Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Standard Style
This week I’m rounding off the summer cooler series with another one for the kids and the kids at heart. I’ve realised that the year has really gone and Christmas is around the corner.

This week I’m rounding off the summer cooler series with another one for the kids and the kids at heart. I’ve realised that the year has really gone and Christmas is around the corner.

By Edith

Did it even leave the corner? It seems like only yesterday when I was writing about Christmas meals here and it’s already that time of the year to start that again.

Time really does fly; the old addage would be “time flies when you are having fun”, but I can’t really say if there was lots of fun in the past 10 or so months. It’s been eventful, yes, but it certainly wasn’t all fun. The bottomline, however, is that I’m grateful for the chance to be alive. Before I get philosophical like Socrates, let’s get onto the business of cooking.

I see a lot of pineapples in the shops and at the marketplaces, so I figure if you are like me, a lover of the fruit, you’ll enjoy something pineapply. This week, I want us to make a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

This can be served hot in winter with a warm custard or cold in summer with a cooling scoop (or two) of vanilla ice-cream.

I’m a sucker for vanilla, so for me if ice-cream is not vanilla then it’s not ice-cream. It’s a really simple dessert to make and I hope you’ll enjoy it just like my mother does. So, let’s get into the kitchen and see what we need to make for dessert this weekend.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:

For the topping:

l¼ cup margarine

l½ cup brown sugar

l1 whole pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced

l200g glace cherries (optional)

For the cake:

l210g self-raising flour, sifted

l½ cup margarine

l1 cup brown sugar

l1 large egg

l¼ cup plain or pineapple flavoured yoghurt

l½ cup milk

l¼ cup pineapple juice (if using canned pineapples you can use the juice drained from this)

l1 tablespoon vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Melt ¼ cup of margarine and pour into a 9-inch spring form baking tin, sprinkle with ½ cup sugar. Arrange pineapple slices at the bottom of the tin and arrange the cherries into the rounds of the pineapple. Set aside.

In a bowl, cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. You can use a mixer if you have one. Add the beaten egg and the yoghurt and then a third of the flour. Alternate the flour and the milk until all the flour is incorporated.

Add the pineapple juice and vanilla essence. Spoon the batter over the pineapple slices. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes of baking, cover the cake with foil paper and bake for a further 20 minutes until the cake is done. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and invert onto cooling rack or serving plate. Serve cold with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.