A layered no-bake dessert with vanilla wafers and creamy pineapple “pudding” made with sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice topped with cool whip, coconut, cherries and pecans.
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Two things I have to tell you about this Italian Bakeless Cake:
- It’s not Italian
- It’s not cake.
Ha! This recipe's at least 50 years old and I have no idea why it's called an Italian anything but, as I've said before, we Southerners will give something a fancy name a minute!
This was Nanny’s recipe and is one of the many recipes I wish I could ask her about. Where did she get it? Is it her own creation? Why is it Italian? Why is it called cake?!
We always have this at Easter. My family has a thing with coconut and Easter dinner 🤷
This was one of the very first recipes I ever made for South Your Mouth. Even though the pictures were horrible, it went viral! It was in the Top 10 most visited recipes for five years straight!
I made it again today to update the photos and had to stop myself from eating the whole thing! Literally. I had to physically walk it over to Mama’s and put it in her fridge to keep myself from gorging on it. I LOVE THIS STUFF.
There’s just something about the combo of pineapple, cherries, coconut and pecans that does it for me. I think it’s the texture. Or I don’t know, the flavors go together perfectly too so maybe that’s it. It’s probably both.
This eats a LOT like banana pudding because the vanilla wafers soften and become cake-like and the filling is creamy like pudding.
And lemme tell you about the filling. Because you will certainly think I left out an ingredient when you look at the recipe. When we mix the lemon juice with the sweetened condensed milk, the acid in the lemon juice reacts with the milk and naturally thickens it into a pudding!
FAQ ON ITALIAN BAKELESS CAKE
WHAT MAKES IT ITALIAN? Nothing. This was my grandmother’s recipe and the name she called it and I would never, ever question anything Nanny did in the kitchen.
IS IT CAKE? Nope. It is sort of an “icebox cake” in that cookies soften in a creamy filling and become cake-like but it isn’t a cake. Just like with the Italian name, if that’s what Nanny called it, then that’s what it’s called.
WELL, WHAT IS IT? This is a layered dessert made with vanilla wafer cookies and a pineapple “pudding” topped with whipped topping, coconut, chopped pecans and maraschino cherries.
WHAT THICKENS THE “PUDDING”? Magic! Or chemistry. I won’t bore you with the details (lots of science stuff with pH, proteins, bonds and acid) but ultimately the acidic lemon juice reacts with the sweetened condensed milk in a way that naturally thickens it like custard or pudding. Cool, right?
CAN I SUBSTITUTE ______ FOR THE LEMON JUICE OR SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK? No. Absolutely not. See bullet point above. I don’t know about using fake lemon juice because I’m not sure if it has the same acidity and pH as real lemon juice. I also don't know about using fat free or reduced fat condensed milk - I haven't tested them so I don't know if they work or not.
CAN I OMIT THE COCONUT, PECANS AND/OR CHERRIES? Yes, but the culinary perfect storm won’t hit with quite as much ooomph.
Recipe for Italian Bakeless Cake
Italian Bakeless Cake
Yield: 12 Servings
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 15 MinInactive time: 6 HourTotal time: 6 H & 15 M
A layered no-bake dessert with vanilla wafers and creamy pineapple “pudding” made with sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice topped with cool whip, coconut, cherries and pecans.
Ingredients
- 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, drained well
- 1 box vanilla wafers
- 1 8-oz carton cool whip, thawed
- 2 cups sweetened, flaked coconut
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
- 20-22 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- OPTIONAL: Set cherries out to dry a bit on a few layers of paper towels to prevent the bright red juice from staining the coconut.
- Whisk together sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Stir in drained pineapple.
- Line the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish (typically 9x9 or 7x10) with vanilla wafers. Pour all of the pineapple mixture over vanilla wafers then add another layer of vanilla wafers on top of pineapple mixture.
- Spread cool whip evenly on top of vanilla wafers then cover evenly with coconut.
- Sprinkle pecans over coconut then top with cherries.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 6 hours) before serving.
Notes
- The lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk will thicken into a custard.
- 1 large lemon usually yields about 1/4 cup juice.
- You won't use the pineapple juice in the recipe but it's perfect in a co*cktail!
- Any other questions are likely answered in the FAQ section above the recipe card.
- Recipe updated 1/30/24 from 8-oz undrained pineapple to 20-oz drained. Either works great but I prefer more pineapple and it's hard to find the 8-oz cans these days!
Nutrition Facts
Fat
12.59 g
Sat. Fat
7.77 g
Carbs
44.49 g
Fiber
2.54 g
Net carbs
41.96 g
Protein
3.88 g
Sodium
74.09 mg
Iron
1.84 mg
Calcium
125.36 mg
Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2012
icebox, ice-box, layered, nobake, no-bake, bakeless, dessert, pudding, custard, lemon juice, sitalian, vanilla, nilla, wafers, sweetened condensed milk, icebox, coconut, lemon juice, cool whip, whipped cream, topping, pineapple, pecans
dessert
italian, southern
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