This is a delicious, classic dessert – it’s a firm
favourite in our family, and when I was little I’d always request it as part of
my birthday tea. Not only is it fabulously easy and pretty cheap, but something
about the warm sponge, laced with sweet, zingy pineapple juice and drizzled
with cream, is endlessly comforting.
Ingredients
1 tin of pineapple (rings look prettier than chunks, but
it doesn’t matter)
2 eggs
120g granulated sugar
120g self-raising flour
120g margarine
Double cream, to serve
Preheat the oven to 200˚C (180˚C fan). Start out by
weighing the eggs and making a note of the weight. Then weigh out the same
amount of sugar, margarine and flour (it should be about 120g, or 4oz, but if
you use the same amount then you’ll make sure that the sponge isn’t too wet or
too dry, even if the eggs are a bit bigger or smaller than usual) and mix it
all together thoroughly. Drain the tin of pineapple (keep the juice) and
arrange the rings in the bottom of an ovenproof dish – remember that you’re
going to turn the pudding out once it’s cooked (hence why it’s called
upside-down pudding) and the pattern from the pineapple will be on the top. If
you really want the authentic old-school look, add a fluorescent pink glacé cherry in the centre of each pineapple ring.
Spoon the cake mixture over the fruit and smooth it so
that it’s roughly even. Pop it in the oven, and test with a fork after 30
minutes – the extra moisture from the fruit can mean it takes longer to cook,
so if the fork is coming out with a bit of uncooked mixture on it, give the
pudding another five or ten minutes. Finally, turn the pudding out and drizzle
with cream and the reserved pineapple juice, then serve up thick slices while
it’s still warm – bliss.