Cakes - Pineapple Butterscotch Cake

Disclaimer:  I am writing this at two in the morning while at work (yes, as long as my patient is stable and I'm caught up on everything that needs to be done, I can use my computer).  So my usual lame humor is likely further impaired due to mush brain.

I've talked about cakes before and my thoughts about why they were likely considered so special.  It is my impression though, that not all cakes were of the same status.  I think quick breads/cakes were generally not as prized as they tend to be more dense and heavy, like the previously made scripture cake and sour milk orange cake.  These are unlike devils food cake, which should be much more light and delicate.  As I was making this edition's cake, I was thinking about what circumstances a housewife from 1951 might make pineapple butterscotch cake.  As you will see later, it's light-ish, but not to the degree of a devils food cake.  It's also not as dense as quick breads/cakes are.  But the addition of pineapple rings and cherries are added touches that definitely add to the flavor and appearance of the cake.  Ultimately, I have come to the conclusion that this cake may have been made for casual social gatherings, rather than for some fancy to-do.  And that is what I made this cake for, a VERY casual social gathering.

 Preparation

Here's our recipe.

Why didn't I make prune whip cake???  Oh yeah, 'cause I'm not a masochist.

I prepared to go do some grocery shopping so I could make the cake when I got a text message from Sarah, "I am worried about the unusual ingredients on the grocery list."  Come now, Sarah, just because shortening is kind of gross and can be used to make gross things, doesn't mean grossness is predestined.

Now, if you ask me, this looks an awful lot like a pineapple upside-down cake.  I recall my grandmother making them now and then and thinking they were pretty great.  So though Sarah doesn't have very high hopes, I was cautiously optimistic.  But I couldn't help but wonder why it wasn't called an upside-down cake.  Was this supposed to somehow be served with pineapples on the bottom?  Furthermore, what makes it butterscotch?  Maybe the brown sugar on the bottom caramelizes a bit while baking, but to call this butterscotch seems a bit like a stretch.  Nevermind all that though.  There's cake, and booze comin' down the road!

A story of two unlikely friends on an trip they'll never forget. Cakey and Boozy's  Big Adventure, coming to a theater near you.

Here we go.

I had a rather wiggly assistant this day too.  Thomas has been my helper for plenty of other recipes, so it was time for James to get in on the game.  Here's hoping he won't get too scared off.

When you're 7, all the world's a jungle gym.

Now, I have to start with a note on the strangeness of my boys.  Things that are good, they don't like.  Things that are kind of gross, they're all over.  Case in point, vegetable shortening.  This is the definitive word on vegetable shortening.

You said it, shortening man.  Get lost.

So I gave James the job of measuring out the shortening.
James:  This is kind of hard.  I'm going to need another spoon.
Later James:  This is sticky.  It sticks to everything!  I need some help.
I agree with him, explaining my feelings on the matter and why I think shortening is pretty gross, including how it feels... when things go off the rails a bit.
James:  But it feels so good!  It's just so soft and nice.
Since he liked the shortening so much, I graciously let him grease the pan too.
James:  So you must not like this part.
Me:  Nope
James (getting into the job):  Ah, this feels so good.
Woof.  Glad someone likes it.
Later when Thomas joins us, James extols the virtues of shortening:  Dad thinks this is gross, but he's wrong.  It feels soooooo good, Thomas.

Better you than me, kiddo.

The recipe is pretty straight forward cream fat and sugar, add dry and liquid.  Though to be honest, I don't know how common it is to alternate the liquid with the flour like this recipe asks.  None of this is particularly difficult, but it was a good opportunity to talk to James about measuring techniques.

Dump "sifted" flour into your measuring cup, and scrape off excess.

Knee bends to see right where the meniscus is.

 Pan greased (yuck), batter made.  Time for lickins!

I'm pretending there's flavor.  He's pretending he's a cat.

So we get to the "butterscotch" part of the cake now.  Butterscotch issue aside, here is where I have an issue with many of the recipes submitted by the Ladies.  They don't have all ingredients listed at the top of the recipe.  We're cruising along splendidly, when we come to multiple ingredients in the directions that aren't listed earlier.  As a result, we got the brown sugar down on the bottom of the pan, but I forgot to to dot with butter.  As we'll see later, this may have made a difference.  I almost want to go back and make the cake again, but with the butter to see how it would have been different... almost.

