Caramelized pineapple

There was a time when I used to watch desperate housewives back to back for 12 hours! One of the episodes featured a pineapple upside down cake made by the famous Bree. And it was then decided that I will make pineapple upside down cake come one day! So here it is.

I think it’s one of my best non chocolate cakes ever!

The clincher here that makes in on top of my hit list is that it doesn’t need any icing (translate-extra work!)It’s beautiful on its own and it doesn’t need to be cooled! Effectively the cooking and waiting time is reduced considerably! I wonder why it’s not sold in bakeries here!

This is also a cake for which I did not adopt the shortcut! I actually creamed the sugar and separated the eggs and beat the egg whites till stiff white peaks form! Obviously following a procedure is important!It is my first cake which cooked evenly! No domes or tunnels!

I used fresh pineapple for this! Cut it myself and ended but with bruised hands but it was sooo worth it! Also I didn’t have light brown sugar so have used dark brown sugar in equal quantities instead and that’s the reason for the dark brown caramelized top.

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients

¾ cup Unsalted Butter (¼ cup Butter for the pineapple topping and rest ½ for the cake batter)

1 medium pineapple

¾ cup brown Sugar

¼ teaspoon Salt

1 ½ cups of flour

2 teaspoons of Baking Powder

3/4 cup granulated sugar (can put 1 cup if you like the cake mire sweet)

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

2 eggs-separated

½ cup milk

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Cut the pineapple into ½ to 1 inch (thickness) slices.(Leave out the middle portion of it as it is very hard and doesn’t cook well).We need about 6-7 slices.
In a nonstick pan take ¼ cup butter and the brown sugar and melt at low flame. Once bubbles start appearing along the sides pour it into a 9 inch cake pan which is sprayed with nonstick baking spray.
Spread it in the pan and arrange pineapples on it in a desired fashion.
In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt and mix
Now in a bowl or your electric mixer beat the ½ cup butter and white sugar until creamy and fluffy.
Next ass the vanilla essence and mix. Once that is done add the egg yolks one after another and beat well.
Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively and combine well.
Whisk the egg whites with tartar until stiff
Fold the egg whites genteelly in the batter using a spatula
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30 min(or until toothpick comes clean and the top is brown)
Cool in the wire rack for 10 minutes after which run a knife along the edges and invert the cake onto the serving plate