Pineapple rum macadamia upside down cake

I have found a fabulous cake for you to bake for this weekend! In Australia people will be celebrating/commiserating/trying to forget the Federal Election, while my American friends will be gearing up for their July 4^th celebrations. This cake would be a perfect addition at any get-together you will be attending, from party to picnic to friends-over-for-pizza. 

I made this cake recently after a fresh pineapple in the fruit bowl started to look a bit unloved. This seems to be a theme in The Hungry House – buy beautiful fresh produce, ignore it until it almost is past its best, then quickly turn it into baked goods.

This is the first time I have ever made an upside down cake and I was petrified that all I would have to show for it would be a sticky mess in the bottom of the cake pan. I held my breath as I removed the cake from the pan then did a happy dance – it turned out perfectly. Lots of recipes don’t suggest ling the bottom of the pan with non-stick paper but I did and I think that was the reason it worked.

I was inspired by a recipe from the BBC Good Food site. I omitted the glace cherries as I’m not a fan, added nuts, and used fresh instead of tinned pineapple.

If you don’t have fresh pineapple use canned pineapple rings. You could omit the rum but it adds a lovely flavour.

My friends at Australian Macadamias sent me an enormous bag of macadamias and I added some nuts to give a crunch to this cake.

The harshest cake critic, The Hungry Dad, loved this cake, as did my work friends at the charity where I work. I will absolutely be making this again.

GATHER:

Pineapple:

One large pineapple, peeled and sliced into 1.5 cm thick slices

40 grams butter

two tablespoons dark spiced rum

two tablespoons brown sugar

Topping:

50g butter, diced, at room temperature

50g brown sugar

50 grams unsalted macadamias

Cake:

100g butter, diced, at room temperature

100g caster sugar

100g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

LET’S GET TO IT:

Pineapple:

Melt 40 grams unsalted butter over a low heat, add rum, stir then add pineapple slices – depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in batches.

Cook for one minute, add a pinch of brown sugar to each ring, flip over, add another pinch of sugar to each ring and cook for another minute.

Remove to a plate and continue until all your pineapple has been cooked.

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line a 20cm round cake pan with non-stick baking paper.

Topping:

In bowl of electric mixer beat butter and sugar until combined and creamery. Spread over the base of the cake tin – there isn’t much but just spread out as best as you can. Place the pineapple over the topping then added macadamias in any gaps.

Cake:

In bowl of electric mixer beat all the cake ingredients until smooth and well-combined – this should take around three or four minutes on a medium speed.

Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and use a palette knife to smooth the top. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, then set aside for 10 minutes before turning onto a plate. Allow to cool before slicing.

Tags: dessert, macadamia, pineapple, rum, upside down cake