Pineapple Cake

Vanilla sponge cake filled sugar and cinnamon coated pineapple pieces, covered with Swiss Meringue buttercream and decorated with pineapples & maraschino cherries.

Here we will be using All-purpose flour & Corn starch both. If you have Cake flour (195 grams) at home you can use it instead of All-purpose flour just don't add corn starch.

I used canned pineapples and maraschino cherries but you can use the fresh ones.

Ingredients :

For Vanilla Sponge

• 4 large Eggs, at room temperature

• 170 grams Granulated sugar

• 150 grams All purpose flour

• 25 grams Cornstarch

• 1 tsp Baking Powder

• a pinch Salt

• 60 grams Water

• 40 grams Oil (canola/ sunflower/ any flavorless)

• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

For Pineapple filling & Simple syrup

• 1/2 cup Pineapple pieces

• 1/4 cup Brown sugar ( if you want it sweeter, you can add up to 1/2 cup)

• 1 tsp Cinnamon powder

• 1/2 cup Water

For Icing & decoration

• 3 cups Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 1/2 cup Pineapple pieces

• 7-8 Maraschino Cherries

Tools :

• 6"inch Cake pan

• Parchment/ butter paper

• Toothpick or Straight Knife

• Piping bag or use a milk cover or zip-lock bag into piping bag

Method :

• In a pan, heat pineapple pieces, brown sugar, cinnamon powder and water till the pineapples are soft. Don't let it mushy and pulpy.

• Remove, strain and cool the filling. Use the strained sugar syrup to keep the cake moist.

• Preheat the oven 165°C/325°F for 10-15 minutes and grease inside the cake pan with oil and cover the base of the pan with parchment/ butter paper. Dust the sides on the pan with little flour. Remove the excess flour by tapping it out. I'm have used 6" inch cake pan.

• Separate the egg yolks and whites and whisk the whites till soft peaks by hand/stand mixer.

• In another bowl whisk the yolks, sugar and vanilla essence by hand. Add this yolk mixture to the whisked egg whites and whisk on medium speed. Scrape off the sides and keep this bowl of wet ingredients on the side.

• Mean time sieve the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt together four times. This is incorporate air to the dry ingredients.

• Fold the dry ingredients little by little to wet ingredients. We use this process to avoid overmixing and not to deflate the air incorporate in them.

Folding Method : Pass your spatula through the middle of the mixture, across the side, and fold over the top. Rotate the bowl and repeat. Its like cutting in the middle and making an eight.

• Pour the batter in the cake pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any bubbles after filling it with batter. Doing so will bring the bubbles to the surface and level out the top of your cake.

• Bake the cake at 165°C/325°F for 40-45 minutes in the middle of the lower rack and bake with both top and bottom heat. The time required to bake may vary, so after 40 minutes check the cake. Remove the cake from oven and let it cool.

It is easy to check a cake by using the toothpick. Just stick a toothpick into the center of your cake. If there is wet batter still on the toothpick, it needs more time in the oven. If it comes out clean, your cake is done!

• Once cooled, loosen the edges of the cake with a straight spatula, invert the pan(s) to remove the cake, and peel off the parchment. Cover the cake with a cling film or put in an airtight container and put it in the fridge. This will avoid any crumbs in the cake while decorating.

• Trim off the sides and the top of the cake and cut the cake into two equal parts. Keep both parts in plates and soak the cakes in the simple syrup we made earlier.

Its time to assemble!

• Use a plate or a platter and put a spoonful of buttercream in the center of the plate and then keep one of the cake halves. This buttercream put below will act as a glue to secure the cake to the plate.

• Fill half of the piping bag with the buttercream and use it to make a border on the side of the cake. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on the cake.

• Fill the cake layer with pineapple filling and then again apply a layer of buttercream. Now keep the second layer of cake upside down on the first one.

• Put scoops of buttercream on the top of the cake and with a use of knife cover the top and sides of the cake. Keep the cake again in the fridge for half an hour.

• Take the cake out and again cover it again in buttercream. Keep the knife on the 90° degree angle and turn the plate to even out the buttercream from the sides. Clean the knife and even out the buttercream on the top too.

• Use the remaining buttercream to decorate the sides and to make rosettes on the top. Put the cherries on the top of the rosettes and remaining pineapple on the top of the cake.