In yesterdays’ post I mentioned that this time last year the weather had been very different. It had been snowing and it was cold. Now the weather is all upside down and we are enjoying warm and sunny times. People often forget things like this especially when times are good. We are technically speaking and as I write this on 16 th February still in Winter though by the time you are reading this it is already officially Spring having just passed the Spring Equinox on the 21 st. As it is still winter as I write we can enjoy the puddings of Winter, if there be any. I fancy some of those puddings throughout the year and not just in Winter. Today is a Saturday and E left the house a few moments ago to drive to her group’s meeting. She will be gone for nearly three hours and as sometimes is the case I do a little baking if I’ve nothing else to do, nothing important that is. Anyway, baking is important isn’t it? So I have decided to bake, yes, an upside down cake. Specifically a pineapple upside down cake and something I have never previously baked so I hope it works out. Now there will be an hour or two’s intermission before I continue with the post……………….
Now I am back and the deed is done as you can see in the picture, though at that point it had only just been removed from the oven. It needed to cool down before any attempt was made to turn it right-side-up and make it the upside down cake it is supposed to be! So in the next picture……….
….I turned it right-side-up to make it into an upside down cake. Confusing isn’t it? Now to serve it I will need either custard (preferred) or cream, even ice-cream which we have in the freezer.
Recipe: For the base which ends up on top…Melt 4 oz of butter and mix with 4 oz of soft brown sugar until a stiff paste results. Spread over the base of a suitable baking tin (I use the neoprene flexible baking containers – see top picture). Drain the contents of a large can of pineapple slices or chunks (I used chunks) and place on top of the mixture, pressing down lightly into it. Leave to one side and prepare the cake mix.
For the cake mix place 8 oz of self-raising flour and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl. Rub 8 oz of butter into the flour to form a crumble. Add 4 oz of caster sugar and some grated lemon peel (optional) and toss together the mixture. Make a well in the mixture and put in three or four large eggs (I used three) and an oz or two of fresh milk. Thoroughly mix until a soft but stiff batter results. Scoop out the batter and spread over the pineapple in the base of the baking container. Bake in centre of the oven for thirty or so minutes at 375 F / 190 C by which time it should have risen. Lower the temperature to 300 F / 150 C and continue to bake for a further thirty to forty minutes or until a wooden stick pushed into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven to cool down and when cool place a tray/plate on top of the cake and turn it over. Remove the baking container and hopefully the cake will look similar to the bottom picture above. Incidentally I have doubled the quoted recipe amounts to make a larger cake. Simply halve the amounts for a smaller cake. You may have to reduce the baking time if you use less ingredients. Have fun.
Shirley Anne
