I blame Chele at the Chocolate Teapot for this one. I don’t think I would have thought of doing this in a million years – pineapple rings with cherries in the middle were the stuff of nightmares for me when I was a child. Well, I may be exaggerating a tad here, but pineapple upside down cake was not my favourite. However when I saw this, made with fresh pineapple, it got me interested. Then, whilst out shopping, I saw a half price pineapple which was just about perfectly ripe. What option did I have?
Here’s how I did it:
- Dissolved 200g demerara sugar in a pan with 1/2 cup water and boiled for a few minutes until syrupy and golden.
- Took off the heat and stirred in 75g unsalted butter.
- Poured caramel into a 23cm cake thingie.
- Faffed around with a pineapple trying to skin and chop it into small segments – which I eventually achieved.
- Placed segments on top of the caramel.
- Melted 100g 85% cocoa with 125g unsalted butter.
- Beat 4 duck eggs with 225g vanilla sugar (you could use 1 tsp vanilla extract instead) for ages until really pale and thick.
- Poured in chocolate mixture and stirred to combine.
- Sieved in 170g flour (150g wholemeal spelt and 20g coconut flour) and 2 tsp baking powder then folded into mixture until just combined.
- Spooned mixture over the pineapple and baked at 160C for 50 mins.
I need not have worried, this cake was delicious – moist, sweet and pineapply. It was great as a dessert served warm from the oven with ice cream, but was equally good as cake the day after and the day after that!
oh yummy, that looks totally delish. Ive never seen it made with chunks just with rings.
Nic & Emmalene – why does this seem to be a childhood thing I wonder?
Yes- nostalgia food for me too!
MMMMMMMMMmmm…
wow that takes me back. I didn’t like glace cherries so mum always did a cherry less ring for me. I loved the cake though and can hardly believe I’ve never made it as an adult. Yours looks all the more striking for the choccie backdrop :o)
Dominic – Thank you for saying nice things – always appreciated and thaks for the tip on caramelising pineapple first – that could work really well.
Chele – Well, I have to say I am rather glad you come up with such yummy treats.
Kath – Thank you for that, it does indeed look amazing and not particularly expensive either.
Northern Snippet – Funnily enough, it’s one of mine too!
FoodyCat – you were lucky, my grandmother never made cakes.
Ananda – upside down cakes are well worth trying.
Joanna – I would so love to have a garden in which I could keep ducks and chickens too and an orchard and of course a duck pond. Although, think you are probably right about duck pond and ornamental not quite going together. You do have the forest on your doorstep though – sort of!.
Looks like a whole lot of fun! I love the name ‘upside down cake’ – this one sounds delicious!
I thought maybe you kept ducks in the garden like Celia and her chooks, devoted to exclusive choclette baking adventures…
I used to dream of two things, a forest on my doorstep and an ornamental duck pond with friendly ducks… not really compatible I guess.
I have never tired chocolate upside down cake…thanks for choc hint 🙂
I love pineapple upside down cake! My grandmother used to make a good one. But I have never tried one with chocolate – served with icecream sounds amazing.
chocolate-one of my favourite things!
Choclette, it’s genius! I found a link to it to show you. I wish I had invented it. http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3-in-1-pineapple-corer/slicer/F/keyword/pineapple/product/10478
I cheerfully accept all responsability for this one ;0)
Looks so good, I’m going to have to make another one now with the chocolate added! Why didn’t I think of adding chocolate in the first place? lol
another stunner… bet it tasted great… I think there are a lot of fruits that work really well with chocolate that you wouldn’t normally consider… it could have also been nice if you had caramelised your pineapple in a little butter first, this would have added a wonderful taste and a great dark golden colour to compliment the chocolate! x
Thanks Priya – yes succulent is a good word to describe this one.
Thanks CC – we thought it was pretty good.
Thank you Celia – it is interesting trying out all these different things I would never have done if I hadn’t started this blog.
Thank you Kath – but does it peel as well, that was the worst bit?
It looks delicious, as always. My mum has the best gadget in the world in her pineapple slicer. Job done in a quick twist. I was impressed.
Choclette, you really do come up with the most interesting combinations with chocolate. And then make them sounds and look so appealing! 🙂 I’ve never even considered choc and pineapple before…
I love pineapple and I love chocolate cake so I think this one would score big with me!
Thats a succelent and beautiful cake..
CityHippy – Thanks. I’m lucky enough to have two shops in town which sell local organic free range eggs. I’m not always able to get them but use them for preference in baking if I do. I’ve only used coconut flour as a partial substitute so far – let me know if you come up with anything interesting.
Gillian – Yes use either egg – 1 for 1. I always use duck eggs for preference when baking but can’t always get them so will use chicken eggs instead.
Jack – I wasn’t too sure what this would be like before making it, but used an 85% cocoa content chocolate to offset the sweetness of the pineapple. It worked fine, but it would probably have been just as good without.
Sushma – thank you.
Wow that looks very beautiful…you do it really well..
interesting.. but i’m not too sure if it’s a good combination of flavors.
I love the title ‘with chocolate of course’ 🙂
I also love that you use duck eggs in all your recipes. Can I use either egg or does it have to be duck?
A perfectly ripe pineapple is always delicious, cake looks great. Do you have access to duck eggs?
I have been meaning to play around with coconut flour, I keep seeing it and want to see what I can do with it.