Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Warm pineapple upside-down cake will melt in your mouth.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Serves 8


Ingredients:

2 tsp plus 1/4 cup softened butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
8 oz. canned pineapple - drained
6 maraschino cherries - halved
1&1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp finely chopped or grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp lemon juice


Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 2 tsp butter in a 9-inch round cake pan.

Stir in the brown sugar and 1 tbsp water. Arrange the pineapple (cubes or slices) and cherries evenly in the pan, in any design you like. Set the pan aside.

Stir the flour, sugar and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl. Add milk and the remaining butter, along with the egg and the vanilla. Add the lemon zest, cinnamon and lemon juice.

Beat the mixture with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are basically combined, then beat on medium speed for about a minute. Transfer the batter into the pan containing the pineapple. Be careful that you don't disturb your fruit design.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and turn over onto a plate. Serve warm.


Enjoy....


Tips:

• Try using fresh instead of canned pineapple, or use a fruit besides cherries; strawberries, blackberries and figs are all tasty possibilities.
• Garnish the top of the cake with crushed pineapple or a pineapple spread.
• Allow the cake to cool before attempting to remove it from the pan. If you don't, the cake may stick.

Chocolate Meringues with Cherry Ripple ~ SF

Chef Silvana Franco who appears on the BBC food channel made this recipe on her show The Hi Lo Club. it's delicious and fun to make.

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

1 pinch salt

225g golden caster sugar (found in Mishref co-op)

1 tsp cornflour

0.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp white vinegar

25g cocoa powder

425g canned stoned black cherries, in syrup

200g low-fat fromage frais (could be found at the sultan center)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 140C/gas 1.

2.Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until very stiff. Gradually add the sugar to make a stiff shiny mixture. Stir together the corn flour, vanilla and vinegar and whisk in. Sift over the cocoa then whisk in.

3. Spoon twelve oval shapes onto two baking sheets lined with Teflon paper. Bake for 45 minutes until the outer shell is crisp, but the centre still feels a little soft. Carefully peel off the paper and leave to cool.

4. Meanwhile, drain the cherries, pouring the syrup into a small saucepan. Bring the syrup to the boil and bubble rapidly for 7-8 minutes until thick. Set aside to cool.

4. Stir the cherries into the fromage frais. Spoon the mixture onto six of the meringues and then drizzle over the thickened syrup. Cover with the remaining meringue halves and serve.

This dessert should be served immediatly or the meringues halves will get soggy.

Servings: 6

Level of difficulty: Intermediate

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Tip of the day:

to remove tomato skin easily, put them in very hot
water for 8-10 minutes. remove, peel and chop or mash as
required.