Upside Down

This Valentine’s Day, here’s a cake you’ll love.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a tantalising dish. All the while it’s baking, it conceals its secret, exotic ingredient. Peeking into the oven is of no avail, as the enigmatic fruit that makes it special is shielded from view, laying at the base of the tin like buried treasure. Then, when the baking is done, it’s fun to invert it and reveal all those juicy pineapple chunks.

This one is made with a fresh pineapple, mixed with a sprinkle of dark muscovado sugar. The muscovado combines with the juice to give the cake a rich sweetness and a treacly, marbled appearance (as with the slice of cake shown in my photo above).

Servings

16 servings.

Timings

15 mins to prepare and 30 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

• 1 fresh pineapple
• 165g self-raising flour
• 165g caster sugar
• 165g unsalted butter or spread
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

Method

1. Grease and line a baking tin. Mine is 22cm square. Switch on the oven at 180C.
2. Peel and core the pineapple, and cut the flesh into roughly 1 – 2cm chunks.
3. Put the flour, caster sugar, butter/spread, eggs and baking powder into a bowl. Mix with an electric whisk till it is all combined.
4. Arrange the pineapple chunks over the bottom of the baking tin. Sprinkle over the dark muscovado sugar.
5. Pour the cake mixture over the top. Place in the oven for 30 mins or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clear. Remove from the oven.
6. Invert the cake from the tin on to a wire rack (so that it is now upside down), and allow to cool before cutting into slices. Serve upside down, with the pineapple showing, on its own or with some greek yoghurt alongside.

Customise It!

Most published recipes for this cake seem to use tinned pineapple. I think it is nice to use the fresh article, seeing as it is so readily available in our shops these days. However, you can substitute the tinned version here, if you’re in a rush and don’t want to peel, core and chop a fresh pineapple.

A classy dessert like this deserves an equally classy track for the ADK playlist. Here’s Diana Ross with (what else?) Upside Down.