Fresh Pineapple for Upside-down Cake

 When you are literally surrounded by ripening, falling over pineapples, just cannot wait, and succumb to the urge to pick one on which, after all, there was a streak of yellow on one side, a leaf came out (one of the signs) fairly easily, only to discover it is NOT QUITE ready.  Here is what can be done.  Pineapple upside-down cake.  This is not headline news.  Just an old standard, only not out of a can.  Better.  And, with a hint of tartness to offset all that sweet.

First, the cored, peeled, sliced  pieces must be cooked a bit, in a little butter.  Then set aside until you are ready for CAKE!!  And, some of us consider cake a breakfast food.  But I baked it in the early morning, mainly because it's so hot later in the day I knew it probably wouldn't get made otherwise.  This is Alice Waters' recipe, which is a bit unnecessarily complicated, in my humble opinion.  Whilst separating, some of the yolk of the 1st egg went into the white, and I said, what the hey, lets beat them all together with the other stuff.

Fresh Pineapple Upside-down Cake

                   adapted from the recipe by Alice Waters in The Art of Simple Food

Preheat oven to 350F

Ingredients for fruit and caramel
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, unsalted
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 3/4 cups fresh fruit (slightly acidic is best) pineapple, kumquats, cranberries (with 1/4 cup fresh orange juice)

Put the butter and sugar into an 8-inch cast-iron skillet or heavy-duty cake pan, and cook over medium heat,
stirring constantly, until the butter melts and starts to bubble.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Heat the fruit in a small saucepan until the cranberries just start to pop or the other fruit is no longer raw.  Remove from the heat and pour or place evenly over the cooled caramel.

Ingredients for cake
2 eggs, at room temperature, separated (or not)
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir together the dry ingredients and set aside.  Cream the butter in a bowl, and beat to lighten, then add the granulated sugar, and cream until light and fluffy, beat in the yolks, one at a time (or as I did just add the whole eggs), then stir in the vanilla.

When well mixed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with 1/3 of the flour.  Then fold in the beaten egg whites (til they hold soft peaks)  if you have separated them, 1/3 at a time.

Pour over fruit and caramel in the pan and smooth the top with a spatula.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert cake onto a serving plate.

I had some for a delicious breakfast with a few lychees on the side and a cup of my home brewed cocoa.  Which will be shared with Beth Fish for her Weekend Cooking link-up, and which you are welcome to join.