Rings of suburbia

« Pineapple upside-down cake »

Nothing like having the flu off-and-on all week and, when feeling a bit better, enjoying a pint or two after work with a few colleagues from work only to have the flu return. At least Jarkko has it now so we can be achy and miserable together when Otava takes us out for a walk/drag.

The 'let's see if they'll eat it' experiment last week was a pineapple upside-down cake since pineapple is a frequent addition to food here and it seems to be very popular in desserts, perhaps a bit too much so. Pineapple, like banana and other tropical fruits, was an expensive exotic food that didn't make its way into the average home until the advent of canning and refrigerated shipping/storage in the early part of the 20th century. One curious factoid about pineapple is that the original native word is 'anana' which explains the taxonomic name as well as the Finnish 'ananas'. [Which makes you wonder if 'banana' was ok then why did the fools change anana to pineapple.]

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PINEAPPLE

Pineapple is one of the world's favorite tropical fruits. First called "anana", a Caribbean word for "excellent fruit", the name "pineapple" came from European explorers who thought the fruit looked like a pinecone with flesh like an apple.

Christopher Columbus was the first person to introduce pineapples to Europe. In 1493 he was exploring the Caribbean islands and found pineapples growing on the island of Guadalupe. He brought some of these pineapples back for Queen Isabella of Spain who loved the sweet tropical fruit. So did other Europeans. In fact, Europeans loved the taste of pineapple so much they tried to grow them in Europe, but the tropical plants did not fare well in Europe's cool climate.

THE HISTORY OF CANNED PINEAPPLE

Canned pineapple was first made in the 1901 but wasn't widely available until engineer Henry Ginaca invented a machine in 1911 that could remove the outer shell, inner core and both ends of 100 pineapples in less than a minute! If you've ever tried to peel a pineapple, you'll know how amazing this is. This machine, known as the "Ginaca machine" is still used in pineapple canneries today.

James Dole began marketing canned pineapple by placing ads with recipes in women's magazines in 1907, possibly the first of its kind, a technique that remains popular even now. In 1925 the company ran ads requesting new recipes using their pineapple. A recipe for upside-down cake was in the book of winners but apparently there were 2,500 or so upside-down cake recipes submitted which would give the impression that the cake was not unknown to homemakers at the time.

The pineapple upside-down cake has its roots in skillet cakes which were, and possibly still are, very popular in the Southern US. The availability of canned pineapple made an exotic fruit into a suburban novelty. The most recognizable form of the upside-down cake has pineapple rings dotted with toxic red maraschino cherries which evoke a 1950s modern suburban dream, but the cake has been around for much longer. Both pineapple and the strange red cherries were popular in the 1920s and, in spite of not being able to find a citation for who put them together on a cake, it's likely safe to assume they collided on the cake around that time. The cake has remained an icon of American cooking kitsch, though somewhat shunned and relegated to a 1970s Betty Crockers' Men's Favorites recipe card.

I looked at quite a few different recipes, including one Dole upside-down cake recipe, and most of them are quite similar. Cook's Illustrated featured a recipe in the September 2004 issue which I tried first, but found the batter too thick to spread evenly in the pan and it didn't have the right texture when it was done. I was rather surprised as I'm so rarely disappointed by CI's recipes but I won't make that recipe again. This didn't keep Jarkko from eating a few too many pieces of it though. :)

I found another recipe that Cook's Illustrated had in one of the first cookbooks they printed a few years ago as a master recipe for a fruit upside-down cake. This cake, given the fluffy egg whites and the cornmeal, has a much nicer crumb and overall texture as well as a fluid enough batter to spread easily over the caramel and fruit. The basic idea is to make the caramel, place the fruit in it, pour the batter on top and bake. The other CI recipe called for using fresh pineapple and reducing it by cooking it in with the caramel and draining it before placing it into the pan. I thought this made the fruit come out a bit rubbery and difficult to slice though it does make for a pretty top after baking. Also, it's good to make the caramel first and allow it to set with the fruit a bit before pouring the cake batter over it to avoid the fruit shifting around too much. Unless, of course, you have the Nordicware pineapple upside-down cake pan. It is very delicious when served with a bit of vanilla ice cream and a glass of milk. :)

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Serves: 8-12
Time: 25 min prep + 1hr bake time
Source: CI

Topping

• sliced pineapple, drained (or peaches, plums, nectarines, mangoes, apples)
• maraschino or candied cherries / dried cranberries (optional)
• 1 cup or 2,5 dl light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons or 42g butter

Cake

• 1.5 cups or 3,5 dl all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons or 113g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup or 2,5dl plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, separated, room temperature
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup or 1,5dl milk

1. For the topping: Butter bottom and sides of round 9x3 (23cm x 8cm) cake pan. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat; add brown sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is foamy and pale, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour mixture into prepared cake pan; swirl pan to distribute evenly. Arrange fruit slices over topping; set aside.
2. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350F/176C degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, cornmeal and salt together in medium bowl; set aside. Cream butter in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed. Gradually add 1 cup sugar; continue beating until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in yolks and vanilla (scraping sides of bowl with rubber spatula if necessary); reduce speed to low and add dry mixture and milk, alternately in three or four batches, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, until batter is just smooth.
3. Beat egg whites in large bowl at low speed until frothy. Increase speed to medium-high; beat to soft peaks. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar; continue to beat to stiff peaks. Fold one-quarter of beaten whites into batter with large rubber spatula to lighten. Fold in remaining whites until no white streaks remain. Gently pour batter into pan and spread evenly on top of fruit, being careful not to disperse fruit. Bake until top is golden and toothpick inserted into cake center (not fruit, which remains gooey) comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes.
4. Rest cake on rack for 2 minutes. Slide a paring knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Place a serving platter over the pan and hold tightly. Invert the cake onto the platter. Carefully remove the cake pan. If any fruit sticks to pan bottom, remove and position on top of cake.