Pineapple Pastry -Cake with Pineapple Curd-Happy Birthday Hubby Dear and a Contest entry

With every passing birthday of yours , my wish for you to grow old and spend my life with you turns true.

Wishing you a very happy birthday ,my love!

OMG! Its been so long already??
Crossed the big four -oh , at this stage in life...notice, its always the men that grow old.
Well, the operative words are "spend my life with you!"
And we are doing that.

For me, every birthday is possibly the most depressing day of the year. Suddenly it dawns on me , that one more year of my life is past...and I haven't achieved anything significant ...
But things are different for hubby dear. He , for one , is the most satisfied person I know...no issues with growing old, no problems with grey hair and he is the only person I know ,who does not have a sweet tooth. So he has no issues with weight too.
AArrrrggggggggghhhhhhh!
Totally like chalk and cheese , we are.
That is why , we are!
The only thing sweet hubby dear eats ,is pineapple pastry. And once a year, he obliges..so I have a set task. A cake that tastes better than a store bought pineapple pastry.

As usual I embrace all I do , whole heartedly!
So this is The Pineapple pastry with a little extra.
The extra being Pineapple curd.
And this is my entry to the Del Monte Blogging Contest.

I had hoped to have pretty pictures of the slices....only the cake ended up in my hair and on my face and on my clothes...so after the mandatory bite...sweet dog Romeo had a field day...he gorged on all the cake that did not land on me and myself.
How guys gang up...against a damsel in distress!
But a few clean slices were good enough to place on a Petty plate and taste.And the pineapple curd was what made all the difference.

From a simple clone of pineapple pastry, this became a gourmet Pineapple Pudding Cake.Soft and moist.
I used my ancient sponge cake recipe my mum taught me, which uses no oil or fat and the pineapple curd was sans any butter.Contrary to expectations, the cake is light as a feather and moist ...melting in your mouth.
Enough of blowing my own trumpet....
Since I can not invite all to taste my wares...you need to grease your elbows.
Three parts to the cake.The sponge, the frosting and the pineapple curd and Del Monte Pineapple Slices.

for the

Pineapple Pastry -Cake with Pineapple Curd-Happy Birthday Hubby Dear...

you need

5 eggs at room temperature
125 gms or 1 cup(remove 1 tbsp) flour
125 gms or 1 cup(remove 2 tbsp) icing sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla or pineapple essence

Lets start at the very beginning...
Turn on your oven to 180C/350F. Line a round tin with parchment paper. Al foil is a bad idea. If you don't have the paper...grease and flour the tin generously.
I was a little generous with the paper.

The eggs.I weighed...Just like that.250 gms(with the shells.)

Whipped till more than tripled. The idea is to incorporate as much air into the eggs as possible.
The flours,and baking powder need to be sifted at least two times.I did four.

Add the icing sugar to the eggs.If you have superfine sugar, that is better than icing sugar-use that.

Continue to whip till all the sugar is incorporated.

In three batches, cut and fold the flour mix , here, it is important to restrain oneself.If you need to express your aggression...bake bread.

A sponge is like an untouched lady.You need to treat it with care!

Pour in the essence-I used pineapple...I wanted the fragrance to emanate from all the pores....and fold in.
Quickly , into the dish and into the oven.Just when the 10 minute mark had passed...we had a power cut.
I almost banged my head into the wall...but the gods were kind.The electricity returned in 6 minutes...so no damage was done.(almost- the cake would have been at least a centimeter higher ...)

Ranchi has been facing terrible weather...we haven't had a dry day in ages...rain, mist, drizzle,fungus,soggy cookies...we live with that now.
OK, technically...35 minutes good.Keep an eye...as soon as the cake looks done...test with a skewer.
Over baking will give you a HARD cake.
Once the cake is done, bring it out and leave to cool.

Basically let it mind its own business till you get on with the rest of your chores.

For the Pineapple Curd

3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup  pineapple juice
3 tbsp cornflour
a wee bit of pineapple essence

All the stuff into a pan.

Whisk well and turn on the heat.

Cook on a medium flame till the egg and cornflour cooks.Done now...

Take it off the heat and beat till cool,Place a sheet of cling film on the curd so a film does not form.

now the Frosting!
400 gms non dairy cream
Whip the Ice cold Cream

1 tin Del Monte Pineapple Slices

Sprinkles to put some colour on the pure white cake

Now to assemble the cake..Which incidently is Fat Free.
Remove the cake from the tin and slice It three slices.A little cream on the cake platter to ensure that your cake does not go for a walk.
First slice on.
Irrigate the slice generously with the Juices from the tin ,which I spiked with a little vodka.All good things need alcohol. There was no Bacardi...I was planning to turn this into a cocktail cake...So vodka it was!

Into the pineapple curd I added 5 slices of pineapple which I chopped - Puree would have made it easier to slice...but we, the people love bits.

Slather on this fruit laden pineapple curd.I did not have yellow food colour...a splash of sunshine would have looked really pretty.

Second layer on...Irrigate!
Now the non dairy cream.Topped with chopped pineapple bits.

Third layer on....Irrigate.
I used up 3/4 the juice and about 75 mils of vodka. The cake was quite drunk by the time I finished with it.
Sweet dog romeo slept through the night,nary a whine or growl!

Now the cream slathered on for good measure and made to look pretty with little frosted shells.
A sprinkle of sprinkles and we were good to go!

The wait till midnight is generally the most agonising part of the day...
And then ...most of the cake ended up as a weapon of mass destruction...cake fight , after years.
Cleaning up at 1 am , and then being the only one in need of a shampoo was not what I bargained for.
But then , It was a cake well spent and eaten!

Special ,was the need of the day...and after almost  being crushed under a water laden tent..(My life is so super exciting...that is another story)...one needed to lighten the mood!
And you wondered why I was slacking.
Honestly...my plate is so full...7th grade Hindi and Sanskrit and History and all stuff....
If I had studied so much in my own school career...I would have been a PhD at least three times over by now.

Not taking away from the person...the cake was yum...wet and fruity...and if you use the cream as a hair pack...Fat free!
This was a reason to celebrate the most special person in my life...and I think I succeeded...happy birthday hubby dear...lets do many more cake fights!(next time I will be prepared!)

So what are you baking  today!!!


Coming up...healthy Oat meal Spicy Cookies...