Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C (conventional, 160 °C fan). Pat the pineapple rings and cherries thoroughly dry on kitchen paper.
- For the topping, cream 50 g butter with the brown sugar. Spread the mixture over the base and about a quarter of the way up the sides of a cake tin (20 cm diameter, not a springform tin, which would leak).
- Arrange the pineapple rings on the base, place a cherry in the centre of each ring and press everything down firmly so the fruit is in direct contact with the base.
- For the batter, beat the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, eggs and 2 tbsp pineapple juice with a hand mixer to a soft, smooth mixture.
- Spoon the batter over the pineapple and smooth the top. Bake for about 35 minutes; a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean.
- Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes, place a plate on top and turn the tin over briskly. Give the tin a gentle shake, then lift it off slowly.
- Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you like.
Drink with it
Aged rum · excellent match
Aged rum, neat or with an ice cube
Vanilla, caramel and tropical fruit in cask-aged rum are closely related to caramelised pineapple and buttery cake.
Drinking rum neat: how to get to know a bottlingSweet wine · excellent match
Sauternes or Tokaji Aszú, chilled
Noble sweet wines carry pineapple, honey and apricot notes of their own, and their acidity keeps the caramel topping fresh.
Which wine goes with dessert? Comparing sweetness deliberatelySparkling wine · good match
Moscato d'Asti, well chilled
Light sweetness and bubbles make the warm butter cake feel lighter.
Sparkling wine, Champagne, and Prosecco: what's the difference?Fruit liqueur · good match
Orange liqueur, neat in a small glass or on ice
The orange picks up the fruit acidity of the pineapple and rounds off the caramel note of the topping.