MOIST CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES with COCOA BUTTER FROSTING

Cupcakes are a favorite for kids as well as adults.Cupcakes are nothing but a small portion of soft and fluffy cake that can be served with/without frosting.I have earlier posted 'Vanilla cupcakes with Butter cream frosting' which are again favorite for everyone and today, I am posting Chocolate cup cakes.These cupcakes are extremely moist and fluffy, I have prepared them many times and this recipe never failed me.
The chocolate cupcakes with the frosting is truly a delight for the kids. These are ideal for kids during bithday parties as they can decorate it as per their wish. It can also be a good decoration for parties -imagine a tower of cupcakes or any such form.
MOIST CHOCOLATE CUP CAKES RECIPE:
(makes around 12)
Recipe Source: Joy of Baking

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups (175 grams) All purpose flour
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted Butter*,at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white Sugar
2 large Eggs
1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed Cocoa powder
1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot Water
2 teaspoons Baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons pure Vanilla extract

Chocolate Butter cream Frosting:
1 cup unsalted Butter*,softened
3 1/2 cups Icing sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp Milk or heavy Cream
Method:

• Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C). Lightly butter,or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
• In a small bowl mix in the cocoa powder with the boiling hot water and whisk until you get a smooth mixture.Let it cool to room temperature.
• Sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.Beat in the vanilla extract.
• Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
• Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16 - 20 minutes or until it is risen and springy to the touch.Test it with a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.)
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing(recipe below). You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula like I did or also using piping method which gives pretty patterns.
• Decorate with various color sprinkles,m&ms,chocolate shavings,chocolate chips etc.
  

Cocoa Butter cream Frosting:

• Cream butter for a few minutes in a hand mixer over medium speed.
• Turn off the mixer and add sifted powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl.
• Keep the mixer on the lowest speed so that the dry ingredients would not not blow everywhere.Mix with the hand mixer until the sugar and cocoa are mixed well with the butter. Now increase the mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk(or cream) and beat for 3-4 minutes until it is smooth and stiff consistency.
• If you want still a more thick frosting add little more sugar an if you need a thin frosting add 1-2 tbsp of milk.

Serve them as a snack/dessert.You can keep them for 2 days outside and 4-5 days if refrigerated.These cupcakes were very moist and tasted really nice even if it is refrigerated.

* You can use salted butter like Amul in both the cake and butter cream recipes,in that case skip the extra salt mentioned in the recipe.

I could not control myself clicking more and posting them,how can some one resist those pretty colorful chocolate cupcakes.They were irresistible in looks as well as in taste.This is a must try cupcake for all chocolate lovers.
Notes:

1. For frosting always use Icing sugar which gives desired results.
2. You can make Vanilla White butter cream frosting using the same recipe as cocoa butter cream frosting.Replace 1/2 cup cocoa powder with 1/2 cup Icing sugar in the recipe.

This cupcake is for you people,come on grab it soon!! Try these cupcakes at home and surprise your family and kids.

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MANGO POUND CAKE | MANGO CAKE | SIMPLE TEA CAKES

This mango season, I have posted many recipes based on raw mango and although I prepared many recipes with ripened mango, I somehow forgot to take pics. This post is based on ripened mango and comes just in time before the mango season ends, so you still have time to prepare this simple and delicious cake.Also it is a special day for me today as it is my Dad's birthday and I would like to wish him a very nice day through this post.

I love pound cakes and love to eat it as a snack rather than as a dessert and the addition of fruit pulp in a pound cake gives a mild taste of the fruit which makes it even more delicious.I had planned to prepare a mango cake and I am glad that I made it before the mango season ends,it was a very simple cake with nice mango flavor in each and every bite.

Mango Pound Cake Recipe:
(makes a 8" ring tin)
Recipe source : Parita's world

Ingredients:
2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup fresh Mango puree(preferably Alphonsos)
4 small Eggs or 3 large Eggs
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla extract/essence
Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease and flour a 8" ring tin.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda and keep it aside.
• Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy for about 3 to 5 mins.
• Now add in the mango puree and beat until well combined,it turns to pale yellow.
• Now beat in one egg at a time alternating with flour mixture.
• Finally add in the vanilla essence and beat lightly just until its incorporated.
• Pour the batter into greased cake tin and tap lightly on the kitchen platform so that the mixture is evenly spread.

