Flicking through one of the issues of an Australian Vogue I came across this recipe. I was attracted to the unusual way of serving this cake, with ricotta cream. And the roasted pineapple.
The recipe is very straight forward, the cake dough gets ready in no time. You just have to wait a little bit for the pineapple but boy, it is worth it. Plus I am sure that whoever you serve a slice of this cake to will just love it. How couldn’t he/she?
150g self-raising flour ( or plain flour with 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder)
55g ground hazelnuts
275g caster sugar
110g dessicated coconut
125g melted butter, unsalted
3 eggs, separated
125ml buttermilk
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted peeled hazelnuts
Pineapple, peeled and chopped diagonally in medium-small pieces
Lemon juice
Brown sugar
Ricotta cream:
½ cup ricotta
125g plain yoghurt
2 tablespoons honey
Preheat oven to 160oC/ fan assisted oven 150oC. Grease and line the bottom of a 10cm x 21 cm loaf tin and reserve.
Combine flour, ground hazelnuts, sugar and coconut in a bowl, then add butter, egg yolks, buttermilk and lemon zest and stir until combined.
Using a mixer whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and gently fold into coconut mixture. Pour the coconut mixture into the loaf tin and sprinkle with combined Demerara sugar and chopped hazelnuts. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in tin for 30 min before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For roasted pineapple increase the oven temperature to 200oC. Place pineapple pieces in an oven proof dish, drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roast for 10 minutes, then baste with the juices and place under the hot grill until the pineapple turns golden ( it is not really necessary so feel free to skip the grill bit).
For the ricotta cream just mix all the ingredients together. Serve slices of cake with roasted pineapple and ricotta cream. Yum!
