Fresh Pineapple & Spelt Upside Down Cake

Pineapples!
I love fresh pineapple. It smells and tastes so wonderful. I am really lucky to live on the beautiful Sunshine Coast where they grow them too. I love taking the kids for a drive and showing them what fields of growing pineapples look like, and even showing them of course the Sunshine Coast's very own icon, the Big Pineapple in Nambour! Here is a cake I created celebrating lovely, fresh, in season pineapples from a commercial project I did for Maleny Iga.

Fresh Pineapple & Spelt Upside Down Cake

Using beautiful fresh, local pineapples in a very decorative upside down cake.  A delicious with a tropical feel.

Ingredients
• 1 fresh ripe pineapple
• 1 cup sour pitted cherries (I used Morello)
• 125 grams butter
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon organic vanilla paste
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 2 free range eggs
• 2/3 cup dark coconut sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups spelt flour
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• 1 &1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Paper towel

Method
• Pre heat oven to 180’c.
• Grease a deep cake tin really well, especially the base.
• In a saucepan gently melt the 5 tablespoon butter with the dark brown sugar. Stirring constantly. Once it has all melted together, remove from heat.
• Pour the butter/sugar mixture into the prepared cake tin.
• Remove top and bottom and all skin from the fresh pineapple. Either core the pineapple so you can slice it into rings or cut into cubes. Pat dry on paper towel.
• Arrange the pineapple pieces onto the sugar/butter mixture at the base of the cake tin. Fill in the spaces with the Morello sour pitted cherries
• Beat the butter and coconut sugar together well, then beat in the vanilla paste, and the eggs.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the butter mixture.
• Gradually add the pineapple juice bit by bit, mixing it all together.
• Pour the cake mixture on top of the pineapple and cherries.
• Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until golden and firm on top to the touch.
• Remove from oven and allow to sit in its pan on a cooling rack for approximately 10 minutes.
• Carefully run a knife along all edges of the pan to loosen the cake.
• Invert the cake onto the serving dish.

Notes
• A beautiful sweet cake that looks very decorative so perfect for entertaining.
• If fresh pineapples are unavailable you could use tinned but fresh gives it a beautiful flavour.

Toddler tips
• The sweetness of pineapple makes this a very popular cake with toddlers and kids of all ages.


Images and recipe (c)RebeccaMugridge 2013

Special Note: I love china, especially blue china and I am *just a bit* in love with Maxwell Williams too (no I am not paid to say that in any way) The china you see here in this picture is called Sprinkle by Maxwell Williams and I got it for Christmas from my mum - awww I know right? Best present ever, shes a wonderful mum) sharing with you as I have been asked at a lot at the taste testing events at the Maleny IGA and from facebook posts and this blog post where I get my china/plates/display dishes and what it is called XX