The Best Pineapple Cake | Fresh Cream Icing | Indian Bakery Style

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Okay, without wasting much time, let me come to today’s recipe. Pineapple Cake. I baked it for Mr. Husband’s birthday and oh my my, what deliciousness it was. Pineapple cake is something that most household in India don’t prepare at home, they would buy from bakeries. I would have done the same, if I was in India. I mean why not, no one can beat cakes sold in Indian bakeries. Unlike cakes in the UK, majority of the Indian bakers use fresh cream and not those overly sweet butter cream icing that we get here in London.

This is not an upside pineapple cake. This is not crushed pineapple cake. This is pineapple sponge, layered with fresh cream (whipped cream) icing and chopped pineapple. This is easy to make at home, all you need is patience and love (cliche but true ;-)

Pineapple Cake has to be soft, airy and fresh-otherwise it is not pineapple cake-simple. So, if you ask, can you make this eggfree (eggless) I would say yes you can (ofcourse) but I doubt you will get that soft supple sponge. The next thing I recommend using is canned pineapple; fresh pineapple can be sour which will ruin the whole balance of your cake. Also the leftover juice from the canned pineapple is a great element that is used to soak the sponge layers. I have shared the making of this cake HERE.

Ingredients:

For Sponge

2 and ¼ cup plain flour /maida

1 and ¼ cup sugar (I used normal white sugar)

1 cup butter + 1 tablespoon for greasing the pan

3 eggs

2 and ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

¼ cup yogurt/dahi

For Icing

300 ml double cream/whipping cream

½ cup sugar

1 cup canned pineapple pieces

Around ¼ syrup drained from canned pineapple

Method:

For Cake

Preheat the oven to 170 C for 10 minutes. Grease the pan with butter really well.

In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Mix till it becomes light and sugar has dissolved properly.

Now add eggs and beat again for 3 minutes.

Then add yogurt and vanilla essence. Beat again for 3 minutes. The whole mixture should turn smooth and creamy.

Sift plain flour, baking soda and baking powder into the above mixture. Mix well. Slowly start adding milk and form a smooth batter.

I used 8 inch round pan. Pour the batter in the greased pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Carefully transfer cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

For Icing

Start by whipping sugar and cream. Beat till cream holds the shape of the peak.

For Assembling

Once the cake has cool down completely, divide the cake into 3 layers. I use thread to do so, and it gives me great result. You can check it here.

Start assembling the cake now. So on whichever plate you want to serve, put in the first layer. Sprinkle around 2 tablespoons canned sugar syrup on it. Spread 5 tablespoons on the first layer and spread on it. Add pineapple pieces on it. Repeat the same step for second layer too.

On the final layer, sprinkle the syrup and then cover the whole cake with the whipped cream. I used the pineapple chunks on the top layer and also did some whipped cream swirls on the side.

I had some leftover glitter spray, that I used in the end for some dramatic touch.

Tips:

Make sure all the ingredients listed under the sponge list is on the room temperature.

Put the bowl, whisk attachment and cream in the fridge before you start whipping the cream.

If you can, then please use castor sugar for the sponge and icing sugar for whipped cream icing. I just used plain white one.

Whole Wheat (Chakki Atta/Chapati Flour) Bread

To be honest this is not the first time that I made bread at home. It’s just that in this lockdown phase I definitely went back to baking bread, probably because the whole internet world was going crazy about sourdough breads. Previously I have made garlic and mixed herbs focaccia, whole wheat olive focaccia and even red wine walnut bread at home.

The whole process of working with the yeast, punching and knocking the dough, seeing the bread rise is such a therapeutic and satisfying process that you should try it once, for sure. This whole wheat bread or loaf happened because i had yeast in the pantry and all purpose flour (maida) was nowhere to be found in the supermarkets.

I did some Google research to find a good recipe for Whole Wheat (Atta) Bread but wasn’t convinced with the recipes-some recipes called for milk powder (i had none); some recipes wanted me to use a particular kind of yeast (I had instant yeast only); some recipes were with eggs (I wanted to make eggless one) - so eventually i crafted my own recipe with little bit of this and little bit of that-Jugaad is the word I must say.

This recipe is for absolute beginners, you just can’t go wrong with it. All you need is basic roti/chaptai chakki atta (Ashirwad, Pillsbury, elephant, eastend-any brand will do), yeast, salt, butter or ghee, milk and water. This bread turned out to be crispy on the top and soft and crumbly on the inside.

Another thing about homemade bread is that, you know what’s inside. You know each and every ingredient and its quantity. You know that it’s not having preservatives, or is not loaded with sugar-and that is such a satisfying factor, I tell you! If you follow me on instagram you would know that every Friday these days, I am making bread and then using to make bruschetta, garlic bread, sandwiches and toasties. Some days I have paired it up with hummus, olives or just some cherry tomatoes.

Some of you might say that I don’t have a loaf pan to bake this bread-well worry not you can make it into round bread or even make buns –just make this bread. It’s easy, healthy, simple and so uplifting

Ingredients:

3 cups whole wheat flour/ chapatti flour

1 and ¼ cups water

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoon butter/ghee/oil + a little more for greasing the pan

3 tablespoons yogurt/dahi

Method:

In a mixing bowl add wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, yeast, salt and sugar. Mix well.

Add in yogurt and water and start kneading the dough. Punch and knock. You will feel that water is too much and dough is sticky, don’t worry-just keep kneading for 5 minutes and the dough will start coming together. Kneading helps to form gluten and that makes the bread soft.

Mix 2 tablespoons of butter and knead again for 2 minutes. Cover and let it rise and rest for 1 hour.

After 1 hour the dough must have risen double in size. Grease the pan with some oil and form the dough in the log shape and put in the greased pan. Cover and let it rise for 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 220 C for 8 minutes.

Bake the bread at 220 C for 25 minutes. The top part of the bread must turn crusty and golden brown. Check by inserting the knife in between, it should come out clean.

When the bread is still warm, spread the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, this will give that shine of the bread.

Let the warm bread cool down before you take it out the mould. Cut the bread and use.

Tips:

The time taken to bake varies from oven to oven. So if you see the top of the bread is getting dark but inside the bread is still raw then cover the pan with aluminium foil and then bake.

If you are not sure if the bread is done, then pat the bottom of the pan-it should sound very hollow.

Cool the bread completely before slicing.

Store the bread in container. It will stay good for around 10 days.