Life-in-the-South-ICON

Pineapple upside down cake has summer written all over it. It’s light, decadent and has a sweet tang thanks to the pineapple. I am in love with these last couple days. The mornings are still a bit fresh, but then later in the day, it gets slightly heated and then cools down once again around four in the afternoon. The birds sing and the wildflowers, especially the pops of red from the poppy flowers make me so happy. There are lilac trees and elderflower trees, that I didn’t even know was around us a year ago. I watch our son play, and he is just having a ball playing outside. This season of life I am enjoying so much.

 

Pineapple upside-down cake has summer written all over it. It’s light, decadent, and has a sweet tang thanks to the pineapple. I can’t help but miss home so much and this cake makes me think of home in a way, but currently, I am in love with these last couple of days. The mornings are still a bit fresh, but then later in the day, it gets slightly heated or more so this last week. The rain has finally disappeared for now.

 

The birds sing and the wildflowers, especially the pops of red from the poppy flowers make me so happy. There are lilac trees and elderflower trees, that I didn’t even know was around us a year ago. I was in a newborn bubble and now I watch our son play, while he is just having a ball playing outside. This season of life I am enjoying so much. touch wood it stays this way just for a teensy bit longer…

Pineapple upside down cake

Life is not as overwhelming and I am thankful for the bad and the good because thanks to the tough times, they actually make me be thankful for the good. Thought: One thing that I do not like about this season of the year is the heaps and heaps of pollen drifting around everywhere. We are itchy, droopy noses and scratchy eyes. but at the end all I can say is Meh, it’s all worth it though. Summer is everything right now.

 

You would think that we will be eating just bowl of ice cream right about now, but somehow I was craving something with pineapple. Pineapple ice cream would be nice too, but for now, to cure the missing home blue’s, this cake is perfect! In South Africa, we love baked puddings with fruit, like pear baked puddings, apple baked puddings and we enjoy generous swirls of cream or custard on top. This pineapple cake makes me think of a traditional vanilla sponge cake with pineapple whipped cream as the frosting. So so good!! I’ll have to try making that one for my next cake extravaganza…

Pineapple upside down cake

Are you a spring kind of person or does all this pollen make you crazy? I am heading into spring cleaning. I have been packing away all my son’s baby stuff. I can’t believe how little he was. I miss that teeny little body, but I just adore his personality right now. He is just so adorable! He is starting to throw little tantrums and run away when we take things that he not allowed to play with. He laughs when we start laughing and kisses us with his lips closed. Turning in to quite a little person, but all I want is for him to stay this small…

 

Anyhoo… How good does this cake look though, imagine coconut vanilla ice cream with this…Just saying it’s worth a try!

 

Recipe

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Prep Time
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Cook Time
Serves 4
4 - 6 People

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seeds soaked in 1/3 cup water)
  • 15ml coconut oil
  • 15ml apricot jam
  • 250ml whole wheat flour (I used spelt flour)
  • 1/3 cup coconut
  • 5ml baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 200ml milk of choice
  • 15ml white vinegar
  • 5ml baking soda
  • 1/2 cup canned or fresh pineapple
  • 1 x 400ml chilled coconut cream
  • Extra coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
  2. Mix the sugar, flax egg and coconut oil and apricot jam together.
  3. Sift the dry ingredients together and then gradually add this to the egg mixture.
  4. Lastly, add the baking soda and the vinegar and mix well.
  5. Lay out the pineapple pieces on a parchment paper-lined a cake tin, sprinkle over coconut sugar and then scoop on the cake batter.
  6. Bake for covered with aluminum for ten minutes and for the rest of the 15 minutes that are left, cook uncovered till brown and cooked through. (This cake is quite soft due to the fact that there are no real eggs- so test a couple times with a cook pen)
  7. Decorate with whipped coconut cream, extra coconut sugar, and fresh mint.

 

Whipped coconut cream

  1. Pour the coconut cream into a cooled bowl.
  2. Beat slowly while adding the sugar until the cream thickens, then add 1 tsp vanilla essence and fold in.
  3. Layer the cream on too a slightly cooled or completely cooled cake.
Life-in-the-South-ICON

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Have a lovely week, I’ll probably be outside sunbathing, eating watermelon and catching up on some sleep…

M*