Portuguese inspired Pineapple Cake

Blame it on one rainy and restless Sunday afternoon. When there is really nothing else left to do than heating up the oven, putting together a simple cake recipe and waiting until the sweet smell of a holiday oozes of of the kitchen. Despite the other half's this month's resolutions ("No more cakes, please...!", as if anybody would feel like this anyway), yep, this was a prefect day for a cake.




Pineapple Cake
(Tessa's Kiros recipe from the "Piri Piri Starfish" cookbook)

Ingredients:
350g caster (fine) sugar; 1 fresh pineapple, or 1 canned, drained; 4 eggs, separated; 200g unsalted butter; 200g cake flour (00); 1 tsp baking powder

Heat your oven up to 180 degrees and grease and flour gently a 12 x 4 inch loaf tin.

Make caramel, by mixing 115g of the sugar with couple of teaspoons of water in a non-stick sauce pan. Heat up until sugar melts and swirl the pan around (don't stir otherwise sugar will crystallize). When the sugar turns golden brown and starts to burn, pour carefully into the tin and let it cool down.

Arrange about 10 pineapple rings (drained) over the base of the tin, overlapping.
Whip the egg whites into peaks, and mix the butter with the rest of sugar until it's creamy.
Add the yolks, beat well and then sift in the flour. Fold in the egg whites.

Spoon the mixture into the tin, and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour until the top if puffy and golden. Take out and let it cool, then loosen the sides with a knife and turn upside down. Voilá!