The majority of the memories I have of Grandma Irene are all set in her beach house in Lavinio.
She loved the garden very much, especially the row of roses. Once I was 16, Grandma authorized me to park her old Peugeot right under that line. I don’t know why she let me do it since I absolutely didn’t know how to drive. I could not brake in time and crashed right into a pole that supported the row of roses. Grandma was heartbroken and didn’t speak to me for several days. My cousins, however, found the whole thing hilarous and still tease me today.
It will be a coincidence, or perhaps a bad imprinting, but for years I have been a terrible driver and I often ask passersby to park my car for me.
Grandmother use to make this recipe when she had guests.
Pineapple cake
- Preparation time: 60 minutes
- Ingredients for 1 cake in a 7 7/8inch baking tin
- Difficulty: Average difficulty recipe
- Ingredients
- 7 slices of pineapple in syrup
- 3 eggs
- 200 gr or 7 oz of sugar
- 125 gr or 4 ½ oz of flour
- Fresh juice of a lemon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 7 candied cherries
- For the caramel:
- 200 gr or 7 oz of sugar
- 50 gr or 2 oz of water
- 10 gr or ½ oz of butter
- Instructions
- Prepare the caramel. Put the sugar and water in a pan over a low fire. Do not mix and simply wait for the caramel to form. As soon as it reaches a beautiful hazelnut color, it should be removed from the heat. Now you will add the butter and mix with a wooden spoon.
- Coat a baking tin with the caramel. Place the pineapple slices on the bottom of the pan over the caramel.
- Prepare the dough by mixing the eggs with the sugar; add the lemon rind and finally add the sifted flour and baking powder.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake at 350°F for about forty-five minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for about five minutes. Turn the cake on a slightly concave serving dish, so as to keep all the caramel. Finally, decorate with the candied cherries.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- Making caramel is a potentially dangerous process so never let children do it.
- The flour and the baking powder must be well sieved for this type of preparation.
- I use a non-stick pan with aluminum handles (which can then go into the oven). Avoid interlocking pans because the caramel may ooze out during cooking.
- The cake should be taken out of the oven when it is still hot, because otherwise the caramel will solidify, and it will no longer be possible to remove it from the cake tin.
Granny Irene in her garden in Lavinio
