Don’t you just love stumbling upon a recipe that is a) easy and b) delicious? This is exactly what happened to me the other night. I had plucked out the Delicious magazine from October 2009 (I am an avid collector of these and even wrote a letter to them which was published in 2008) and found quite a few meals to cook for dinner and then I stumbled across this dessert. There was a half container of double cream starting me in the face every time I opened the fridge so I thought “right”! I am going to cook this for dessert TONIGHT. It turns out it was the best decision I had made that day. On more than one account….
Here is what you will need:
Ingredients (for a printable recipe card visit the link above under “recipes and blog”
90g butter, melted (plus another 125g softened butter)
100g brown sugar
440g tin of pineapple thins in natural juice (or pineapple pieces works too), drained with 125ml of juice reserved
165g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
30g desiccated coconut
Thickened cream (to serve)
So, a key message to take out of the method is to NOT USE A SPRINGFORM TIN. I did and the results were disastrous but in a good way! You see, I ended up having to clean the oven as the caramel leaked out of the tin and went all over the bottom of the oven. Here is another fun fact. Mr. Farmer and I moved out to the farm house 6 years ago this year. There was a wonderful oven already installed but it happened to die right before Easter (perfect timing) in 2013. A new one was purchased in 2013 and it has been going great guns ever since. But up until now I hadn’t cleaned it. Ever. I had mopped up the occasional spill but it hadn’t been THOROUGHLY cleaned until this incident forced me to! I know, it’s 2018. That is 5 years worth of cooking to get off! Don't tell my mum....
This is how much I know about cleaning ovens. Apparently you don’t have to do a Silvia Plath and stick your head in to clean it, you just have to accidentally nudge it and work out that the whole bottom part comes out so you can wash it in the sink! It was a revelation to me. AND, did you know that your oven door even slides out so you can clean that too? I didn’t. But I wish I had have known this four years ago as I would have cleaned it then. And every year when I go about my “spring cleaning”. After a good solid hour of scrubbing (it took me a while to find the right scourer to use) it seriously looks like a new oven and you could even eat off it! Oh wait…… Ha ha ha!
To make this cake it is quite simple. You do need an hour or so of cooking time so make sure you have that up your sleeve. You pour the melted butter into the cake pan and sprinkle the brown sugar over the top and then add the drained pineapple pieces. Beat the softened butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes, add the eggs and vanilla and fold in the flour and baking powder. Add the coconut and reserved juice and spoon the batter over the top of the pineapple pieces and bake for 50 to 55 minutes at 160 degrees. Serve it with some toasted coconut and thickened cream or ice-cream.
My aunty told me that my Granny used to make it for my mum and her family when they were little. Perhaps this cake may make a resurgence and find its way back to be retro again! Happy baking and please let me know what you think of the recipe.
If you would like a printable PDF version of the recipe then please click on the "recipe" tab and you will find it there.
Comments