Caramelised Fresh Pineapple Upside Down Cake

On a cloudy, wet summer's day, I was feeling forlorn and fed-up. I spied a fresh pineapple in the corner of my kitchen, a day or two past it's best-by date. I conjured up a plan, a sunshine plan. I decided to create and bake a cake. Here's the recipe I developed that should bring a ray of sunshine to any kitchen on a grey day.

Ingredients

Caramel

1/2 medium fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into rings (about 1cm thick)

90 g butter

125 g light brown sugar

Cake

170 g butter

150 g caster sugar

Pinch salt

160 g SR flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

125ml milk
2 eggs

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 C/160C fan

Grease a 20cm cake tin or tarte tartin tin with butter (bottom and sides). Cut pineapple rings into quarters. Melt 90g butter and the light brown sugar in a heavy based saucepan. Simmer over a medium heat stirring constantly for about 4 minutes to make the caramel. Pour evenly over the base of the cake tin. Place the pineapple quarters in a circular pattern on the base of the tin, covering the base. Set aside.

Next cream the butter and caster sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully combined. Add the vanilla bean paste.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add portions of the flour and the milk in small additions slowly to the mix, beating slowly until combined. The mixture may curdle slightly, if so add a little more flour.

Once combined, pour the mixture over the caramelised pineapple. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. It’s done when a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for about 5-10 minutes. Place an upturned plate on top of the tin, invert carefully onto the plate. Replace any pineapple that has become stuck on the tin. Cool on the plate on a cake cooler.

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Chocolate Jack

Coming up with birthday cake ideas for adults is a tough one. For a recent birthday I wanted to continue the theme of patriotism (from the Queen's Diamond Jubilee) but add something that the recipient would love - chocolate. So I developed a Chocolate Jack. A chocolate sponge tray bake with chocolate buttercream icing, decorated with Maltesers and white chocolate buttons.

The traybake was adapted from Mary Berry's chocolate traybake recipe in her book - Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I remained pretty faithful to the recipe but added a couple of teaspoons of chocolate extract to give it a more rounded depth of chocolatey flavour. Into the buttercream icing went cocoa powder and again, chocolate extract and then the fun began - decorating. The Maltesers didn't take too long, but the white chocolate drops took ages. I wanted them as perfectly aligned as possible. After about half hour the decoration was complete. A triumph. 32 adults (fueled by chatter and lots of alcohol) lined up like kids in a sweet shop - and hey presto. It was gone!

If you're ever in ...Valencia

Here is the first in a series of food and travel suggestions. Little tips and ideas of fabulous local food and treats I have discovered on my journeys around the world. Recently in Valencia, Spain's third largest city (often hiding in the shade of Barcelona and Madrid, it's a vibrant, welcoming city of contrasts - with great food.

Horchata

I had read about it in the guide book, seen it served in the streets and cafes and wanted a piece of the action for myself. Horchata is a typically Valencian drink. It is sweet, sort of ivory/caramel in colour, and has a consistency like silky milk. It's made from a plant called the "chufa", that's very similar to rice, which is only produced in a nearby town. Originally, it was a medicinal drink, but has now become a very popular soft drink that's normally served very cold. Little mobile carts, with huge silver drums are wheeled around town, usually setting up on street corners offering a take away version. I tried it and loved it. Especially as it's served so cold, on a hot day - it was like liquid gold.

La paella Valenciana

I couldn't come to the home of paella and not try it. There are many variations and bastardised takes on paella, so to sample it in the hot sun in a historic square in Valencia was my personal homage to the dish. Served traditionally with chicken and/or rabbit and green beens, Paella Valenciana is robust, tasty and very filling. It is the most representative dish of Valencian food, and at the same time is possibly the most famous of Spanish foods. Genuine paella is cooked with firewood and as you know, its main ingredient is rice. There are many variations and as I've said, not all so grand. It should be rustic, wholesome and lots of it. Washed down (in my case) with beer.

