Low sugar
Pineapple upside-down cake recipe
Celebrate all that is fabulous and fruity with our wellbeing twist on a classic summertime pudding. This pineapple upside-down cake recipe will transport you back to childhood. It’s a delicious treat that the whole family will love!
The inclusion of ginger gives this pineapple upside-down cake recipe an added kick. Not only that, but ginger has also been long valued for its medicinal properties. Research shows that ginger has anti-inflammatory and even some pain-relieving properties, which could help soothe muscle ache and painful joints. It is also an effective traditional remedy to help ease feelings of nausea and motion sickness. It may also be useful for alleviating digestive discomfort.
For a gut-friendly twist, serve our pineapple upside-down cake recipe with a generous dollop of plain, live natural yoghurt. Yoghurt is an excellent source of calcium needed for healthy bones. It also contains vitamin B12, important for a healthy blood supply. Culturing (or lacto-fermenting) dairy helps break down casein – a protein in milk and one of the most difficult proteins to digest. This can be very helpful if you’re unable to tolerate many dairy products. You may notice that yoghurt is much more easily digestible.
Live yoghurt also contains countless ‘friendly’ lactobacillus bacteria, which help our digestive system run smoothly. They help to break down food, absorb nutrients and fight ‘unfriendly’ organisms that are often the cause of stomach upsets.
This recipe serves six to eight people with a 20cm cake tin.
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Ingredients
- 1 medium pineapple
- 50g butter
- 3 tbsp honey
- Sprinkle of brown sugar
For the sponge
- 250g butter, softened
- 250g wholemeal flour
- 150g brown sugar
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 5 organic eggs
- 2 chunks of stem ginger, chopped
- 2 tbsp stem ginger syrup (from jar)
- 1 lime, zest
- Yoghurt, to serve
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. First, prep your pineapple by cutting it into neat rings. A corer is useful here, but not necessary, as you can easily use a small knife to individually core each pineapple slice. Trim the sides of the slices so you have neat rings.
- In a large, shallow frying pan, heat the butter with the honey and cook on a low-medium heat for around five minutes until it starts to caramelise. Carefully place your pineapple rings in the pan, cooking each side for at least five minutes until golden. You can turn up the heat here to make them really sticky. Set the rings to one side when they’re done on both sides. Pour over the remaining caramel.
- In a buttered cake tin, sprinkle some brown sugar on the bottom, then arrange the pineapples (around six or seven of them) with the caramel. Chop up any leftover pineapple.
- Make your ginger sponge mixture by creaming together the butter and sugar. Chop the stem ginger. Then add the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, eggs, chopped stem ginger and syrup into the bowl. Using an electric whisk, mix together until it forms a smooth consistency. Fold in any leftover chopped-up pineapple.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake tin on top of the pineapples and spread out until it’s even. Pop in the oven for around 45 minutes (until a knife comes out clean). Leave to stand for five minutes before turning upside down. Serve with lime zest on top and yoghurt.
