Hi everyone! It’s been about 2 months since my last post. December was super busy for me (with holidays and family visiting from Peru). Then, in January I traveled down there to visit my parents and stayed a couple of weeks to spend time with them and help with extra stuff like taking them to doctors appointments and having a few things fixed at their house. My mom is doing ok with her early stage of Alzheimer, the medicine that she’s been taking for about 2 years has helped a lot. On the other hand, my dad (who will be 81 this year) has gotten slower and with some kind of depression but he is now being treated for that, so hopefully we see some good results soon.

Also, I visited some friends and had some deserved “me” time . I visited a couple of new restaurants and bars. Traffic was bad as always.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing great and I want to start my new year (Yes, in the Chinese horoscope I’M A DOG! LOL) with an easy but delicious cake recipe that you can make for a birthday, a potluck, dinner or because you just want to bake!

Ingredients

Caramel Topping

• 1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 can (20 oz) of pineapple slices

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp cake flour
• 6 Tbsp of ground almonds
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups of white granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sour cream

Directions

1.- Make caramel topping: Heat brown sugar and butter in a medium sized saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly,  several minutes. (After sugar melts, don’t stir.)

2.-Pour into pan, top with pineapple slices: Generously grease (I use butter) a 10-inch diameter stick-free cake pan with 2-inch high sides

Tip: The only 10 inch pan that I have is a Springform . The best way I’ve found to line a sprinform pan (from the outside) is to cover  the base of the pan with a large sheet or two of aluminum foil (I prefer heavy duty foil for this because the sheets are larger), then clamp the side ring around the base and fold the aluminum up towards the top of the pan, pressing it tight.

This is the one I use : https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Excelle-Elite-Inch-Springform/dp/B0000DIX6V

Pour the mixture into the pan.

Arrange pineapple slices in a single layer on top of the caramel mixture.

3.- Preheat oven to 325° F.

4.-Make cake batter: Whisk the flours, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 additions each, beating well after each addition.

5.- Pour cake batter over caramel and pineapple in pan.

6.- Bake the cake at 325°F until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

7.- Turn out cake: Cool cake in pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter and enjoy!!