Old-Fashioned Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Hello! What is your dad doing today? Mine is out  on the green with his friends. Since he's such an independent guy, my mother and I made him a cake that he would enjoy after a round of golf.

Old-Fashioned Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Recipe from Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe
(Makes one 9-inch cake, or in my case, two 6-inch cakes)

1 pineapple
1 3/4 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of water
1 3/4 sticks of unsalted butter
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Using a serrated knife, peel, halve, and core the pineapple. Cut them into 1/4-inch-thick slices. You don't have to keep them in rings, the cookbook recommends cutting the rings in half or smaller.
2. Put 3/4 cup of sugar in a medium saucepan. Add water and gently swirl to moisten the sugar. Place the pan over high heat and let it boil. Do not disturb it! The syrup will start boil and thicken, changing in color as it caramelizes.
3. When the caramel is medium golden brown, turn down the heat and stir in 3/4 stick of unsalted butter. Carefully add the pineapple and stir until it is coated with the caramel.
   
4. Using a fork/spatula/chopstick, transfer the pineapple to your cake pan. I didn't butter the cake pan, but you can if you like.
   
5. Preheat the oven to 350F.
6. In my case, I placed one ring at the bottom of the 6-inch cake pan and poured the remaining caramel in. 
7. Using a stand mixer, whisk the eggs and egg yolks together. Slowly whisk in the 1 cup of sugar, the vanilla extract, and 1 stick of butter.
8. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until combined.
9. Pour the batter evenly over the pineapple in the cake pan. Smooth the top out with a spatula.
10. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown. You can let the cake cool in the pan, or be impatient like me and carefully invert it onto a plate. Enjoy!

The cake tastes so good right out of the oven. Sure, it will still taste delicious after a cool down, but I just love the mix of pineapple juice with warm caramel soaking into the cake.

A cake for my dad, a cake for Howard's dad. A happy father's day indeed.

Osmanthus Cookies

My dad was baking on the weekend and I couldn't tell from the aroma what was in the oven. He told me that he was using Osmanthus flowers to make cookies. Apparently, he saw this on YouTube and wanted to give it a try. It's in Mandarin, so if you understand it (I don't), have a look.

Well, the reasons I am posting these cookies are, first they tasted pretty good (crunchy) and second, I am so proud of my dad for knowing how to use YouTube (where does he find these things?)! I have underestimated his computer skills...

Osmanthus flowers are more commonly used for Chinese tea, but apparently have lots of health benefits as well. My dad bought some during his trip to Vietnam and Hong Kong last month. Osmanthus flowers aren't easy to come by (in Toronto at least), so my dad was pretty proud of his find. Here's the translated recipe, if you spot an error, please let me know!

Osmanthus Cookies
(Makes about a dozen)

15 grams of dried Osmanthus flowers (you can also use fresh ones, like in the video)
70 grams of sugar
150 grams of all-purpose flour
100 grams of unsalted butter
10 grams of egg whites
10 grams of almond flour

1. Preheat your oven for 180°C (350°F). Have all your ingredients at room temperature and ready. Use a cookie sheet or tray lined with parchment paper.
   
2. Sift the all-purpose flour and almond flour together and then add in your unsalted butter.
3. Gently mix with your hands to keep the batter light and fluffy. Watch the video for her technique.
4. Add in the sugar, egg whites, and Osmanthus flowers. Use a spatula to mix until well combined.
5. Gather the cookie dough together. Using your hands, create little dough balls of about 1.5-2 inches wide. Place it on your tray and gently and evenly press the dough balls down a bit.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool.
   

Mango Chiffon Cake

I know, this is an odd time for mangoes. However, my dad bought a box of mangoes last week and they are about ripe now. Just in time for his birthday! This one project took a lot of thought: my parents do not have a sweet tooth (Gasp! I know... where did I get mine from?) and do not like buttercream, icing, or anything with too much sugar.

So, I decided to try a delicately light chiffon cake. The Chinese bakeries around here sell them wrapped in paper (also known as paper wrapped cakes - essentially Chinese cupcakes in my books). Despite it being my first attempt at chiffon cakes, that wasn't enough for me, I wanted to incorporate mangoes as well. So I looked through my collection of cookbooks and stumbled upon one (and I had all the ingredients on hand) in The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics. Except this one was for lemon chiffon cake. No problem! I'll just substitute mangoes for lemons!

My parents really enjoyed the cake. They liked the texture, the taste, and even had two slices! There is about 1/4 of the cake left. But - yes there is a but - they said it was still too sweet. So instead of 3/4 cups of sugar, mom suggested I use 1/2 a cup next time. Also, feel free to add more mango puree or extract if you want a more distinct taste, this was more on the chiffon side.

Happy Birthday Dad! I'm also using my new cake stand, I just bought it from the William Ashley warehouse sale! Well, I can handle the sugar, so I dusted mine with powdered sugar and drizzled some caramel along the edges.

Mango Chiffon Cake

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living's lemon chiffon cake

(mine made one round 8-inch cake about 2-inches high)

3/4 cups of cake flour

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar

3 large eggs, separated

1/4 cup of canola oil

2 tablespoons of pureed mangoes

1 tablespoon of fresh mango juice

1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar

1/3 cup of water

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking soda, salt, and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, oil, water, mango puree and juice, and vanilla extract.
3. Stir in the medium bowl's dry content into the large bowl's wet content. Mix until smooth.
4. With a mixer, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and then beat on high until soft peaks form (about 1 minute). Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks form (about 2 minutes).
5. Gradually mix the egg-white mixture into the batter. Then pour the batter into a pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean from the center. Remove the cake from the oven and set to cool. (In the book, they say that the cake must be cooled upside down, but I kept it right side up and it turned out fine. I didn't want to ruin the nice light brown top.)
6. Serve with fresh slices of mango. Or in my case, drizzle caramel!

This photo was featured on Photograzing!