A PINEAPPLE ‘n’ CREAM CAKE…& the makings of it!

Pineapple ‘n’ Cream Cake

I wonder why the cream always chooses to misbehave on days when I am MOST pressed for time. Well, it was one of those trying days yesterday when things were on an uphill drive. SIGH! I baked the sponge etc a day before, no problemo…it came out beautifully. The next day electricity decided to do the disappearing act, and when the blessed thing came back, the cream made me weep. Just didn’t want to get beaten up I guess. The cake went for a drastic make-over, and once I put it together, I dressed it up with light yellow chocolate shavings. When the honours were done last night, it tasted great ! Thanks heavens for small mercies. Never thought something as silly as a cake had the power to drive me to desperation. PHEW!!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, here goes. Have posted the recipe before. For those who may like to see it, please click here.

The putting together of the cake follows…

• Cut the sponge into as many slices as you can handle comfortable. I baked a 6 egg sponge in a 9″ springform tin, and sliced it into 4 layers.
• Once sliced through, you can mark it with food colour (see red marking) so that its easy to align later.
• Reserve about 1/2 a cup of the pineapple syrup, and add a squeeze of 1/2 a lime.
• Chop the slices into small pieces; reserve bigger cut pieces for the frosting if you like.
• Beat the cream with pineapple essence + icing sugar till thick.

• Take the bottom slice & place it on the platter. (You can line the platter with butter paper strips to keep the platter rims from getting messed up. I didn’t have time, so I sieved Castor sugar before serving. Hides the mess beautifully!) Sprinkle it with the juice.
• Put on a dollop of cream, spread it to almost the edges (the weight of the next layer will push it outwards to the edge), sprinkle with chopped pineapple & level out.
• Repeat with the remaining layers, aligning them as you go about it (see red marking).
• Once you get to the top most slice, poke it with a skewer and gently moisten the top with the juice, taking care it doesn’t drip to the sides.

• Cover the cake with whipped cream.
• Take about a tbsp or 2 of the cream, and colour it with yellow food colour. Put into a baggie, and pipe parallel lines over the top. Then gently marble by pulling a wooden pick or skewer crosswise at a 60 degree angle, first in one direction & then in the other.
• Pipe rosettes or swirls of cream to do the edges. I used sprinkles in sheer panic, & then finally dressed it up in light yellow chocolate shavings.
• Chill well before serving!

Voila! Finally down to the nitty-gritty…time to devour!!