pineapple-upside-down

p i n e a p p l e - u p s i d e - d o w n
Following a recent shipment of Ghanaian pineapples to work I was instructed requested to make some pineapple upside down cake...I obviously obliged and brought it into work to watch it get devoured.
Having not made pineapple upside down cake before I really didn't know what I was looking to make but reading about 10 different recipes suggested it is pretty straight forward. I mostly used the pineapple upside-down cake recipe from the BBC Good Food site but made some changes of my own. Essentially, the point is to layer the pineapples in the bottom of the cake tin, pour cake mix on top and then turn it upside down once cooked.
I would strongly recommend using a silicone cake tin for this as it just made my life (cleaning) so much easier and it makes it really simple to just upside down it once cooked. 

pineapple upside-down cake (on its side!)

So for the recipe:
For the 'top' -  40g butter; 40g light brown sugar; pineapple rings (Ghanaian preferably!!); flaked almonds
For the cake - 100g butter; 100g caster sugar; 100g self raising flour; 2 eggs; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 tbsp pineapple juice; 1 tbsp ground almonds

For the top of the cake (which is currently the bottom of the cake) cream the butter and sugar together and spread on the bottom of the cake tin. Arrange the pineapple slices in the bottom of the tin and fill the gaps with flaked almonds.
For the cakey part, cream the butter and sugar and then add the eggs and flour. Add the bicarbonate of soda, vanilla, pineapple juice (you'll get enough from cutting the pineapple) and ground almonds. Mix well and pour over your pineapple base (or top - I get confused), ensuring it is smooth. Bake at 180 degrees for around 30 - 35 minutes. Cool slightly and turn out onto a plate
I may try making this again in a bundt cake tin and cutting the pineapples into different shapes to make it look a bit more pineapple-y!!

fondant-cakery

f o n d a n t - c a k e r y
My latest favourite ingredient to play around with is fondant icing. I've experimented with various techniques and surfaces to roll the icing out and think there's a good bit more I have to learn but I'm having a lot of fun trying out designs and constructions. Me being me I have a tendency to over-complicate things and don't really stop until I'm happy but whilst I do it I am having fun!

So here are a few of my designs so far...with room for improvement but a good starting point I think!!

Tennent's cake; Spiderman cake; Music cake

So for the recipe for my basic cake:
150g butter; 150g caster sugar; 3 eggs; 175g self-raising flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 2 tbsp ground almonds; 1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk

Cream the butter and sugar together, beat in the eggs one at a time, alternating with spoonfuls of flour (so that the eggs don't curdle with the creamed butter). Add the remaining flour into the mixture with the baking powder, ground almonds and spoonful of milk.

Pour the mix into a greased cake tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean)
Leave to cool completely before covering with either thick frosting (150-175g icing sugar; 1 tbsp cream cheese; 1 tbsp butter) or some apricot jam (this just creates a smooth layer for you to put your fondant icing on top of and gives it something, other than crumbs, to stick to).

Knead the fondant into a ball and, on a lightly icing-sugar-dusted surface, roll out to the required depth (I usually go for about the thickness of a pound coin). Fold over the back of a rolling pin and then unfold onto the cake. Smooth down the edges to cover the sides of the cake and smooth over the whole cake with your hands to flatten any bumps.

And now you can decorate as required!