Aloha Sweets Squad! The summer is well under way and you know what that means, it’s Hawaiian luau season! With pineapples and tiki torches on the brain, we thought it would be the perfect time to bust out the grass skirts and coconut drinks and share a little bit of luau fun with our Pina Colada Cupcakes Recipe today! These delicious flavors will have you rummaging your party supply cabinet for the most summer items you can find! We’ll be savoring the rest of the summer with our next batch of these for sure. If only school days didn’t roll around so fast, right?! Now, to the matter at hand, the recipe! Get your sprinkles and other supplies together and get baking! Serve them poolside for a truly festive surprise!
Pina Colada Cupcakes – The Perfect Luau Dessert!
Everybody knows if you’re going to throw an awesome luau you’re going to need some Pina Coladas, and well, dessert of course. But you can really make your luau next level by combining the two with this crazy easy Pina Colada cupcake recipe. No really, these luau cupcakes are so easy you’ll be out of the kitchen and enjoying the summer bash before you know it. If you’ve following our blog for any amount of time, you know we love fast and easy sweets. While we love baking in the kitchen, we love spending time with our loved ones more. With this recipe, you can too!
These Pina Colada cupcakes start with a jazzed up Duncan Hines Pineapple cake mix with real pineapple chunks mixed in then baked in our solid yellow greaseproof cupcake liners. Then we finish them up with with a coconut buttercream frosting and topped in our best selling summer sprinkle mix, Tropic Like It’s Hot. You can’t have pineapple cupcakes without including another summer favorite, pineapple candy sprinkles. They go together like grass skirts and coconut bras don’t you think?
Looking For More Luau Party Ideas?
No matter if you’re getting festive at the beach or creating your own beauty vibes in your back yard, these Pina Colada cupcakes are the prefect addition to your Luau. Did you know we have an entire post full of our favorite Luau party supplies in the shop? Be sure to check it out here while you’re in planning mode! These decadent cuppies would go perfect with these supplies! Last but certainly not least, top your gorgeous pineapple cupcakes with a tiny umbrella and add some leis around the party table to add to the Hawaiian vibe. Don’t these colors just scream summer fun?
That’s about it for this recipe share! We chose our most tropical flavors and supplies to go with this theme but you can mix and match to make it truly unique to you! Don’t forget to check out our Hawaiian luau party ideas post for some fun assorted supplies we put together for this very theme. We can’t wait to see what you guys make. Tag us #SweetsSquad so we can share! Not sure how many bags of sprinkles you need? Check out our conversion How Many Sprinkles Do I Need charts!
Love this cupcakes recipe? You’ll love our other cupcake ideas!
- Vanilla Recipe
- Chocolate Recipe
- Basic Buttercream
- Hawaiian Luau Party Ideas
- Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
- Funfetti Recipe
- Orange Creamsicle Cuppies

Pina Colada Cupcakes Recipe + Coconut Frosting
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Ingredients
- Pineapple Cupcakes
- 1 Duncan Hines Pineapple Cake Mix
- 2/3 Cup Pineapple Juice (From Can 20oz. Can Of Pineapple Slices
- 1/3 Cup Milk
- 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Cup Small Pineapple Chunks (Cut From Slices)
- Coconut Buttercream
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup Shortening
- 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tsp. Coconut Extract
- 8 Cups Of Powdered Sugar
- 6-8 Tbsp. Milk
- Tropic Like It's Hot Sprinkle Mix
- Makes approx. 36 Cupcakes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Strain juice from canned pineapple. Cut up 1 cup of pineapple sliced into tiny chunks. Place remaining pineapple chunks in a bowl and set covered in fridge for later.
- In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, pineapple juice, milk, sour cream, and eggs until combined. Stir in 1 cup of small pineapple chunks.
- Spoon just a little more then 3 tablespoons of cake batter into each cupcake liner, bake from 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees.
- While cooling you can prepare your coconut buttercream.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until soft and creamy. Add in shortening and beat again until combined. Add in vanilla and coconut extracts and mix until combined. Slowly add in powered sugar one cup at a time, stirring in between. Add in 6-8 Tbsp. of milk 1 Tbsp. at a time until you reach desired consistency. Top with Tropic Like It's Hot sprinkles!