Vintage Bake - Pineapple and Ginger Upside Down Cake with Lemongrass Syrup

This is hopefully the first of a few recipes featuring vintage ideas with a modern twist. I hope you like it! 

When coming up with this recipe I began by looking at baking in the 1930s. I wanted to start with a vintage recipe and decided to go pre war. Recipes during rationing could have won prizes for inventiveness but not necessarily for taste! The 1930s were a time of relative prosperity in the UK. This meant that afternoon tea became something of a regular thing so many cake recipes from the time are less extravagant than those of the 1920s. Another huge change during this decade was the rise of the supermarket. Large shops selling canned goods from all over the globe were a new and exciting thing. So the pineapple upside down cake, invented in 1930 quickly became a firm favourite in Britain. This version brings in extra flavour and reflects the multicultural nature of the UK today. It also tastes really good!

You will need a square; 10-inch, non-stick cake tin. It must not be loose bottomed! Serves 9 with neat little squares.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of light muscovado sugar

9 slices of canned pineapple rings (with juice). You might need to buy two cans to get nine rings

At least 2 tablespoons of glace ginger

150g plain flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

150g butter (make sure it is soft, take out of fridge at least an hour before using).

150s caster sugar

3 eggs

For the syrup

2 sticks of lemongrass, roughly chopped

1 cup of sugar

2 cups of water

Method:

Make the syrup. Put the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 15 minutes and drain.

Preheat the oven to 190C / Gas Mark 5. Sprinkle the muscovado all over the base of the tin and put on the hob to caramelize the sugar. As soon as it has melted turn off the heat and arrange your pineapple rings. Then sprinkle the glace ginger in the middle and in between the rings.

Make the cake batter. Put all the other ingredients into and food processer and whiz till smooth. Then pour in 4-5 tablespoons pineapple juice and whiz again.

Pour the batter over the pineapple rings and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes depending on your oven. Let it cool a little before turning it out onto a plate.  You can either serve the syrup on the side or have your cake drizzle style by piercing the cake all over and pouring the syrup onto it.

Invention Kitchen - Orange Olive Oil and Polenta Cake with Thyme and Fennel Seeds

I’ve been spending way too much time on Pinterest lately (see for yourself! www.pinterest.com/tncake) and there’s an awful lot of polenta and olive oil cakes on there. I use polenta to make biscuits crumbly and roast potatoes extra crispy but not for much else. I was also intrigued by the idea of olive oil in a cake. Oil based cakes last for much longer so for those of you who tend have some left hanging around and end up throwing it away then this could be the recipe for you.  Anyway, I came up with this particular recipe because I had all the ingredients for it already in the cupboard (or the garden) and I was very pleased with the results. The fresh fennel seeds pop in your mouth when you bite onto them. I imagine you could use dried ones though, or leave them out altogether if you’re not keen. The cake itself was devoured by friends and family within 24 hours. So much for making a cake that ‘lasts’.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

8 oz. caster sugar

Zest of one orange

Zest of one lemon

8 oz. self raising flour

3 ½ oz. polenta

8 fl oz extra virgin olive oil

4-5 heads of fresh fennel seeds, seeds picked off

10-12 sprigs of thyme, a good handful anyway

1-2 tablespoons orange oil

Method:

Measure out the olive oil and strip the thyme leaves from the woody stems into the oil.  Set aside and preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180C.  Line a spring form cake tin (this cake is pretty deep, so use one of a decent size)

Using an electric whisk, or one of those brilliant but expensive mixers, beat the eggs and sugar until pale and at least doubled in volume.

Mix together all the flour, polenta and zests

Add your orange oil to the olive oil and mix

Beat in a little of the dry mixture and the oil alternately into the egg mixture

Throw in your fennel seeds and fold in to distribute.

Pour into your tin and bake for about an hour, maybe more, depending on your oven. Mine isn’t great, it took about an hour and ten minutes.

When cooked, leave in the tin for about 15 minutes before removing and leaving to cool on a rack. This cake goes really well with a dollop of Greek yoghurt.