• Bake the cake for 45 to 50 mins until a knife or tooth pick inserted comes out clear.Keep a close watch after 35 mins.
• Let the cake sit in tin for 5 mins and run a knife in the edges and remove the cake from tin.Once the cake has reached the room temperate.
• Slice the cake and store it in an airtight box.
  

Serve it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or eat it as it is.
Notes:

1. The cake tasted better the next day,the flavor of mango in the cake is very delicious.
2. You can add chopped and dusted walnuts to the batter before baking,I am sure it would add nice bite in the cake.
3. You can use salted butter,I used Amul butter for this cake.
   

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CHOCOLATE BROWNIES RECIPE ..for the Birthday Boy

I already have posted a Brownie recipe in my blog but today I am posting another brownie recipe with a variation.The earlier version I posted was with cocoa powder where as today's version is prepared with rich dark chocolate.We are never tired of brownies and always search for a new recipe as both of us like brownies very much.I have tried this recipe from Joy of Baking site and I must say that this is a perfect recipe for chocolate Brownies.

Hubby is a huge fan of Brownies and always prefer a brownie or a tea cake over the cream loaded cakes.Today is a special day as it is his birthday and also my in-laws visited us to celebrate the birthday .I already baked an 'Eggless Dates Cake' in the morning for a formal sweet to start this special day and a special Cheese cake is under preparation for the evening celebrations.I would like to wish him on this occasion with his favorite Brownie.

Chocolate Brownies Recipe:
(makes 16 Brownies)
Source: Joy of Baking

Ingredients:
5 ounces (150 grams) semisweet or bittersweet Chocolate,chopped
3/4 cup (95 grams) All-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp (15 grams) Cocoa powder
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white Sugar
1 tsp pure Vanilla extract
3 large Eggs
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Walnuts,roughly chopped
3/4 cup (125 grams) Semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C) and place the rack in the center of the oven.
• Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8 inch (20 cm) square pan, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.I used a thin 8*10 rectangular brownie pan as I wanted a thin brownies.
  
• Melt the chocolate and butter by a double boiler method in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour, salt,walnuts and chocolate chips (if using).
• Pour into the prepared pan upto 1/3 of its height.If you have some extra batter pour into another small pan.
• Bake it for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.Cut into 16 squares.

Serve at room temperature.You can refrigerate it for 3-4 days,just microwave for few seconds before serving.

Serving Suggestions:

• Warm it up in Microwave and serve it hot with Vanilla Ice-cream and chocolate sauce over it.

Notes:

1. You can freeze these brownies for a month,when ever you need you just need to pop them in microwave for few seconds and a fresh warm brownie is ready.
2. Do not fill the cake tin more than 1/3rd as it will make your brownies very thick,pour the extra batter in another small pan and bake if you feel the batter is more.

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Basic Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting...for a Colorful HOLI

I wish you all a Colorful and Happy HOLI!!!!
I am posting today these colorful cupcakes as a visual treat, to celebrate this colorful festival with fun.
Cupcakes are a favorite among kids as well as adults. While I like to eat my cupcakes plain,this time I covered them with colored butter cream icing and decorated them with various sprinkles as we had to pack this for a friend.One can pipe the frosting into beautiful swirl patterns over the cupcakes but as I am not a person who likes to eat too much frosting I made it a bit thin and gave the cupcakes a thick coat of frosting and decorated them with various sprinkles.The whole activity of baking cup cakes and decorating them is a real fun filled one which I thoroughly enjoy. It is infact more of a stress buster for me.You can even keep your kids occupied with this kind of activity whenever you make them and more so in Birthday parties. Aren't they looking pretty?
Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream frosting Recipe:
(makes around 12-14 cup cakes)
Recipe Source: Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups(195 grams) All purpose flour
1/2 cup(113 grams) unsalted Butter,at room temperature
2/3 cup(130 grams) granulated white Sugar
3 large Eggs
1/4 cup(60 ml) milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 large lemon (outer yellow skin)(optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Buttercream Frosting:
2 cups(230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk or light cream
Assorted food colors( I used red,blue,green)

Method:

Making Vanilla Cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350 deg F (177deg C) and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
• Sieve flour with baking powder and salt for a couple of times until it is mixed uniformly.
• Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using electric hand mixer.
• Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.Add lemon zest to the mixture and mix.
• Add 1/3rd of the flour mixture and 1/3 rd of milk and beat the mixture in low speed.Do this step alternatively for two more times beginning and ending with the flour.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula.
• Scoop out the batter and fill the muffin cups evenly with the batter.
• Bake them in the preheated oven at 180 deg C(350deg F) for about 17 - 20 minutes or just until set and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.It is always better to check a few minutes before the stated baking time.Do not over bake otherwise the cupcakes will be dry.
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.Once the cupcakes have completely cooled,we can frost with icing.

