pineapple upside down cake 2

Princess Chickadee wanted to bake something different so I let her try her hand at baking a pineapple upside down cake.  Not a bad effort, huh... for a first try by my precious blessing.

Some people have asked me why I encourage Junior Master Chef to bake and why I let her do everything from start to finish with only supervision (and plenty of photo-taking) by me.  There are several reasons:-

(a) bonding with my precious girl

(b) baking encourages her to listen for instructions

(c) baking encourages her patience

(d) I always believe that whatever you do in life, you always finish what you started

(e) I would rather that she bake instead of being a couch potato

(f) I get a kick out of telling others that the item was baked by a little girl who is not yet 3.5 years of age and that she did everything from start to finish

As this cake was baking in the oven, Princess Chickadee requested that we invite our friends (WC and SC) over to sample her culinary skills.  They came over and I hope that they enjoyed the cake as much as we did.

Baking this brings back memories of my Home Economics class in secondary school.  If I recall correctly, there was a pineapple upside down cake recipe in my Home Economics textbook.  I wonder whether the recipe is still there in the current edition of the textbook.  I shall have to get round to borrowing Da's niece's textbook.  I am sure that there are plenty of recipes in the textbook that are easy for Junior Master Chef to follow.

INGREDIENTS (cake)

150g self self-raising flour
250g butter (softened)
150g castor sugar
4 eggs (beaten)
1 tsp pineapple flavour
low fat milk


INGREDIENTS (topping)

50g butter (softened)
50g brown sugar
9 pineapple rings
5 glace cherries

METHOD (preparation)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Grease a 9" square cake pan and line with baking paper.

METHOD (topping)

1. Cream the butter and sugar until evenly mixed.  Spread on the base of the lined cake pan.

2. Arrange the pineapple rings in the cake pan.

3. Place 1/2 a cherry in the centre of each pineapple ring.

METHOD (cake batter)

1. Sift the self-raising flour in a bowl.  Set aside.

2. Whisk the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl using a hand whisk until light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg and pineapple essence.

4. Fold in the sifted flour.  Gradually add milk until a soft dropping consistency is obtained.

5. Pour the batter over the prepared cake pan.

6. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.