Little Pineapple Cakes

If you've read this blog more than once, you probably know that I absolutely love kitchen gadgets. One gadget I've looked at, but never pulled the trigger on, is a pineapple slicer gadget. I like fresh pineapple, but I'm not fond of peeling and cleaning them.

And after peeling, cleaning, and cutting a pineapple into chunks, my hands always get irritated. Which isn't fun if I've got a serious pineapple craving.

But ... I hesitated to buy a pineapple gadget. I always wondered if I'd leave too much good pineapple behind. And I wondered if it would be easy to use. And I wondered if I'd use the gadget more than once.

So when my buddies at 37 Cooks hooked up with my other buddies at Good Cook AND there was a pineapple slicer involved ... well, I had to go stock up on pineapples.

Later, I came up with a recipe. But first, I just attacked a bunch of pineapples.

And I have to say that I really like this way of cleaning a pineapple. It's not as messy as whacking at it with a knife, since the inevitable juice stays inside the pineapple shell when using this crazy gadget.

Not that I used the juice. I just drank it.

The gadget pretty easy to use - just slice the top off of the pineapple, center the gadget over the core, and start twisting to cut the spiral slices of pineapple. It was pretty quick and sort of fun. Ta da!!!

So, armed with way too much pineapple, I looked at the other things I got - a nice bowl, a spatula, and some flexible plastic cutting mats that are handy for all sorts of things. I've got the green one in the photo above.

And ... a pan for making four little loaves. Did someone say loaves?

I considered making some sort of yeast bread, but thought that dessert sounded better. So, this happened:

Pineapple Loaf Cake

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter
1 cup sugar
4 pineapple rings
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Add the vanilla and continue beating until it is incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated.

Add the flour in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the buttermilk. Mix until well combined.

Cut each pineapple ring in half and arrange the halves into the bottoms of the four loaf pan wells.

Pour the batter over the pineapple slices, trying to use an equal amount for each little loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cake springs back when touched, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Let the pan cool for about five minutes in the pan, then turn them out - you can let them rest with the pineapple side up or down, depending on how you plan on serving them. I like them with the pineapple on the bottom, like a little surprise.

Yum