Buttercream Frosting:

• Cream the butter with an electric hand mixer until smooth and well blended.
• Add the vanilla extract and gradually beat in the sugar using the mixer on low speed.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes).
• Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed to get the desired consistency.
• Divide the mixture into 2-3 portions and tint the frosting with desired food colors.I used few drops of red,blue and green food colors for the batter.

Decorating the cup cakes:

• If you want flat topped cupcakes then slice off the dome of each cupcake, with a sharp knife before frosting.
  
• If you want to pipe the frosting you can use a star decorating tip.This will give a nice swirls over the cupcakes.But I am not a person who likes to eat so much frosting and hence opted a simple and easy way.
  
• I made my frosting bit thin and was easy to spread the frosting on each cup cake with a spatula or spoon and decorate with various color sprinkles,m&m's,white & brown chocolate chips and chocolate sprinkles.
• Do not touch the frosting up to an hour,they would set properly and gives a shiny look on the cupcakes.They stay good for 2-3 days.
  

A special hug to my niece for allowing me to use her colorful spoons and forks and also her beautiful tiny hands as props in the photographs.I must say though she tried to hide her things from me while I was photographing but now she feels happy to see her things in the photographs.

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Zebra Cake with Zebra Fondant Icing...and my Third Blog Anniversary!!!

My Blog turns 'THREE' this month.
I started this blog to record my recipes online, as a hobby; which later turned to a passion and I never thought that I would reach this far.I must admit that the culinary journey has been quite interesting, exciting and a wonderful one which gave me an opportunity to learn and know more about various cuisines.
I would like to give a visual treat to my blog and all my readers and friends with a sweet post to celebrate the occasion.I made Farida's famous Zebra cake which is quite popular in blogosphere and also tried my hands on fondant for the first time.This is my first fondant experiment which turned quite nice and gave me enough confidence to work with fondant in future.Though I have adapted a simple zebra striped pattern to go with my zebra cake, playing with various colors of fondant and rolling in to various shapes is definitely a fun filled activity which I thoroughly enjoyed.One does not need to attend any cake decorating class to start with fondant,Trust me..!! when I could work with fondant I am sure even you can.I have mentioned few pointers for easy guidelines, in case you are working with fondant for the first time.Though I used a black color it did not turn out black and gave a shade of grey,I think I should added few more drops of black color.I referred Wilton's site for some tips. My S-I-L helped me while decorating it.I would also like to thank my little niece 'K' for letting me use her valuable Minnie mouse for the photographs.
Zebra Cake Recipe:
(makes one 9-inch round cake)
Recipe Source: Farida's AZcookbook

Ingredients:
2cups(300g) All-purpose flour
1cup(250g) granulated Sugar
1cup(250ml) Milk,at room temperature
1cup(250ml) Oil
4large Eggs, at room temperature
2tbsp dark Cocoa powder
1tsp Vanilla essence
1tbsp Baking powder
Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) for 12-15 mins.
• Grease a 9" round tin with oil and dust it with flour evenly and remove the excess flour or line the pan with parchment paper.
• Sieve flour with baking powder a couple of times until it is mixed well.
• In a large mixing bowl,combine eggs(both egg whites and yellows) and sugar. Using an electric whisk or wire whisk beat the mixture until it is creamy and light in color.
• Add milk,vanilla essence and oil to the egg mixture and continue beating until it is mixed well.
• Now gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Try not to over beat the batter as this will remove the air pockets formed in the batter.
• Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain and add cocoa powder into the other portion and beat well until it is well mixed.Make sure you sieve the cocoa powder before otherwise you will end up having the lumps in the cocoa batter.
• Now comes the most interesting part of assembling the cake to get that beautiful zebra pattern.
• Scoop 3 heaped tbsp or 1 ladle of plain white batter into the middle of the baking pan.Then scoop 3 tbsp or 1 ladle(same sized) of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter.You need not to wait until the previous batter spreads and also do not try to spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture.The batter will spread by itself and fill the pan.
• Continue alternating the batters until you finish them.
• Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until the cake is bake and pass the tooth pick test.If you insert a toothpick in the center of the cake it should come out clean.
• Remove the tin from oven and let it cool for 5 mins.Run the knife slowly around the edges of the cake and invert the cake on to the cooling rack and turn the cake back and let it cool completely.

