Down the Memory Lane Pineapple Upside Down Cake

It is getting pretty chilly outside and Jamie Oliver could not have picked a better time for the release of his new book titled Comfort Food. As it gets colder most of us tend to hide inside, covered with warm blankets, curled up on the couches while sipping hot chocolate, sweet ciders or spiced up mulled wine or one of my favourites- warm beer with spices and honey. 

Yum! It is a sad moment whenever I put away all the summer clothes. In winter it always seems like hours before we are all able to be ready and dressed to go outside. November and December are still pleasant as there is lots of excitement because of Christmas of course. But the rest of Winter is pretty miserable. January can hit really hard with crazy low temperatures and never ending snow storms. That is why we should all escape to warm climates and for the rest of those dark weekends we need to pick up Jamie's book and cook up heart warming meals for our friends and family. Lots of delicious food and lots of wine will help us get through this winter.

One of the first recipes I cooked from his book was a sweet one as I had some pineapple on hand and needed to use it immediately. I had two, actually, and I managed to use it up making naan bread Hawaiian pizza, pork with pineapple and finally this cake.

The first time I tried this cake was what now seems like ages ago. I must have been 16 or 17 as I was a high school student and I had a wonderful Peace Corps teacher from the United States. I was taking extra English classes at her house. One day she served this cake with a cup of coffee sweetened with condensed milk. Even today I can still taste the sweet cake and the coffee and the memory of this moment is one of the strongest food memories I have. The cake itself was fluffy with caramelized pineapple. What a different flavour for me, what an amazing combination. And who would have thought I could put condensed milk into a coffee? Different. It almost marks the first day when I started craving for more things that were different.

When I saw this recipe in Jamie's book I was immediately transferred to that moment. Slow life in a small town. Little pleasures. Lots of friends and family nearby. Running into people on the streets. Dreams of what will be. Where will I be? What will I do? Where will I live? When and who will I fall in love with? This wonderful teacher opened lots of roads for me as thanks to her work I decided to study English, which took me to Canada, where after few bumps along the way and a divorce I finally met my love from Mexico and now we have to beautiful daughters. Some questions are still there in my head- not everything gets as clear as you think it will when you are a teenager. All I know now, at 35, is that my family is more important to me than anything else and having a passion to follow is crucial for your own sanity and a place to escape to. I do not care about what others say about me and I try to live my life to be good to other people and respect them.  I still have the hunger to know and learn, which I think will never go away. Books to read, music to discover, countries to visit, celebrations to celebrate, languages to learn. This is what keeps you young I think and this is what I love doing and will continue doing. Even though the time is precious now with these two little girls at home with me! ( 6 months and 3.5 years)

Finally the recipe. And the cake really was delicious but not as good as I remember it from my teacher! Jamie calls it "retro and so worth it". Definitely.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

(Jamie Oliver Comfort Food)

1 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup coconut milk

3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 ripe pineapple

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/3 cups flour, self-rising

1 jar of ginger in syrup

1 lime

candied cherries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9 inch deep cake pan. Bring the coconut milk to boil in a small saucepan and add the shredded coconut. Leave to cool. Peel and slice the pineapple into half moons- remove the core. Take out a frying pan and melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 1 cup of sugar. As the sugar starts to dissolve (do not stir) add the pineapple in one layer and cook on medium heat without stirring until it caramelizes. Set aside.

When cooled a bit transfer the pineapple to the cake pan- arrange the slices in one layer. Drizzle over with the caramel.

Using an electric mixer cream the rest of the butter (3/4 cup) and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the coconut mixture, then add the eggs one by one and fold in the flour at the end. Pour over the pineapple and bake for 45 minutes.

Make the ginger syrup by melting 4 tablespoons of syrup with the squeeze of lime juice, chop and add the ginger and add the cherries in the end. When it reduces and creates a nice thick syrup pour over the cake and place the cherries in the middle. I skipped this step as I did not have cherries and ginger in syrup but you can really get away with not using these.

Serve while still warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.