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.

Upside-Down Pear Cake

My goodness, it feels like summer has just slipped away. I don't know about the weather in your area, but the temperatures have dropped to the point that I wore a scarf yesterday. A scarf!

I hope you're not all sick of my New York City trip posts. I haven't even finished posting all of the wonderful things we saw and ate! To be continued after Labour Day...

To usher in the chill of autumn, how about an upside-down pear cake? It has that nice rustic feel to it and tastes wonderfully sweet as you reminisce about the summer of 2010.

Upside-Down Pear Cake
(Makes about 1 8x8 square cake)

4-5 pears (depends on how thick/thin you slice it)
1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cake pan ready.
2. Peel and slice your pears. Cut them in a way so that the pear shape remains intact. We like our pears and made them pretty thick.
   
3. Place the cut pears in a sieve to drain any juices.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat 2 tablespoons of butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Take the mixture out and using a spoon, create an even base on your cake pan. Set aside.
5. Take the remaining butter and beat with the 1/4 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   
7. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
8. Alternatively add in the dry mixture with the yogurt. Mix until combined.
   
9. Place your pear slices on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture in the pan. Nicely space the pears. Then, pour in the cake batter.
   
   
   
10. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Take the cake out and let it cool upside down. The cake pan should come off easily because of the delicious caramel pears. Set the cake aside and watch the sweet juices dribble through the cake. Quickly eat and savour.

Enjoy! Autumn doesn't officially arrive until September 23rd!