Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Pics by June Carvalho)

MY last post for this month is a pineapple upside down cake that I made for tea earlier this evening...saved a few slices of fresh, ripe, sugary sweet pineapple for this cake. It does look a little bit like a burnt offering doesn't it, but actually the the burnt looking edge is nothing but a creamed mixture of butter and treacle that I spread on the base of the cake pan...gives a wonderful caramel taste besides preventing the pineapple from sticking to the base.

What you need:

7 pineapple slices, fresh or canned
230 gm flour
230 gm sugar, powdered
125 gm butter 
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp mixed spice powder
A pinch of salt
5 tbsp milk
Cherries and green
tutti-frutti to decorate

To spread on the base:

1 tbsp treacle ] To be creamed 
1 tbsp butter  ] for base layer

First cream the treacle with the tablespoon of butter and spread it on the base of a 9 x 9 inch square cake pan.  Arrange 5 of the cored pineapple slices in the four corners and centre of the pan. Place a cherry in the centre of each pineapple and sprinkle some tutti-frutti in between the slices. Chop the remaining pineapple slices into bits.

Sieve flour with baking powder, spice powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, adding the eggs one by one, beating them in. Add the essence. Mix.

Fold in the flour a little at a time, along with the pineapple bits,  mixing alternately with the milk, till it's all moist and put into the prepared pan. Spread evenly, with a slight depression in the centre. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 degrees C for 35 minutes or until cake tester comes clean.

Cool and invert onto serving plate.

PS:  The batter was a little too much to fit into this heart-shaped pan. I got four cupcakes from the surplus batter. These proportions are just right for a 9" x 9" square pan.