Whole Wheat Flour Pineapple cake

Pineapple Cake

Whenever I pass near the cart selling ripe juicy pine apple I cannot but resist of thinking of Pineapple cake. The one we get in market are full of artificial flavor and color which desists me from buying them from bakery. I love my food as far as possible free of chemicals which are harmful and add no value to the food we eat. The cake which I am presenting today is free of artificial flavor and color. It is made in whole wheat flour, chunks of pineapple and juice of pineapple thus is packed with nutrients and fibers. The color may not look as good as you get in bakeries or are sold by many home bakers but the taste is certainly better and it will be guilt free eating as you will know that it is not going to cause any harm to you and your loved ones as it is free of artificial color and flavor.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Baking Time: 40-45 minutes

Servings: makes 750 g. cake (approx.)

Nutritional value: (Approx.)

• Energy 2000 Cal
• Fat: 100gm
• Cholesterol: 775mg
• Sodium: 200mg
• Potassium: 1100mg
• Carbs: 125 gm
• Fibers: 39gm
• Sugar: 100gm
• Protein: 24g
• Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, Iron

Ingredients Required For making Pineapple Cake:

• 150 gm. Whole wheat flour
• 3 Medium size eggs
• 1 Teaspoon baking Powder
• 1/2Teaspoon baking soda
• 100 gm. Butter (I use Nutrelite butter)
• 1 Pinch of Salt (If using white/unsalted butter)
• 150 gm. Castor sugar (I prefer less sweet so use 100 gm. only)
• 200 gm. Diced pieces of Pineapple
• 150-200 ml. Fresh Pineapple pulp

Directions For making Pineapple cake:

• Remove all peel and spiky things from pineapple.
• Cut the pineapple to slices and core the slices.
• Cut the slices to 1cm (Approx.) pieces.

Pieces of Pineapple for Cake

• Keep 200 gm of the pieces away for further use.
• Pulse the remaining slices and the core of pineapple to get thick pulp.
• Mix
• Flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
• Sieve 3-4 times.
• Separate egg whites from egg yolk.
• Whisk egg white to stiff peaks.

Whisked Egg White

• Cut the chilled butter to small cubes and add sugar to it.
• Whisk till it becomes creamy.
• Add egg yolks one at a time and whisk to get frothy, creamy mixture of butter, sugar and egg yolk.

Creamy mixture ready for Flour and Pineapple

• Add the pieces of pineapple to flour and mix so that all pieces get coated with flour mix.

Pineapple pieces in Flour mixture of Cake

• To the (butter + sugar + egg yolk mixture) add (flour + pineapple mixture) and whisked egg whites alternately and after each addition of flour/egg white mix with very light hands using either wooden spoon/fork or your fingers.
• Add pineapple paste in two instalments. Mix after each addition. Depending upon your batter thickness the pineapple paste requirement may change.
• The last step should be finished fast as the acid of pineapple reacts with baking soda and baking powder.
• The batter should be pourable but not runny or thick which does not get poured.
• Pour the batter in the prepared baking pan.
• Tap two three times to level the surface and remove the trapped air bubbles.
• Bake at 180^oC for about 35-40 minutes, or till the cake is done. Check for the doneness of cake by poking a clean skewer in the cake, if it comes out clean cake is baked.

Baking at 180 C

• Remove the cake from oven and cool it in the rake. Cake is ready.

Pineapple cake

• Cut the cake when it is cooled.

Soft Moist Pineapple cake

Enjoy the fruity, chemical free pineapple cake with tea/coffee.

Tips:

• The size of the eggs thus the liquid content provided by them differ thus the amount of pineapple pulp required may change. Always check the consistency of batter before adding all pulp.
• Eggs and butter should be at the same temperature (Approx.), else curdling occurs.
• If ever the butter eggyoly mixture starts curdling then do not worry either keep working with it or add just a spoon of flour and whisk. 
• The baking time varies with the type of oven used. Keep checking for doneness of cake after 30 minutes.
• If you desire to have the cake pieces cut too evenly then dice the pineapple to small pieces. I love chunks of pineapple in cake.
• To get the yellow color and strong flavor you may use one drop of yellow color and 2-3 drops of pineapple flavor any good brand.
• Whole wheat flour can be replaced by refined white flour (Maida/all-purpose flour). The cake comes out softer and lighter. I prefer whole wheat flour as it is more nutritious and has lots of fibers.
• Place a small bowl with chilled water at the bottom rake of oven while baking the cake this will make sure the top crust does not become hard.
• If the cake is not done but the top is becoming darker, just cover it with a tin foil and bake till done.

Suggested Variations:

• Butter can be rerplaced by olive oil to get less fatty and less cholesterol content in cake. For replacement of butter amount to oil always use 100:60 ratio of butter to oil because butter has water content which is lacking in oil.
• If fresh fruit is not available then tinned pineapple can be used. 4-5 pieces can be diced and 5-6 pieces can be made to pulp. Artificial flavor and color is must if using tinned pineapple.
• Whole wheat flour can be replaced by all-purpose flour. If using all-purpose flour then replace the baking soda by baking powder (1+1/2) the cake will certainly will be lighter and less dense but the goodness of fibers and nutrients will be missing from the cake.
• Use 50 gm. less sugar and soak the cake with the sugar syrup of tinned peneapple this will add sweetness with pineapple flavor.