This Upside-Down Pineapple Cake is one of my all-time favourites! The fine buttery crumb lends to a treat that is both rich in flavour and fluffy in texture.
A dish that can be whipped up in 30 minutes and pairs perfectly with a tall glass of iced tea, this is the perfect summer recipe that is bound to leave you fresh and satisfied.
Note: Do not substitute fresh pineapple for the canned pineapple as it is more fibrous and therefore tough. It is also not as sweet and will not impart the required flavour to the cake.
You can serve this cake independently or with a side of whipped cream.
Ingredients:
450g tin of canned pineapples (sliced in a circular shape)
1 recipe Vanilla Pound Cake
Follow the recipe to prepare the vanilla pound cake batter from my post on Lemon Pound Cake. Remember to omit the lemon zest and add 1 tsp vanilla essence instead of ½ tsp.
Method to prepare upside down Pineapple cake:
Preheat your oven to 200C.
Grease an 8” round tin with butter and dust it with all purpose flour.
Place the canned pineapple slices in the greased tin, ensuring that you remove all the canning liquid from the slices. Do not overlap the slices while placing them.
Pour the prepared Vanilla Pound Cake batter over the slices and use a spatula to smoothen and distribute the batter evenly.
Bake the cake for 25 minutes.
This cake remains fresh for 1 week.
To further perfect your pound cake, here are some tips that I have learnt over the years:
Ensure that each and every ingredient is at room temperature- Cold butter does not cream evenly. Thus, using it will lead to clumps of butter to form in your batter which will make the cake dense. Cold eggs and milk will curdle your batter which will result in a domed or sunken cake, riddled with tunnels and holes.
Cream your butter and sugar until it has nearly doubled in volume. The mixture should be almost white in colour, a noticeable change from the initial yellow colour imparted by the butter, and fluffy. Creaming is what aerates the butter, making way for a soft cake with a fine crumb texture.
Crack your eggs in a separate small bowl before adding them to the butter and sugar. This ensures that you won’t get any pieces of egg shell into the batter as you can spot them and remove them easily if they is in a separate bowl.
Sift your flour. Although this may seem like an unnecessary additional step, it actually helps to further aerate the batter and keep the cake soft.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. It is vital to retain all the air bubbles that have been created as a result of all the previous processes. Using a whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet will deflate all the tiny air pockets that have formed. Therefore, always use a spatula and fold the dry ingredients into the wet.
Do not over mix your batter at any stage.
Do not leave your batter out on the kitchen counter for a prolonged period of time as the air will deflate and the chemical reactions caused by the baking powder will not occur, preventing the cake from rising.
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