Tapas

Of course tapas comes high on my list and I love this style of eating. It's quick, efficient, varied and you can grab a bite of two and move on to the next joint. As my eyes are often bigger than my belly, I usually pick a pew, grab a plate full and then eat even more when the savvy waitresses pass by with the hot offerings.We ate in some great places including called El Molinón. It's a cider bar and restaurant. The waitress was a bit surly, but great tapas and Asturian cider. It was a revelation to me that Spain produces cider and is in fact a major producer of the beverage. It's potent and poured long and high. And only in short shots from the bottle. A great alternative to to beer or wine.

Short & Sweet - adventures in bread

I purchased Dan Lepard's Short & Sweet for it's baking recipes, which are inspiring, interesting and offer variations for cakes and bakes that I really love. What I didn't realise is that there is a substantial chapter on baking bread. So, determined to master the art of baking bread at home, I sat myself down and read it. It's not simply a catalogue of great recipes. It offers an introduction to the art (and science) of baking bread at home. But don't fear, it's not complicated, in fact that's where Dan excels. He demystifies it. Explaining about flours, yeast, sugar and salt,  liquid, butter and oil as well as techniques like kneading - it covers absolutely everything. So armed with my new found knowledge, I set to baking some bread.

I have baked bread at home - with reasonable success in the past, both with a bread making machine and by hand. The only thing you really need to allow is time. It's not labour intensive as such, you just need to have time to knead the bread and allow it plenty of time to rise properly. I began (as you would) with the first and most simple recipe - Easy White Bread and yes it is. Easy, fairly quick and of course delicious. Once I had mastered this I felt ready to progress. I haven't gone through them methodically one by one. I have picked the most appealing and gone for it. My favourite so far has been the Multi-grain and honey loaf. This is seriously good bread. You make a "sponge" which is sort of like a starter and separately combine the "porridge" which is oats, honey, linseed and sunflower seeds with boiling water. Once ready you add the additional flours etc. It was wholesome, moist, tasted fabulous and made great sandwiches and toast.

I feel as though my bread adventure is just beginning and what a great start along this yellow brick road, led by Dan, the baking man.

The British Biscuit Festival

We love a festival in the UK. Music, food, art you name it, we do it and do it well. As have mentioned I have some extra time on my hands, so whilst I was leisurely reading The Guardian today I came across a magical report. Proudly announcing The British Biscuit Festival - of course. Presented by The Brunswick Centre near Russell Square, it's the UK’s first festival celebrating the nation’s much loved treat!

Over the course of three days the fun focuses on our love of - biscuits.  Fans from across London (and indeed the UK) can make the pilgrimage to indulge in everything related to our most iconic British snack.

There's lots of events taking place: 

 

Build–a–Biscuit Workshops: For those who yearn for more than a digestive to dunk in their tea. Help will be on hand from The Cake Conjurer for those who need a bit of inspiration on how to create the perfect biscuit. 

The Terrific Biscuit Tin Tournament: Who will be crowned the 2012 Biscuit Champion? For those who have mastered the art of eating a biscuit without licking away the crumbs, dunking cookies in tea without them going soggy or reciting a sonnet with a mouth full of digestives this competition is a must.

Pop up vintage installations, Tea Dance and Farmers Market (Saturday only), Live band (Sunday only) or you can simply enjoy a cuppa and a biscuit - with the on site agony aunt Dai Gestive.

There's lots of other stalls and workshops: Crafternoon, Biscuit Science, Spin Cookie Art, Round the World Biscuits, Street Food Biscuits, Tea Liquers, Fete Games..

The Brunswick's British Biscuit Festival: 8th - 10th June

Location: Opposite Russell Square tube

for more information: Brunswick.co.uk

Distracted: but now I'm back

How times flies....when you are busy. I've been distracted by life and the universe but now have some time on my hands. So for the time being I am back in the swing of it all. Wow, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee has been and gone (I didn't even blog my Jubilee Recipe). To make up for that, here is my favourite picture to share which will show I haven't stopped baking. Enjoy.