Topsy turvy Pineapple, Pear & Blueberry cake = YUM!

This past month we’ve had some pretty yuck weather. And cold, wet and gloomy are just not good for the soul. Cake is though! 😛 I have a little ditty for when things feel grim: “When all else fails, BAKE!” For some reason I’d been craving pineapple cake – maybe because pineapples remind me of Cape Town and sunshine – so I needed a recipe that involved cake and pineapples. Nigella is one of my favourite cooks because she doesn’t sweat the small stuff, and she’s so passionate about good food. This results in both spontaneous cooking and ultra deliciousness. I love the way she cooks and talks about what she’s making, and her recipes are both uncomplicated and seriously edible. I found this recipe for her somewhat traditional version of an upside down pineapple cake. It has the glacé cherries in the middle of pineapple rings. If you like glacé cherries then go with that. But I’ve never been a glacé cherry chick. They’re too sweet and sticky for me. And since I had stocked up my freezer with fresh, local blueberries in the summer, I used these instead.

I also used fresh pineapple instead of canned. The recipe called for some of the juice from the canned pineapples which I replaced with pear nectar I had in  my fridge. So I guess that made my version more of a upside down pineapple, pear & blueberry cake = Frutti-Tutti, rock on!

Not sure whether it was because I had broken the recipe rules or not, but everything tipped out beautifully when I turned it over, except for the pineapples that where a bit stuck in the pan. Not stuck in a goopy way, more a bit of inertia. I think the rings would have been heavier and fallen out with the rest of the cake. But it didn’t really matter because all I had to do was fork them out and put them into their nicely moulded spots in the cake. It was like doing a puzzle. Here’s how it looked when it was all done.

It was super yummy. I recommend serving it with a dollop of thickly whipped cream. As my friend Rina, who popped in for tea, said when she ate hers: “I’m trying not to be a pig and wolf it down, but being so delicious it’s really hard!” Oink!

Don’t you love the rainbow plate? My sister J made it. She left it at my house when she came to visit once. Fat chance she’s ever getting it back. 🙂