You can serve the cake as it is or you can dust it with icing sugar or you can can cover it with your favorite icings like butter cream,fresh cream or with fondant.
For eggless version follow my Eggless marble cake recipe and follow the procedure as of zebra cake.You need to divide the batter into two halves and mix in the cocoa powder in one half and follow the spreading process as of zebra cake.

Notes:

1. You can serve this as a tea time cake with out fondant or any other icing.
2. Just dust the cake with icing sugar or cocoa powder or serve as it is.
3. I felt the cake was bit less sweeter,it all depends on the quality of cocoa powder.If it is dark bitter one feel free to add 2-3 tbsp more sugar to the batter.

Decorating with Fondant:
Tips : Wilton's website

Ingredients:
1 pack of ready made Fondant mix(we need just a portion of it for the recipe)
black edible food color drops to create stripes
3/4 cup butter cream icing(ready made or freshly made)

Method:

• Take a big orange sized fondant dough and knead the fondant dough until it is smooth and shiny for roughly around 4-5 mins.
• Take a lemon sized fondant dough and add few drops of black color to it and mix well and knead to a smooth dough.
• Spread a tbsp batter of butter cream in the center of the serving plate and fix the cake over it.
• Now slowly cover the cake with a thin coat of butter cream icing all over the cake.
• Roll the kneaded white fondant dough into a big round of 1/4 inch thickness(remember it should be big enough to cover the cake completely).
• Slowly lift the rolled fondant and cover the cake and press it slightly so that it will hold on the cake.Using the pizza cutter or knife cut around the edges (where the cake ends near the plate) and remove the extra fondant.
• Roll the black colored fondant into a thin round of 3-4 mm thickness and cut into random stripes of different length and size and width using the pizza cutter.
• Stick the cut stripes applying water on one side of the strip on the cake(white fondant) creating the zebra pattern.
• Cover the bottom portion of the cake with small pebble sized balls made out of fondant.

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Dorie's Perfect Vanilla Cake with Blueberry Filling

Well if you are here to see my next entry of the Family Food series, I am sorry to say that I decided to break my rule of posting the Snacks/Chaats recipes non-stop until my series ends.After seeing all the beautiful festive cakes and bakes posts for Christmas by our fellow bloggers I was tempted to post few cakes and desserts recipes in my space..I would restart the series soon after a couple of posts,I am sure its fine to break few rules right? ;)While I have not baked anything for Christmas so far, I did prepare a few for some recent occasions and parties, so why not celebrate Christmas with these recipes.

As always I was confused on which type of cake to bake for our anniversary (which was just a couple of weeks back) but hubby dear asked me to bake something using the blueberry tin which he bought during his last business trip. He also wanted me to make a simple tea cake with no icing and all so initially it was very simple for me to select the recipe and I zeroed on this recipe. The confusion though started when I opened the tin and found that it was actually a blueberry pie filling and not whole blueberries.Then I suddenly remembered the Dorie Greenspan recipe which our blogger friend Simran suggested me to try earlier that day. I am yet to get a copy of this book called 'Baking from my home to yours' by this famous writer, hopefully this Christmas Santa would fulfill my wish.
Coming to the details of the cake...because of the lack of availability of few ingredients in my pantry at that moment, I made few changes and went ahead with the cake recipe and used blueberry filling to stuff in between the layers and spread some portion on the top using very little whipped cream.To my surprise, though hubby is not fond of layered cakes,he liked this cake very much and didn't refuse even a single time when I served him.I am reproducing the original recipe here mentioning the changes I made under Notes.
Dorie Greenspan Perfect Vanilla Cake(Party Cake) Recipe:
(yields two 9" round tin cakes)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups Cake flour(see notes)
1 stick(8 tbsp) Unsalted Butter,at room temperature
1 1/4 cups Butter milk or Whole milk(see notes)
4 large Egg whites
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp grated Lemon Zest
1/2 tsp pure Lemon extract(Lemon juice)

to Decorate:
1 tin Blueberry Pie filling
1 pack Whipped cream powder or 1 cup Whipped cream

