Pink Palace Pancake Cake

Use Royal Hawaiian Pink Palace Pancake Mix to create a Pink Coconut Layer Cake! This cake features a pink hued coconut cake frosted with coconut buttercream. 

This recipe post was sponsored by The Royal Hawaiian. As always, all opinions stated here are entirely my own. 

Last month, I took a little vacation to Hawaii with my husband. We stayed at The Royal Hawaiian where I fell in love with their famous pink pancakes!

Obviously, the best way to recap a vacation is through cake. Inspired by the hotel’s pink exterior and the touches of pink all over the resort, I set out to make a pink coconut cake upon returning home.

Royal Hawaiian

The Royal Hawaiian is an iconic ocean front hotel located on world famous Waikiki beach. It first opened in 1927 as a luxury vacation spot for travelers. 

Even before the hotel was built, this part of Waikiki has a rich history. This area was once the favored residence of Hawaiian kings and chiefs. 

It’s hard not to spot this recognizable hotel. Even from the lookout point of Diamond Head, you can easily recognize The Royal Hawaiian’s pink exterior among a row of standard neutral colored buildings.  

This was the view from our hotel room. We stayed in the recently renovated Mailani Tower.

I highly recommend it! My husband loved the Mailani Lounge available to the tower guests.

Every night they host a happy hour with local Hawaiian beer on tap, free flowing wines, and a variety of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres. Perfect after an afternoon of swimming and lounging around the beach.  

Surf Lanai Restaurant

What kind of pancakes do you serve at a pink colored hotel? PINK PANCAKES!

This Pink Palace Pancake is the signature dish at Surf Lanai Restaurant. Take a quick look around during breakfast and you’re bound to find a short stack at every table! 

The pink pancakes consist of guava raspberry shortcake with balsamic strawberry relish and coconut creme. It’s topped with fresh berries and a sprinkling of toasted coconut. 

Royal Hawaiian Pink Palace Pancake Mix

The pancake mix is currently only sold at the Royal Hawaiian Bakery located within the hotel. At the bakery, you’ll also find goodies like Instant Coconut Syrup Mix.

Unfortunately, these products are not yet available for sale online.

Want to know the secret to the all natural pink color? Instead of using dyes, the pink pancakes are naturally colored using beet powder! 

[Beet powder is intense! I’m a big fan of it. Most recently, I used beet powder to color these pink glazed donuts. ]

Turn Pancake Mix into Cake!

Pancake mix is often a combination of flour, leavening agents, and flavoring. I like to think of it like a self-rising flour that can be easily be transformed into a something greater.

Rather than simply recreate the pancakes from the Surf Lanai, I experimented. I used the pancake mix to make a pink cake! 

I mixed coconut milk and sugar into the pancake mixture until smooth. Then, I folded in whipped egg whites into the batter. 

As you can see from the photo above, the raw cake batter is bright pink! However, it doesn’t stay that way after baking.

Due to the extended baking time of cake (about 25-30 minutes) compared to the quick 2-3 minutes it takes to cook pancakes on the griddle, the pink color fades.

To achieve that pink guava hue baked cake layers in the photograph above, I added a combination of beet powder and pink food gel coloring to the raw batter. 

Coconut Buttercream

The pink coconut cake is paired with a quick and easy American buttercream. 

To add a pop of coconut flavor, I used a couple tablespoons of coconut syrup. (The instant coconut syrup packets are also for sale at the Royal Hawaiian Bakery.) 

Unsweetened canned coconut milk or coconut extract will yield similar tasty results. 

Garnish the assembled cake with toasted shredded coconut to add flavor and tropical flair. 

Pink Coconut Cake

It looks like an average coconut cake from the outside. But, once you slice into the cake, you’ll be surprised by that vibrant pink interior. 

Thanks to the whipped egg whites in the batter, the cake is light and fluffy. Coconut milk adds moisture and flavor.

This is the kind of cake, I could totally eat without frosting. It’s slightly sweet, airy, and packed with coconut flavor.

This was the perfect cake to commemorate our recent Hawaiian vacation!

(Check my Instagram Story Highlights to view videos and clips from Hawaii)

Interested in more coconut cake recipes? Try this coconut cake made with olive oil or this coconut cream cake filled with coconut pastry cream.