What can I replace pineapple with in a cherry dump cake?

Question

I would like to make a cherry dump cake, but some kids are allergic to pineapple. What can I replace it with?

The recipe I am working with is:

• 1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple with juice, undrained
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 1 can Duncan Hines Comstock® Country Cherry
• or 1 can Duncan Hines Comstock® Simply Cherry Pie Filling Topping
• 1 package Classic Yellow Cake Mix

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 13"x 9" pan. Dump pineapple with juice into pan. Spread evenly. Dump in pie filling. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over cherry layer. Sprinkle pecans over cake mix. Dot with butter. Bake 50 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature

Answer 1

Any canned Apple Pie Filling (such as the Duncan Hines) would provide a similar flavor and texture to the pineapple you want to replace. You might want to mix in some apple juice (or cider) to the apple pie filling to thin out the liquid in order to get the right consistency and volume.

Of course you will want to make sure you aren't simply replacing one allergen with another.

Answer 2

If the person you are cooking for is not allergic to citrus you could use orange or grapefruit. Get packaged and prepared grapefruit or mandarin oranges. This would bring you closer to the acidity range pineapple has.

You can normally find both orange juice and grapefruit juice with pulp since the recipe calls for "undrained". But if you prefer the recipe having the "chunked" pineapple consistency, you can find already peeled grapefruit and oranges packaged in their own juice that you could crush on your own if it isn't at the desired consistency.