Pineapple upside down cake for those in need of a shake up
20 Jul
Dear Cake Doctor
Life has become incredibly boring. I do the same thing, day in, day out, and can’t help but feel I’m becoming more and more indifferent by the minute. Is there something I can bake to shake up my life a little?
Love,
Restless
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Dear Restless,
I’m sorry to hear life’s left you listless of late. It sounds as though you’re in need of a change – whether it be a new job, a new friend or just a new hair colour. While I can’t help you with any of those, I can definitely give you something to keep you busy in the meantime.
I’m prescribing you a retro classic – pineapple upside down cake. I bet you haven’t put pineapple rings in a cake for a while, let alone served a cake upside down. Caramelised pineapple rings add just the right amount of tartness to a soft, satisfying, and slightly sticky sponge base.
This prescription will turn your baking world upside down at the very least, and give you something to nibble on while you brainstorm how to get your sparkle back. You might even impress a potential new boss or make a new friend with a morsel of this delicious concoction.
Best of luck!
Love,
The Cake Doctor x
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Complaint: bored and listless
Prescription: Upside down pineapple cake
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, melted
100g soft light brown sugar
450g can of pineapple rings, in natural juice
6 glacé cherries
125g unsalted butter, softened (or, fridge cold, zapped in the microwave for 30 seconds)
185g caster sugar
2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
185g self-raising flour
60g plain flour
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius (or 190 if your oven’s not fan-forced)
Pour the 100g of melted butter in to the base of a 20cm (8 inch) round tin, then use a pastry or (clean!) paint brush to coat the sides evenly.
Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the base of the tin. It will melt in to a lovely sticky mix.
Drain the pineapple rings, but keep the juice. Place the pineapple rings on the base of the tin and pop a glacé cherry in the centre of each. Set aside.
Place the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl, and beat with a freestanding electric, a handheld electric whisk, or just a wooden spoon.
Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until fully incorporated.
Add the vanilla essence and continue to beat.
Now, remove the bowl from the mixer, or set aside the handheld whisk or wooden spoon.
Sift the self raising flour and the plain flour over the bowl.
Then, pour in 125 ml of the reserved pineapple juice, and fold gently together until just combined. Using a large metal spoon, preferably with slots, will help you retain the air you’ve beaten in to the mixture already.
Once the mixture’s smooth, use the large spoon to evenly distribute dollops of mixture over the pineapple rings in the base of the tin and gently smooth the top.
Place the tin in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the top is golden and your cake passes the wobble test (a gentle push shouldn’t produce a jelly-like quiver).
Leave the cake to cool a little in the tin for ten minutes, before carefully turning it upside down onto a plate so as to keep the pineapple rings and glacé cherries in place.
Then, tuck in! The wonderful flavours and sticky bite of this cake will turn your world upside down.
Love,
The Cake Doctor x
