Food talk
 For a gourmet, it’s a cakewalk
Pushpesh Pant

Pushpesh PantPoor Mary Antoinette, she is remembered only for her tactless comment on the eve of French Revolution, “Let people have cake, if they don't have bread to eat”. She paid with her life for the remark but really has never been forgiven for it. Others talk of “cakes and ale” and have lived happily ever after. There are those who love to eat their cake and have the crumbs too while others bother only about “the icing on the cake” or exert solely to “cherry pick”.

Forgive us for getting carried away but cakes have always been our weakness. Birthdays and marriages provide us an excuse to tuck in an extra slice and Christmas leaves us starry eyed, thanks to the cakes that come our way during the festive season. Truth be told, even a slice of fruit-cake makes us drool and a lighter-than-air gateaux transports us into ecstasy.

For long we lived under the tyranny of bakers — good, bad and the ugly —till a friend gifted us an oven that inspired us to embark on a DIY binge. The fancy stuff may take some time but believe you us few things are more satisfying than baking a cake at home. And, it is easier than cooking your own goose! Try the upside-down recipe for yourself.

Ingredients

Sugar 2 tbsps
Canned pineapple (plus 6 slices
3 tablespoons of the juice) 
Plain flour 100 grams
Baking powder 1 teaspoon
bicarbonate of soda ¼ teaspoon
Soft butter 100 gm
Castor sugar 100 gm
Large eggs (broken and whisked) 2

Upside-down pineapple cake

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400ºF. Grease a tin (24cm/9 inches wide at the top and 20cm/8 inches diameter at the bottom) with butter.

  • Sprinkle the two tablespoons of sugar on top of the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices to make a circular pattern.

  • Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a mixer and blend until a smooth batter is obtained. Alternatively, beat with a whisk to prepare the batter. Now pour in the three tablespoons of pineapple juice to thin it.

  • Pour the mixture carefully over the pineapple rings and bake for 30 minutes. Ease out the cake using a knife or spatula moving it around the edge of the tin. Place a plate on top and carefully turn it upside-down. Enjoy and share the joy.





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