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 175 deg C for 10-12 mins.Butter two 9" round tins or and line them with a round baking parchment or wax paper.
• Sift cake flour with baking powder and salt a couple of times until it is mixed properly.
• Whisk together egg whites and butter milk/milk until both are incorporated well.
• In another bowl beat butter and sugar together until it gives a light mixture.Add lemon zest and lemon extract and beat again.
• Add 1/3 rd of the flour mixture(dry ingredients) and beat again.Add half of the milk-egg mixture and beat well.
• Add the remaining flour mixture(1/3 rd) and beat well followed by half of the milk-egg mixture and beat well.
• Add the last of dry ingredients(last 1/3 rd portion) and beat well until everything is incorporated well.
• Pour the cake mixture into the ready tins until 2/3rds full and bake at 175 deg C for 30-35 mins until the cake is nicely browned and also rise well.Keep an eye after 25 mins and remove it once you feel it is done.Insert a thin knife or toothpick in the middle of the cake,if it comes out clean then the cake is done otherwise you need to bake for long.
• Rest it for 5 mins on the cooling rack and slowly run the knife around and unmold the cake and remove the paper.Let it cool completely for a couple of hours.

for Blueberry-Cream filling:

• Make whipped cream according to the instruction given in the pack or if you are using fresh and ready made proceed further with the recipe.
• Mix in 1/4 cup of blueberry pie filling mix in 1/2 cup of whipped cream and whisk well.This is one of the most prettiest colors I like,the filling will look so so nice.I used a thin layer of this mixture in between the cake,if you want a thick layer mix in double the quantities and also feel free to add the quantities of filling and whipped cream according to your liking.Just taste the filling for sweetness before spreading it.

for assembling the cake:

• Use a serrated and sharp knife,carefully run it in between the cake to get two equal layers.
• Spread a layer of the blueberry-whipped cream filling evenly.Spread more quantity to get a thick layer,I did a very thin layer.
• Place the other half on top and spread a very very thin layer of whipped cream(just to give a even look) on top of it leaving 1 1/2" inches from the sides.
• Pour the blueberry mixture evenly on top of whipped cream layer.Pipe the whipped cream on the cake around the filling as per your wish or like how I did it.
• Cover the cake with a lid and rest this for 3-4 hrs in fridge and while you are about to cut it or serve it take out the cake and keep it aside thirty minutes before.

Slice and serve it.
Notes:

• You can substitute blueberry filling with any berry fillings like strawberry or blackberry and decorate according to your wish.

The changes I made:

1. I halved the recipe of the original recipe so I got a thin layer of cake.Exactly cut down the ingredients to half.For easy interpretation I am giving you the measurements here 1 cup + 2tbsp Cake flour,2/3 cup butter milk,2 large egg whites,3/4 cup sugar,4 tbsp unsalted butter,1 1/2 tsp baking powder,1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.
   
2. As we don't get cake flour here I substituted it with maida and cornflour.To make one cup of cake flour at home,take one cup of maida and remove 2 tbsp maida from it and fill those 2 tbsp with corn flour.Sift this mixture for 4-5 times until it is mixed well.Your cake flour is ready to use.
3. I did not have lemons at that moment so could not use lemon zest,I skipped it and added our good old vanilla extract instead of lemon extract.
4. Instead of 4 egg whites I used 3 whole eggs.But I suggest you to go ahead with the original recipe.
5. I used salted butter what we get here,so skipped salt as butter already had it.Use it according to the availability at your place.
6. The original recipe mentioned to make butter milk,you need a mix a tsp of vinegar in 1 cup of milk and keep it aside for 10 mins to get butter milk.I have thinned the curds with water to get the required amount of butter milk.
7. I also ground the sugar to powder before using it in the recipe.

I know that its quite a lot of changes I made to the original recipe,but it worked well for me.But I suggest you to go ahead with the original recipe as I am again going to bake this soon with the original recipe as I am very eager to bake that perfect Vanilla cake.

