PINEAPPLE TEA CAKE

Don't let this rather plain looking slice of cake fool you.....it is absolutely scrumptious. It has the most amazingly soft texture and the topping is divine. So easy to make in CC too. It is a converted AWW recipe from an 80s cookbook. I haven't baked a cake in ages and this was a great cake with which to break my baking drought. Enjoy!

PINEAPPLE TEA CAKE

1 1/2 cups self raising flour (or use plain and add 3 tsps of baking powder)

pinch of salt

1/2 cup caster or white sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

125g unsalted butter diced

1/3 cup of honey

1 can crushed pineapple

1/4 cup dessicated coconut

1. Preheat oven (fan forced) to 170 degrees. Grease and line a 20cm round deep springform cake tin.

2. Drain pineapple well in a sieve (press down with the back of a spoon to assist draining). The juice is not required for this recipe.
3.Place half of the butter (diced) in the bowl with the kneading blade. Select Speed 3 Temp 85 Time 3 min. Pause after one minute and scrape down the sides and blade. Resume.
4. Add sugar, salt, flour, milk and egg to the bowl. Select Pastry P1 Time 1 min. After 30 sec, pause and scrape down the blade and bowl. Resume.
5. Pulse the mixture for 5 sec.
6. Scoop the mixture into the prepared tin. Smooth over the top.
7. Either wipe out the bowl and blade or change to a clean bowl.
8. Place honey and remaining butter in the bowl with the kneading blade.
9. Select Speed 8 Time 1min 30sec. Pause after 30 seconds and scrape down bowl and blade. Resume.
10. Gently spread drained pineapple over the cake batter. Then carefully spread honey and butter mixture over the pineapple and sprinkle with the coconut.
11. Bake in the prepared oven for 30 to 40 mins. The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 mins before removing the ring.
12. Beautiful eaten warm.

PINEAPPLE AND CARROT CAKE

I really love pineapple in cakes and when you put pineapple with carrot, I think it is really something special. This is a really easy cake to make and it is packed with tonnes of flavour.  When I first made this cake, I recall that the recipe called for wholemeal flour.  I am not a fan of wholemeal flour so I have always made it with white flour.  This time however, I made it with gluten free flour.  I used the White Wings Gluten Free Self Raising Flour that comes in the orange pack.  It worked really well. There was no difference between the normal version and the gluten free version. If you like you can ice this with either a lemon glace icing or a cream cheese icing.  I like to serve it hot (zap in the microwave) with icecream.

PINEAPPLE AND CARROT CAKE (Can be Gluten Free)

1 1/2 cups of self raising flour (either normal or gluten free)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp bicarb soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 salt

2/3 cup oil (light olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oil etc)
2 eggs
1 cup finely grated carrot
1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
2. Place all the ingredients in the bowl with the kneading blade, in the order specified.
3. Select Pastry P1 for 1min.
4. After 30 sec pause the machine and scrape down the sides. Resume program.
5. When program is complete, pour the batter into the tin and level off.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.