Its always nice to have a cake around the house. This is a particularly nice one, I think. The rum and raisins give it a bit of warmth, the pineapple curd is sweet, sharp and unctuous and the cream cheese in the icing is almost savoury – less sickly than a butter frosting, tastier, in my opinion. I can’t eat butter frosting by itself…too sweet…but this, I could eat a bowl of it.
I hope you all enjoy it as much as my friends and I have!
I hope you all enjoy it as much as my friends and I have!
Recipe
Ingredients (Makes about a 12 slice cake):
For the cake (times these quantities by 2 – you will make 2 of these):
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
115g butter, room temperature
200g plain flour, sieved or (quick tip) whisked – both do exactly the same thing.
1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
120 ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum flavouring
1 lemon, zest only
1 large handful of raisins
150g pistachio nuts, toasted in a dry pan and roughly crushed
For the icing:
200g cream cheese
400g icing sugar (approximately)
1 teaspoon rum flavouring
a few drops of vanilla extract
For the Pineapple curd: (see here for the recipe also)
1 pint pineapple juice
6 egg yolks
5 tablespoons cornflour
170g caster sugar
Optional: 1 lemon, juice of
Method:
1. For the cake: Grease and line a 20cm cake tin. Heat the oven to 180 Celsius.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl or processor until very pale and fluffy. You’ll have to beat it for about 5 minutes to make sure it is properly creamed. Don’t skip on this stage, it helps make your cake light and really makes a difference.
3. Gradually add the eggs and beat until combined.
4. Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl until combined. Gradually combine with the butter, egg, sugar mixture until smooth, no lumps.
5. Add the lemon zest, flavourings and raisins and combine evenly.
6. Pour into the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. To test if it is done insert a skewer into the centre – when cooked it should be clean when removed, not coated in batter. The top of the cake should be a light golden brown. Check it after about 15 minutes; if it is looking like it is getting a bit dark, cover the top with some tin foil to stop it browning further.
7. Remove from the oven and cool. As soon as possible remove from the tin to stop it cooking further. Leave to cool completely.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 to produce a second identical cake, to make a two layer cake. If you prefer just slice the first cake in half, but I like a quite towering, impressive double layer cake and so normally make 2. If the cakes aren’t totally flat on the top, slice it with a knife to make it totally flat so they can be stacked on top of each other.
9. For the Pineapple curd: combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and continuously whisk until it thickens. It should form an even, lump free, fairly thick curd. Leave to cool. If needed add a bit of lemon juice at the end to make it a bit sharper.
10. Spread the curd on top of one of the cakes. You shouldn’t need all of it – maybe about half, but depending on personal preference. Place the 2nd cake on top.
11. For the icing: whip the cream with the icing sugar and flavourings until smooth and evenly combined. Add the icing sugar gradually and taste constantly until you think it is sweet enough. You want it to retain a little bit of savoriness and to not be too sickly sweet. It should be fairly thick too, though it will not be as thick as a butter icing.
12. To ice the cake: dollop a large ladle of the icing on top of the cake and spread it over the top. Then spread a thin layer of the icing around the sides. It is a fairly runny icing and so will never be totally picture perfect, but gradually layer up on the sides so that all the cake is covered. An easy way of getting it on the sides is to place a large spoon of it on the top by the edge, and to let it drip down the sides, guiding it and spreading it with your spatula as it descends. Repeat this around the whole cake until it is covered. If you are having issues getting it spread on the sides, do one layer and then put it in the fridge for a bit, then repeat. The lower temperature firms up the icing, making it easier to spread upon. Try and get it as smooth as possible.
13. Scatter the toasted, cooled, crushed pistachio nuts on top of the cake, leaving the sides bare.
14. Serve! Delicious with cream, ice cream or simply a cup of tea.
Ingredients (Makes about a 12 slice cake):
For the cake (times these quantities by 2 – you will make 2 of these):
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
115g butter, room temperature
200g plain flour, sieved or (quick tip) whisked – both do exactly the same thing.
1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
120 ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum flavouring
1 lemon, zest only
1 large handful of raisins
150g pistachio nuts, toasted in a dry pan and roughly crushed
For the icing:
200g cream cheese
400g icing sugar (approximately)
1 teaspoon rum flavouring
a few drops of vanilla extract
For the Pineapple curd: (see here for the recipe also)
1 pint pineapple juice
6 egg yolks
5 tablespoons cornflour
170g caster sugar
Optional: 1 lemon, juice of
Method:
1. For the cake: Grease and line a 20cm cake tin. Heat the oven to 180 Celsius.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl or processor until very pale and fluffy. You’ll have to beat it for about 5 minutes to make sure it is properly creamed. Don’t skip on this stage, it helps make your cake light and really makes a difference.
3. Gradually add the eggs and beat until combined.
4. Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl until combined. Gradually combine with the butter, egg, sugar mixture until smooth, no lumps.
5. Add the lemon zest, flavourings and raisins and combine evenly.
6. Pour into the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. To test if it is done insert a skewer into the centre – when cooked it should be clean when removed, not coated in batter. The top of the cake should be a light golden brown. Check it after about 15 minutes; if it is looking like it is getting a bit dark, cover the top with some tin foil to stop it browning further.
7. Remove from the oven and cool. As soon as possible remove from the tin to stop it cooking further. Leave to cool completely.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 to produce a second identical cake, to make a two layer cake. If you prefer just slice the first cake in half, but I like a quite towering, impressive double layer cake and so normally make 2. If the cakes aren’t totally flat on the top, slice it with a knife to make it totally flat so they can be stacked on top of each other.
9. For the Pineapple curd: combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and continuously whisk until it thickens. It should form an even, lump free, fairly thick curd. Leave to cool. If needed add a bit of lemon juice at the end to make it a bit sharper.
10. Spread the curd on top of one of the cakes. You shouldn’t need all of it – maybe about half, but depending on personal preference. Place the 2nd cake on top.
11. For the icing: whip the cream with the icing sugar and flavourings until smooth and evenly combined. Add the icing sugar gradually and taste constantly until you think it is sweet enough. You want it to retain a little bit of savoriness and to not be too sickly sweet. It should be fairly thick too, though it will not be as thick as a butter icing.
12. To ice the cake: dollop a large ladle of the icing on top of the cake and spread it over the top. Then spread a thin layer of the icing around the sides. It is a fairly runny icing and so will never be totally picture perfect, but gradually layer up on the sides so that all the cake is covered. An easy way of getting it on the sides is to place a large spoon of it on the top by the edge, and to let it drip down the sides, guiding it and spreading it with your spatula as it descends. Repeat this around the whole cake until it is covered. If you are having issues getting it spread on the sides, do one layer and then put it in the fridge for a bit, then repeat. The lower temperature firms up the icing, making it easier to spread upon. Try and get it as smooth as possible.
13. Scatter the toasted, cooled, crushed pistachio nuts on top of the cake, leaving the sides bare.
14. Serve! Delicious with cream, ice cream or simply a cup of tea.
Mixing the ingredients
The two halves
Spreading the pineapple curd
Top back on…
icing
do the sides…
nuts!
COMPLETED!
The view from the inside
slice time