Before I sign off let me wish you all 'Merry Christmas'.Enjoy your holidays and stay tuned for more desserts/cake recipes in my blog for this season.(pic courtesy : Google)

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake....almost Step-by-Step Recipe!!

I had made this cake 2 weeks ago for my husband's birthday but I could not post it immediately.My husband does not prefer pastries or the chocolate based cakes though I prepare them often and I feel sad if he just eats a couple of pieces when I make them.So this time I thought I should make something exclusively something to suit his taste buds to make the birthday boy happy.
I have been thinking of making this pine apple upside down cake from such a long time and when I went for grocery shopping a week before his birthday I picked up a tinned pineapple to make this cake. I do not like pineapple and hence I never brought the fresh one but I like few preparations with it like pineapple kesari or as a pizza topping or in a curry or in a drink but I never liked to eat fresh pine apple.The real question for me was I was not sure whether he likes pine apple or not but still thought of proceeding with the cake as I thought it is just a topping and if he does not like it he can always remove it and eat the rest.
When I googled for the recipe I landed upon N number of recipes and this post of Mrignayani has bowled me completely and gave me the comfort to proceed with the recipe.I just loved the caramel oozing out from the cake in her picture and went ahead to check the original recipe in Joy of Baking site.I just followed the recipe blindly and I must say that this is a keeper recipe and is must try for all pineapple lovers.The more interesting part of the recipe is the caramel crust which is just 'to die for' and even the cake is so soft,light and fluffy,I just loved it very much and I really mean it.My husband thoroughly enjoyed the cake and I was happy for my decision to bake this cake as he did not mind eating large portions which is not usual.
I generally take few photographs of the steps in between when a recipe is complex and needs an explanation with photo tutorial.Inspired by many fellow bloggers I gave an attempt to take step-by-step pictures and later realized I missed few steps but not bad,so excuse me for that!!I agree that it is really difficult to take the step-by-step photos handling camera in one hand while cooking or baking and I really appreciate all those who do step by step for every post.

Ingredients:
(Recipe source:Joy of Baking)

for Cake Batter:
1 1/2 cups(195 grams) all purpose flour/maida
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large or 3 small eggs, separated
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar( I did not use,so optional)

for Caramel Pineapple topping:
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup)(55 grams) unsalted butter, cut in small pieces( I used salted one)
3/4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar
7-8 pieces of tinned pineapple
Candied cherries (optional)
Method:
Oven pre-heating and preparing the tin:

• Preheat oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C) and place rack in the center of the oven.
• Butter (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray) a 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pan with three inch (7.5 cm) sides.
  

for Caramel Pineapple Topping:

• Drain the pineapple pieces from the tin and pat dry the pineapple pieces to remove extra moisture.

• Place the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
• Continue cooking, without stirring, for a few more minutes or until bubbles just start to appear around the outside edges of the mixture (the sugar starts to caramelize). Then remove from heat, and pour into your prepared cake pan.

• Evenly arrange the fresh pineapple slices on top of the sugar mixture.Place the candied cherries in the gaps of pineapple or arrange according to your wish.

for Cake Batter:

• In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.do it for a couple of times which helps in getting a evenly mixed flour.
• Separate the yolks from the whites and place the whites in a wide bowl.
• In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites(with the cream of tartar if you are using) just until the whites hold a firm peak.

• In another bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a hand mixer.Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in the vanilla extract.
• Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture in three additions and then add milk in two additions.

• With a large spatula gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cake batter in two additions.
• Pour the batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.Tap the tin twice,this helps in removing the air bubbles formation in the batter.

• Bake in preheated oven for 45 - 50 minutes, or until the top of the cake has browned and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.A toothpick inserted into the cake (not the pineapple) should come out clean.
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 2-3 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and then invert the cake onto your serving plate.

Serve with softly whipped cream or Ice cream.

Notes:

1. You can even use fresh pineapple as I don't like working with fresh pineapple I preferred a canned one.
2. The original recipe asked to rest the cake for 10 mins after baking and I followed it.But I felt whatever the sugar caramel which melted has got crystallized by then.So I suggest you not to rest the cake for long time once it is out of the oven.And I missed the beautiful caramel sauce flowing out of my cake.Bit I rolled the crystallized sugar into small pieces of candies and thoroughly enjoyed it.
   

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