Pineapple Crunch Cake With Lemon Glaze

Tweet

Hope everything is going great with you. Summer is really a busy time for all of us, isn’t it? It surely is for me! I was super busy juggling too many things, and decided to forget about blogging for a few days.

While I was away from blogging and talking to you guys a few good things happened on the personal side. I finally got hold of some long due documents including my driver's license, and did our first camping of the season. Some of you might already know that I also won the giveaway Vijitha was hosting. Beginning last Sunday, I have been on a roll with only great things happening to me, and the upbeat mood continues.

Meanwhile lil M turned 3, but that doesn't stop him from being more naughty and silly. During a play his sister poked into his eyes accidentally, and he exclaimed rubbing his eyes "Oh, I got to buy some new eyes !" I wish things were as simple as he thinks :-)

Coming to the topic of the day, the Pineapple crunch cake, the story goes like this: During our last trip to the local grocery store, we tasted a Pineapple crunch cake and we loved it! You will know if you are a blogger that once we taste something interesting we feel this urge to replicate it in our own kitchen. I am no different! I decided that I should make this myself, and started searching for recipes. I could't find anything that satisfied me, so I ended up twisting a recipe to add more flavor. Result : A better tasting cake with less sugar than we tasted from the shop. This is a huge hit with my folks, and we will be making it again soon!

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 2 cups
Baking Soda- 2 tsp
Chopped Walnuts(Optional)- 1 cup
Eggs- 2 large
Granulated Sugar- 1 1/2 cup
Light Brown Sugar- 1/4 cup, packed
Pure Vanilla Extract- 2 tsp
Lemon Juice- 1 Tbsp
Lemon Zest- a pinch/more
Pineapple Crushed with juice- 1 big can(20oz)

For the Lemon Glaze:

Confectioner's sugar- 1/2 cup
Lemon juice- 2 Tbsp/ little more


Method:

1.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F.Grease a 9 by 13 inch pan.
2.Whisk together the flour, baking soda and nuts.
3.In a mixing bowl beat together the eggs and sugars.
4.Add the vanilla and lemon juice and zest. Mix well.
5.Open the crushed pineapple can and pour in everything including the juice and mix again.
6.Mix in the flour mixture until everything is mixed.
7.Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35- 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.(It took me 37 minutes)
8.Cool on a wire rack.
9.Prepare the glaze by mixing everything together and pour over the cool cake.
10.Let the glaze set. Cut into squares and serve.

Notes:

1. You don't have to make the glaze if you want the cake to be less sweet.
2.You could also dust the cake with some powdered sugar if you are not making a glaze.
3.This is just perfectly sweet for us.If you want your cake to be really sweet, use more sugar.
4.As you can see from the ingredient list, this is a butter-less cake. But it is not dry, though a little dense


Recipe Adapted from : here

Forelle Pear Cake

Tweet

How is your Summer coming along? What are your plans for the long week end and July 4th ? July is a special month for my family too. The youngest one the family is born in this month. I can't believe that he is going to be 3 in a few days ! Time sure flies. We already miss his early years ! He sure is a handful ,but sometimes I wish I could freeze the time ,just to enjoy all his cuteness forever.

The other day he was doing something really naughty and his father raised his voice to let him know how mad is he. He turned around and told his father "Acha,turn down the volume". We always ask him to turn down the volume of the TV ,which he never watches, but always keeps switched on for his favorite cartoon as a back ground !

Stories apart, coming to today's recipe.You will agree with me on the fact that these Forelle Pears are an absolute beauty to look at.Also they are very sweet.These are best served as it is, since they are too good as they are. But I had some really ripe Forelle Pears with me and we couldn't finish all of it. So I searched the net for recipes that uses this kind of pears and came across this buttery cake recipe. I went through the reviews and everyone seems to agree on the taste. I tried it and am happy that I did.

The lemon zest and my favorite spice cardamom gives a great flavor to this cake.I loved it when I had a warm slice and the cake was best on the same day I baked.

Ingredients:

Forelle pears/Any small size pears- 5
Orange Juice- 1 Tbsp
Lemon juice- 1 tsp
Granulated Sugar- 2 Tbsp
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

All Purpose Flour- 1 1/4 Cup
Baking Powder- 1 tsp
Cardamom- 1/2 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Unsalted Butter- 6 Tbsp
Sugar- Little less than 1 cup
Eggs- 2
Zest of 2 lemons
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp

Method:

1.Slice the pears lengthwise into thin pieces.This is optional. You could core and slice lengthwise too.
2.Toss these slices with the juices,sugar and vanilla extract.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F and line a 9 inch Spring foam pan with parchment paper.
3.Whisk together the flour,baking powder,salt and cardamom powder.
4.In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and sugar until it is creamy.
5.Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
6.Add the zest and vanilla extract and mix again.
7.Add the dry mixture into the wet one in 2 additions, mixing each time to combine everything. Do not over mix.
8.Spread about half the batter evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan.
9.Spread the 3/4th of the pear slices on top.
10.Spread the remaining batter on top. It might not be enough to cover completely, but once the cake starts baking up, it spreads out well.
11.Place the remaining slices on the top in a layer.You could arrange it in a pattern, which I didn't,but it looks ok :-)
12.Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until the top starts to brown and the skewer inserted comes out clean.
13.Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.
14.Serve warm or cold.

Notes:

1.The original recipe uses cognac instead of orange juice for tossing the pears. I didn't do it since I have kids at home.
2. Also the recipe calls for Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top. This will give a nice caramelization. Unfortunately I didn't have any at home so I did not use any.
3.The cake is best on the same day. Keep any leftovers in the fridge.
4.You could serve this with some Vanilla ice cream.
5.You could use Apples or Peaches instead of Pears in this recipe.

Recipe Adapted from :Here