Pineapple Bundt Cake with Pineapple Syrup

Looking for bundt cake recipes other than pumpkin, I came across this one. And when I saw it was from Week of Menus, I knew it was going to be good.

I did do some slight modifications. The sugar didn't beat into the butter for three minutes; I was sick of holding the hand mixer after two minutes. I didn't use a vanilla bean, I used extract. The syrup? Well, I didn't brush it on and wait for the cake to cool completely. I poured it on (so it turned out more like a topping) and cut into that sucker.

Pineapple Bundt Cake with Pineapple Syrup
adapted from Week of Menus
click to print

3 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 c sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c buttermilk
1 1/2 c diced fresh pineapple
2/3 c fresh pineapple puree (use a hand blender, blender, or chopper and puree until fairly smooth)
1/3 c granulated sugar
2 tbsp water

Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour inside of 10-inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.


Mix together sour cream and buttermilk mixture.

Check this out: I measured the buttermilk in the measuring glass. Then I measured the sour cream in a measuring cup. When I added the sour cream to the buttermilk, I found that the total volume was a smidge shy of one full cup. Next time, I'll just know that I can add the sour cream to the buttermilk directly and save my dishwasher (ahem, that's still me) a few minutes.

Beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.


Add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 2-3 minutes.


Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.


Look how yellow the batter gets. And voluminous.

Beat in vanilla.


At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream mixture.


Using a spatula, carefully fold in diced pineapple, incorporating it into the batter.


Carefully spoon batter into bundt pan.


Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.


Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then invert it onto another rack. Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.


Meanwhile, prepare syrup by combining pineapple puree, sugar, and water in a small non-reactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.


Pour the syrup over the cake.



This cake is excellent! It is a little sweet, really buttery, and beautifully pineapple-flavored! The cake is quite moist without the syrup, but the syrup topping is where the pineapple really steps up to the plate and says, "yep, it's all me baby!"

There was a snafu with the baking temperature. For a period of about 10 minutes, the knob had been turned down from 350 to about 300. As soon as I noticed it, I turned the oven back up. I don't know if it made a difference - if it did it might have been the crust of the bundt, which I find amazing! It's actually slightly crusty offering a very nice texture variation.

So good, I will have to make a gluten-free cake and share. I'm killin' this one myself. Every crumb.

Cost:

• all-purpose flour: $0.24
• unsalted butter: $1.08
• sugar: $0.53
• eggs: $1.21
• vanilla extract: $0.16
• sour cream: $0.35
• buttermilk: $0.35
• pineapple: $3.27

TOTAL: $7.19 or about $0.60 for each of 12 exceptional servings.