Pineapple Upside Down Cake Inspired By Mark Hix
I love retro food. Some people seem to think it's naff but if I see a prawn cocktail on a menu you can bet your bottom dollar I will order it. Back in the day, anyone who was anyone would serve their guests a snazzy prawn cocktail in a Sundae glass and it would have been thought the epitome of cool. Those were the days. Sigh. If only it were still so easy!
That's not to say that every retro dish has me dusting off the old shoulder pads in excitement. The pineapple and cheese on a cocktail stick is not something that has ever appealed and I fear it never will. Pineapple on pizza is another one that has me all confused, I just don't get it.
A retro pineapple dish I can definitely get on board with is the pineapple upside down cake that Mark mentioned as the first dish he ever learnt to cook. As a super fan of old fashioned and traditional puddings, this dish jumped out at me and I knew I had to create a recipe around it.
I really like puddings that you can make in advance. I love throwing dinner parties and I love cooking but when I have people round I actually want to be able to talk to them...shock horror. Of course, there are times when this isn't true and it's actually a relief to able to hide in the kitchen, but we shan't dwell on that. Making a pud ahead of time saves you a whole load of bother and as I truly believe all food tastes better at room temperature, really why wouldn't you want to get ahead of the curve?
This is also, incidentally one of the easiest puddings to make. It's so easy, and also works beautifully with apples, or pears. You can make a normal cake sized version, just use a 28cm sauté pan that you can pop into the oven, but I think these little individual ones look quite elegant for a party.
Beautifully easy sponge made in seconds, sweet roasted fruit and a heavenly caramel fudge sauce. Actually, who says this is for sharing?
- Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients
For the cake
6 x 1/4inch slices of fresh pineapple, peeled
50g dark sugar
175g butter, softened (ie. not from straight out of the fridge)
175g soft brown sugar
175g self-raising flour
4 eggs
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
For the fudge sauce
150g butter
150g light brown sugar
1tbsp rum
1tsp lemon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 176C (350f)
Generously butter 6 ramekins or dariole moulds. About 10oz in side. Arrange on a baking tray. Because I am a cautious Kate, I like to pop a little disc of non stick baking paper in the bottoms too just to make sure for certain that the fruit won't stick
Lay a slice of pineapple in the bottom of each dish. Use a pastry cutter to help you cut them to the right size.
Then sprinkle over the 50g of dark sugar
To make the cake bit simple bung it all into a food processor and blitz. Once its looking like delicious batter divide it between the ramekins on top of the pineapple.
You need to bake them until they are bouncy to the touch and a tooth pick comes out clean. This should take about 25-30 mins depending on your oven but keep an eye on them.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before turning them out. If the tops have risen into points, you can level these off with a serrated knife and eat the off cuts. Chefs perks and all that.
Once cool and you're ready to serve, drizzle with the fudge sauce.
To make the fudge sauce simply combine the butter, rum, sugar and lemon juice in a pan and heat and stir until all melted together and fudgey.
These are so good, trust me.