During the colder months I look for inspiration in fruits and ingredients that remind me of warm times and places. The flavor of fresh pineapple reminds me of tropical holidays and instantly does the trick. In this upside down cake you could use tinned pineapple rings instead, but I encourage you to go for fresh if you can. The cake itself is a simple sourcream cake, which lets the flavorsome topping shine. To celebrate pineapple to its fullest in this recipe, the finishing element is Fresh As freeze-dried pineapple chunks, which taste like the pure essence of pineapple…be warned once you eat one you will not be able to stop.
Serves 12
x Jordan
For the topping
60g butter, melted and still hot
100g coconut sugar
1 vanilla extract
1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 2-3cm cubes
90g pinenuts
For the sour cream cake
115g butter at room temperature
225g coconut sugar
2 free range eggs
100g flour
80g ground almonds
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
300g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
For the sour cream cream
100ml heavy cream
100g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
2 tbsp icing sugar
For the decorations
40g packet / about 18 pieces of Fresh As pineapple chunks
Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius on fan bake. Line the base of a round cake tin or a rectangular tin as I have done (mine is 18cm x 25cm) with baking paper. Grease the sides of the tin well.
Prepare the topping: In a bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, vanilla extract. If the butter separates out a bit don’t worry. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and spread out as best you can.
Using a paper towel, blot any excess liquid off the pineapple. Arrange the pineapple squares in a checkerboard pattern in a single layer on top of the brown sugar-butter mixture. Scatter the pine nuts in all of the gaps. Place the tin in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the cake.
To make the cake, in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale, light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one by one, mixing well before adding in the next.
In a bowl combine the flour, ground almonds, salt and baking powder, soda and cinnamon.
By hand, using a silicone spatula, gently fold in half of the dry ingredients. Once mostly combined, fold in the remaining dry ingredients. Finally fold through the sour cream, being careful not to overmix.
Remove the tin from the fridge. Pour and spread the cake batter evenly over the topping.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes. The cake is ready when golden in colour, springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool for around 10 minutes in its tin before running a knife along the edges and turning out onto a cooling rack.
While the cake is cooling, whip the cream. In the bowl of an eclectic mixer with a whisk attachment, or using an electric whisk, whip the sour cream, cream vanilla and icing sugar until soft peaks form.
Once the cake is completely cool, using a piping bag or ziplock bag with a corner cut off, pipe dollops of cream onto the fruit side of the cake however you like. Finally, top each dollop of cream with a Fresh As freeze-dried pineapple chunk.
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.