Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I know, I know. A nice glacé cherry would really cheer this cake up - but I say - wouldn't that be a bit Eighties? A bit cliché? Actually, it's just because I don't like glacé cherries, which is a damn shame - they always seem so cute and filled with all the very best E-numbers!

This recipe for Pineapple Upside Down is really one of my favourites. It's very easy, very quick and quite forgiving. I believe the proper ones can take a good hour or two to cook - so this might not have the perfect sponge - but actually, you're only eating this cake for 2 reasons, the pineapple and the sugar crust and don't pretend otherwise! I use a bigger tin than the one from the official recipe, because then I can use the whole tin of pineapples, but you do get quite a scant sponge. I doubled the sponge for these pictures, but I don't think it tasted as nice. Serve with some whipping cream with a bit of the pineapple syrup stirred in. Then invite me round please!

For the Topping:

50g softened butter

50g light soft brown sugar

7 pineapple rings, tinned in syrup

Glacé cherries (optional!)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, use a spoon, or hand held whisk to mix the butter and sugar together till creamy. Spread out onto the bottom of a 20cm+ cake tin, smearing a little bit up the sides too. Drain the pineapple rings, keeping the syrup, and arrange into the tin, along with your cherries. 

For the Sponge:

100g softened butter

100g golden caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

 2 tbsp pineapple syrup

Instructions:

So simple - put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them all together!

 Spread out over your pineapple layer, put into an oven heated to 180°C for 30-35 minutes. Leave for a few minutes before you cross your fingers and flip upside-down! A great cake tin really helps with this. I use a spring form cake tin which makes this very simple.

Enjoy! If you do get any left over, it tastes just as lovely the next day with a cuppa.

Hint: I've been known to prepare the pineapple layer, and make the cake batter, a couple of hours before dinner. Then as I serve up our main course, I fix the two pudding layers together and slip into the oven. 

Sugar Crusted Lamb

This recipe is delicious and quick to prepare for a dinner party - and pretty unique too. This lamb generally comes out pink > a teeny bit undercooked so be cautious if you're thinking of serving it to a fussy eater. And a small advanced warning about getting an urge to sprinkle sugar on all your dinner - I'm sure it wont taste as good!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 lamb cutlets - 700g

Seasoning

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 large sprigs of rosemary

2 tbsp demerara sugar

A smearing of olive oil

Instructions:

• Preheat the grill to high, and place a baking tray underneath it to heat up
• Prepare the lamb by seasoning with salt and pepper
• Strip the rosemary sprigs by stripping the leaves off and discarding the stalk
• Mix the lamb with the rosemary and mustard - ensuring it's well coated
• On a separate plate, spread out the sugar and dip each side of the lamb cutlets onto the sugar
• Take out the baking tray from under the grill, quickly place the cutlets on and return to the grill for 10-12 minutes. Or as long as you can stand the smoking! The sugar does burn - but don't worry, it does not taste burnt.

Recipe is adapted from BBC Good Food, which is a fantastic resource.

Cookbook Review: British Food Bible

A definite 10 stars - a truly great book, and amazing value. I find so many cookbooks are filled with fancy food that I don't want to cook, or they skip past the basic food in favour of something impressive sounding. This book is a wonderful mix of regional British dishes and clear instructions. Everything I've made from it so far has worked very well.

To give you a couple of examples of Chapters and Recipes -

English Breakfasts: traditional Porridge; Kedgeree
Meat, Game & Poultry: Game Pie; Steak & Kidney Pudding; Toad in The Hole
Vegetables & Salads: Pan Haggarty; Colcannon; Glazed Turnips
Tea Time Treats: includes Crumpets, Tea Cakes and Lemonade

I really didn't need another cookbook, however I bought this book for a friend at Christmas, and at buy-one-get-one-free from Tescos - I simply had to add a copy to my ever-blossoming collection of recipes! I've written this review mainly because I was going to link to it for the Beef Stew with Dumplings post, but I can't find a copy of it in an online bookshop anywhere, even using its ISBN.

There are found 4 copies for sale on eBay at £10 including delivery.

But it was still available to buy last week from our local Tescos, at a billy-bargain price of £5!

Birthday Cake

OK, so this is a recipe for a standard vanilla sponge cake. It's a candle that makes a Birthday Cake, but I defy you to not think of birthdays every time you eat a bit of sponge with jam and buttercream.

Actually, I might try that challenge myself one day....  Indeed, it could even make a regular event:
"Does this cake taste like birthdays?"
"Yes."
"Oh well, better luck tomorrow!"

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, or our waistlines. This quantity is for 2 x 7 inch round cake tins. For other sizes, and for more variations on flavour - I implore you to buy this book which has some superb starter cake recipes and many many cake designs.

Ingredients:

300g softened butter
300g caster sugar
5 eggs (recipe calls for medium, but I always use large)
4 tbsp milk
400g self-raising flour
1 tbsp of vanilla extract

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 160°C, and grease and line 2 x 7" cake tins.
• I use a cheap electric hand whisker to cream together the butter and sugar till you see the mixture lighten
• Lightly mix the eggs, milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl
• Sieve out your flour into a third container
• Put the hand whisk on a low setting, and start to pour the egg mix into the butter and sugar, alternating with the flour until it is all mixed together. Don't over whisk.

Pour the batter equally into the 2 cake tins, place in the middle of the oven and bake for around 40 minutes. I will normally set the timer for 35 minutes and keep an eye on it till the end - you don't want it to overcook. You'll know it's done when it is firm to touch and a knife/skewer inserted comes out clean.


See Also: Icing; Jam