ninety nine cents

I have a bit of a problem.

Whenever I see a sale I am automatically drawn to it. I have to have a quick look….. just in case. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the clever placement of the display case or clothing rack? Maybe I will find that perfect “something” hidden amongst the unwanted items? (what something? I don’t need anything!!) I do know the idea of all the possible pennies saved is not my motivating force.

This strange habit must come from the fact that I find potential exciting. The idea of getting/making/creating/cooking or baking something from (relatively) nothing is one of my favourite pastimes. Looking back the foundation of this passion was laid by watching MM make a family of six; satisfying, wholesome and tasty meals from scratch and reworking any leftovers into a whole new dish, but it was ignited when I was living in America. At one point I was the only girl living with three guys as roommates and after a weekend away I came back to an apartment in need of a tidy-up and a fridge full of vegetables about to turn. A few hours later the bathroom was squeaky clean and I had somehow created an awesome vegetarian chilli, from what seemed like one can of tomatoes and a few slightly soft courgettes. I would be lying if I said that the MacGyver theme song hadn’t played in my head.

From that moment forth I fell in love with whipping up something delicious from the bare minimum of ingredients. I find it fun, creative and economic. Last week MH benefited from my odd behaviour, our local supermarket had cans of pineapple on sale for $0.99c and I grabbed one up without even thinking about it, you can always use a can of pineapple right? That night I made a very simple cake using my sale item.

This recipe is quite adaptable (in fact I made it up as I went along so feel free to change and create your own better version) if you want it really full of coconut flavour use some essence as well as the coconut milk, if you don’t have coconut milk, use regular….if you want a citrus twist add some lovely lime zest….don’t like pineapple and have 17 cans of apricot halves in the back of the cupboard? Omit the coconut, play up the ginger and you have an apricot masterpiece instead :)

BASIC PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
a.k.a. ‘ninety nine’ pineapple time

TOPPING

1 can of pineapple (slices/pieces/chunks)
80g of unsalted butter
½ cup of brown sugar

* preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan-bake (350°F/320°F)
* grease and line a large round cake pan
* drain one can of pineapple
* slowly melt together in a pan on low heat the 80g of butter and ½ cup of brown sugar
* once the sugar has dissolved bring the butter & sugar to a gentle boil and simmer for 2mins creating a very simple caramel
* pour the ’caramel’ into the bottom of the lined cake pan
* arrange the pineapple on top of this basic caramel

CAKE

125g of unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup of castor sugar
2 free range eggs
1 ½ cups of flour
1 ½ tsp of baking powder
½ tsp of baking soda
¼ tsp of ground ginger
pinch of salt
½ - ¾ of a cup of coconut milk (or milk of your choice)
¾ of a cup of shredded coconut (optional)

* sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger and salt
* in a separate bowl beat the butter until it is pale and fluffy
* add the ½ cup of castor sugar and cream together with the butter for 2mins
* add the free range eggs one at a time making sure they are incorporated into the mix
* alternatively add the sifted flour & coconut milk making sure you start and end with flour
* at this point the cake mix is ready BUT…you can add in extra ingredients - I used coconut
* pour batter over the pineapple and caramel and bake in the oven for 45-55mins
* cool slightly in the pan before turning the cake out.

I served this up with custard I had made that day but it is perfectly tasty all on it’s own.