Pineapple Upside-down Cake

This is a firm favourite of my husband, the reluctant hero in today’s tale…

My eldest is going through a wonderful (and not at all annoying) inquisitive phase, whereby everything you say or do is immediately questioned.

3 yr old: “What are you talking about?”

Me: “We’re talking about Strictly.”

3 yr old: “What is Strictly?”

Me: “It’s a dancing competition.”

3 yr old: “What’s a dancing competition?”

There is no end to the questions and she doesn’t really seem to care what the answer is, so long as it can provide further opportunity for questions.

Daddy decided Netflix would be a great way to go. “What’s Netflix?” Together they found a program called Dinosaur Train. This of course provided many puzzles that needed immediate answers.

“What’s a Pteranodon?” “What’s Mezoic?” “Who’s driving the train?”

Within about 3 minutes, Daddy is desperate for the program to end. Luckily it’s not a long one. The closing credits go something like this:

“Dinosaur Train, Dinosaur Train, Dinosaur Train. Ride the Dinosaur Train. Dinosaur Train, Dinosaur Train.”

“What are we watching?”

Are you actually kidding me?!

After that ordeal we felt Daddy deserved his favourite, so pineapple upside-down cake it was!

You will need a 9″ round cake tin (we used a funny bundt style one).

Ingredients

250g self raising flour

200g caster sugar

4 large eggs

200g butter

1 tin pineapple rings in juice (keep the juice)

6-8 glace cherries

40g soft brown sugar

40g butter softened

Preheat oven to 180°C Gas Mark 4

In a large bowl mix the caster sugar and 200g butter until creamy.

Crack in your eggs with help of your small person then spend seemingly hours fishing out small bits of shell. Pour in half the pineapple juice and fold in the flour.

In a separate bowl mix the brown sugar and 40g butter and spread on the base of the cake tin.

Place the pineapple rings on top of the sugar mixture in one layer and place a cherry in the centre of each.

If you have any remaining pineapple, finely chop and fold into the cake batter.

Pour batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly in the tin (approximately 10 minutes) before turning onto a plate or stand to serve.