge covered or in an airtight container

❓ Is There A Difference Between Preacher Cake And Hummingbird Cake?

The flavors between hummingbird cake and preacher cake are extremely similar. The biggest variance between the two is that hummingbird cake uses ripe bananas!

❓ Can I Make Preacher Cake Using Boxed Cake Mix?

If you're wanting to make this recipe even easier than it already is, you can use boxed cake mix. Specifically, I recommend using spice cake mix.

You can omit the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar from the recipe. Additionally, go ahead and substitute the vegetable oil for ½ cup of melted butter. Don't follow the instructions on the back of the box, instead, just follow the recipe as written, only altering the ingredients mentioned.

❓ How Can I Make My Cake Moist And Fluffy?

I have two big tips when it comes to making some extra moist and fluffy cake! First, make sure you are using room temperature butter (and other ingredients, such as milk, that are written as room temperature in the recipe). Ingredients that are room temperature mix together more easily and, as a result, prevent the need for overmixing.

This brings me to tip number 2- don't overmix your cake batter! The process in which you cream your butter and sugar allows the butter to trap air which then expands while baking, giving you a nice and fluffy cake! If you overmix, the butter traps too much air, causing the cake to fluff up too much and then deflate, losing your fluffy consistency.

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📖 Recipe Card