pineapple upside-down cake

Mrs Carrot Cake and I have challenged ourselves to produce a retro meal next time we eat together. I'm going for three courses based on popular dishes from the 1970s. I'm going to start with prawn cocktail, then we'll have steak garni and chips. I was going to do a black forest gâteau for pudding, but Mrs Carrot Cake is determined to sabotage my best efforts. When I told her what I was making for pudding, she turned up her nose, and told me that she didn't like creamy squishy cakes. Fortunately, I found this recipe for a slight update on pineapple upside-down cake. When I told her what I planned to make she revealed that she hates pineapple. At this rate we are going to be having tinned fruit cocktail and condensed milk.

Anyway, I thought I would post this recipe for pineapple upside-down cake because I've made it twice now and it goes down a treat. It is simply irrisistably, unless you are Mrs Carrot Cake, of course. I found it in a cooking magazine a couple of months ago. I can't remember which mag, because I cut the page out and threw away the mag. It was probably the BBC Good Food magazine. The first time I made the cakes I used undyed organic glace cherries, but a cake like this just screams out for unnaturally bright red cherries. They're little beacons in a sea of caramel loveliness. I'm not convinced about the cooking times. I put them in the oven the first time and forgot about them. They probably cooked for about 35 mins. The second time I made them I cooked them for 20 mins but they were still a bit soft in the middle. In fact, when I upturned one onto a plate, it just splodged all over the plate. I put the cakes back in for another 10 mins. I just can't seem to get them looking like the photo. They come out a lovely golden brown with crispy carmelised bits, but absolutely no sauce. It all seems to soak into the cake mixture. Mmm, makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Here's the recipe:

For the topping

100g/4oz butter
100g/4oz light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp dark rum
432g can pineapple rings, drained
6 glace cherries

For the cake

50g/2oz unsweetened desiccated coconut
100g/4oz butter
200g/8oz caster sugar
3 large eggs
175g/6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
125ml/4fl oz milk

Heat oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4 and butter six 200ml ramekin dishes. To make the topping, put the butter, sugar and rum in a saucepan and cook for a couple of mins until the sugar has melted. Carefully pour a little of the mixture into the bottom of each ramekin, then place a pineapple slice with a cherry inside on top.

To make the cake, cook the coconut over a gentle heat, stirring often until it begins to turn light golden brown, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Mix together all the remaining cake ingredients until they're well combined. Spoon over the pineapple slices, place the ramekins on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 20 mins until well risen. Turn out and serve with cream or custard if you like.

UPDATE: Mrs McMuffin has just told me that Mrs Carrot Cake hates tinned fruit cocktail, so now I don't even have that to fall back on.