Hi #Hive,
Last weekend, a scooter ride with a couple of friends led us to the area of Mantalongon in the mountains of Dalaguete, South Cebu, Philippines. Being higher in altitude the climate there allows the farmers to produce more vegetables as well as different kinds compared to at sea level. This is why it is called the Vegetable Basket of Cebu.
Anyways, when we got there we stopped right next to the vegetable market so I could re-inflate my tire which had a slow puncture. While doing so, my friend found a small pickup truck selling fresh pineapples and decided to offer himself a snack. I asked whether or not they were good, to which he replied they were very sweet. I don't really like pineapple, but I know my wife does so I decided to buy 2 pieces for her. At Php50 (USD 1) a piece it was cheap. I didn't want to have to bother skinning and cutting them once I got home, so I asked the lady whether or not they could do that for me. She was happy to oblige. When chatting with her I understood that these were not produced in Mantalongon, but in Negros, Cebu's neighbor island.
I didn't follow it to the dot and kind of made it my own, so here is the process.
My Ingredients:
- 90g unsalted butter (instead of 115g/1 stick)
- 430g pineapple chopped in cubes
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 large whole eggs (instead of 2 plus 1 egg yolk)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar (instead of 1 cup)
- ½ tsp lemon zest grated
I changed the quantities a bit for the butter, the eggs and especially for the sugar. I did learn my lesson with the Date Cake and so I preferred using only half of what was recommended in the recipe.
First, I chopped the pineapple chunks into smaller cubes.
"3. In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter, reserve 6 tbs for later. Add the pineapple and cook for about 10 minutes. **do not use any of the juice from the pan only the pineapple"
Well, I didn't follow the instructions here and just put all the butter in the pan along with the pineapple. I don't like wasting and so even though it said not to use the juice, my intention was completely the opposite.
"4. In a small bowl mix together flour, salt and baking powder."
"5. In a large bowl beat the whole eggs and egg yolks until blended.""
Again, I did my own thing here and instead of using 2 bowls, I just used 1 and mixed everything together. I don't see the point of using 2 when at the end, you're going to mix it all together anyways. It's also less dishes to wash later 😁
"6. Add the reserved melted butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest."
Guess, what?! I didn't add butter since I used it all in the pan with pineapple. As I mentioned above, my intention was to use it along with the juice.
Below is the picture having everything mixed together, minus the butter 🙂.
Then I emptied the pan in the bowl and stirred until the butter and the juice were well incorporated into the mix.
After putting a parchment at the bottom of my dish and buttering the side, I poured in the mixture.
This is what the cake looked like when coming out of the oven, after baking for about 30-35 minutes at 180 °C. Not too bad, right? Sorry, you can't smell it though 🙂. There definitely was a great aroma in the house at the time.
A few more pictures by
Feedback:
Even though I didn't follow the recipe to the dot, we were quite happy with the result and the cake was really good. I'm glad I only put half of the advised quantity of sugar. The sweetness was just perfect.
I don't think that adding the butter and juice from the pan made much of a difference but if you look at the pictures and compare the texture of my version versus the one from the recipe, they appear to be different. Mine being more compact.
Would I do it again?
Yes, for sure, and I wouldn't change anything.
Thank you and bon appetit!