Wes' Chilean Pineapple Cake

So Wes' birthday was earlier this week. You know what that means... I get to make a cake! This time I wanted to be a little adventurous so I asked Wes what his favorite cake was. He told me about this mythical cake that he would have when he was studying in Chile. A quick google search got us to here which is the base of this recipe. This is one of the more interesting things I have baked, it was a lot of fun, but took a long time. A good evening was devoted to this.

Chilean Pineapple Cake

cake:
6 eggs (whites separated from yokes)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. baking powder

filling:
1 fresh pineapple
1 can pineapple juice
1/6 cup Coconut Vodka (really any liquor you want... pair it with pineapple)
1 quart heavy whipping cream (2 pints for those of you (like me) who would need to look that up)
3/4 cup powder sugar
Coconut Flakes.

Before we start I am going to let it be known that I made two of these cakes. So if for some reason you are trying to make this exact cake, you are going to need to double the above.

First up: in a small sauce pan, add sugar and get it a little wet (1-2 tablespoons, this is not very exact). Heat this on medium low heat until sugar turns in to a homogenous liquid.

You kind of want to taste it... but then you realize it is just sugar.

  While this is going on beat the egg whites until stiff. If you have never done this: You really do not want to do this by hand. You need to make sure you do this in a really dry bowl, any amount of water can throw this whole process off. Beat the heck out of the eggs. If you are using a mixer you should be up in the 8 - 10 range (out of 13). When you are done, when you lift a fork out of the liquid, it should look really thick and stable. Add the melted sugar (while it is still hot and liquidy) to the whites, beat well.

A sighting of the elusive Big Foot of the Coat Factory. Also there be stiff egg whites.

At this point turn on your mixer to beat (8-10) and slowly add the egg yokes. Be sure each one is incorporated before you add the next.

In a separate bowl add the rest of the ingredients. Sift/mix/shake until everything is well mixed, then slowly beat in to egg mixture. Now you are ready to pour all of this in to a greased pan you are going to make this in. Don't worry, this batter rises a lot. Like a lot a lot. Double at least. Throw that bad boy in to the oven for 30 mins at 350 degrees.

Now while this is baking, you can start preparing the filling. Cut up your pineapple. This was the first time I have ever, personally, demolished a pineapple. First thing I did... put a slice in my mouth. Dang that hurt. Turns out pineapple is a citrus fruit and is often used as a meat tenderizer. I didn't. But my tongue found out. Anyway, slice really thin, as thin as possible. We don't want any of the outside roughage, and we don't want any of the core. If you are hardcore, you can squeeze all of the juice out of the outside and core, we are going to need juice later.

At this point, look out your window and see the flock of wild turkeys wandering around...

Right outside my window.

Back to work! Set all of the pineapple stuff aside. Mix together the liquid that is going to make this cake great. Take a large amount of pineapple juice (12-20 oz) and add some Vodka. Mix well and set aside.

I used juice from a can of pineapples, I needed more than I could get.

To prepare the cream filling, it is suggested that you refrigerate the bowl and beaters you are going to use. I am sure this will help it set nicely, but I didn't know this, so I skipped this step. Pour in your heavy cream, and set your mixer as high as it can go. If you have one like mine you will get milk spray. But pound though it, because after a minute or two you will be the most beautiful looking cream you have seen. Mix in the powdered sugar to make it taste even better. Set the entire thing in the fridge until the cake is ready.

When the cake is down let it cool a bit, then start slicing. This is a layered cake, so you want it to have as many layers as you can get out of it. I ended up slicing each one in half because of the size of my cake.

Right out of the oven

We are going to be pouring the pineapple vodka liquid all over this thing, so slice the top layer to aid in the absorption of the liquid.

Now we are ready to start assembling. Put first layer down. Sprinkle pineapple liquid all over the layer, getting everything soaked. Not dripping, but certainly moist. The more liquid you can fit in, the more flavor this cake will have. Once you are happy with the liquid content of the layer, throw down a few dollops of cream and spread.

Then add a layer of pineapples:

Don't you just love my serving plate.

Then add another few dollops of cream on the pineapple layer. Now, take the next layer of cake and turn it upside down, sprinkle with pineapple liquid, and return upright, place on top of previous layer. Continue this until you have no more layers.

This is where our paths will diverge a little. From here on out all you are doing is frosting and decorating. Cover your creation with cream. Garnish with pineapples and sprinkle the whole thing with coconut.

But for me, I had to make this thing in to a 'W'

Look at all those extra... what am I going to do with those.

mmmmm.... layers.

Finished product.

 Everyone loved it. It was great! I had fun making it. Wes said that it was really close to what he remembers. It turn out to be a really nice and light cake with a great flavor from the pineapple.

Only done side, it gets kind of weird after two days of sitting in the fridge, I would suggest consuming within a few days of construction.