By this time, Thomas got involved.  He got to put the pineapple rings and maraschino cherries on top of the brown sugar.

Very careful.  Very artificially colored.

After pouring the batter on top of this frightening bit of industrial food, it was time to do a taste test while the cake was in the oven.  My good friend Joel gave me a jar of quality maraschino cherries for Christmas last year to use as a garnish in various drinks.  So I had the boys close their eyes and try the maraschino cherries I grew up enjoying and the more authentic maraschino cherries that are so good in Manhattans.

Open your mouth and close your eyes, and you'll receive a big surprise.

Here are James's thoughts
1950s maraschino cherries  :  They're ok.  They're a little sour.  Tastes a little sweet.
Quality cherries:  It didn't taste as good, really.  It tastes like its more packed together crunchy.

Remember how I said the boys like things that are gross and eschew good things.  Case in point.  Weirdos.

Here are Thomas's thoughts on the cherry taste test.

My delicate, polite, diplomatic 4 year-old.

In the end, they liked the canned pineapple better than the cherries, and I liked my Manhattan better than anything else on offer.

To union jobs, quality ingredients, and cooking adventures!

Tasting and Reaction

Here is our finished product in all it's post-war glory.  

Somehow the cherries look more appetizing here than on their own.

Now, as I've done previously, I foisted the recipe in question on unsuspecting victims friends.  A bit of an introduction.  Just over eight years ago, I heard about a group that gathered to mix drinking beer with running.  But it's not just running on a track or around a neighborhood.  No, this is more of a scavenger hunt of sorts.  We run as much on sidewalks and trails as through parks, woods, and even occasionally across streams and swamps.  We run rain or shine, 95 degrees or negative 15.  And I have met some wonderful people and seen parts of the city and surrounding area that I never would have seen otherwise.  I am a member of the Minneapolis Hash House Harriers, a drinking club with a running problem.  We run every Sunday afternoon year round.  We start by gathering together, telling dirty jokes (No, the Ladies of Zion would not approve), and having a beverage before we take off on the run.  We then follow marks left by someone who planned the trail for the day until we get to a beer stop.  Then we have a beer (or water), let everyone catch up, and visit a bit before taking off.  We do this for 3-6 miles before gathering at the end of the run, have a beer, and sing bawdy songs making fun of people who did stupid things.  It is a LOT of fun, and there are groups in just about every city and many large towns all around the world.

So I subjected hashers to the cake after a trail that I set.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of everyone who attended, so I'm going to steal a picture of some friendly hashers from a few years ago.

Hashers, meet the hashers...

So after a long-ish trail, I offered some of Mrs. Matt Guttu's Pineapple Butterscotch Cake as long as they gave me their honest opinion on what they thought.  Below is what they had to say.

• James (written by Sarah) - ate the pineapple, refused to take any for school lunch.  [What?!  How can this be my son.  Any excuse for a sweet thing, even a mediocre sweet thing, is a good excuse.  Weirdo.]
• Thomas (also written by Sarah) - consented to "a tiny bite".  [What can I say, he's 4 and picky]
• Tiffah - Yum - ❤ the pineapples
• Project - Pineapple good, cake dry
• Weasel - A little dry but good
• Toasty - little dry/dense like corn bread but good & not overly sweet
• P2 - Was that fish sauce in there!?  [WHAT was P2 eating?  I don't think it was cake]
• GW? - Ok. Dry.  Wouldn't make it again.  Top part good.
• Magic - Def dry, not enough vanilla.  Cream the butter sugar more you'll get better loft -> but many of the cakes were soaked in rum.  
• Wood Stalker - I liked it ☺Yummy
• Just Vicky - Dense, tasty after a run, pineapple is sweet, dry but great w/beer.
• C*******- Pineapple yummy - cake a little dry but good
• C****** - Me perdi un poquito mientas corria a lo largo del rio.  Gracias a Dios me encontre con otros hasheaderos que consiguieron encontrar el camino.  [My Spanish is beyond poor, but I'm not sure he had any cake]
• Business Cas. - Excellent - a little crumbly
• Wifey - not much flavor but inoffensive.  looked pretty w/cherries & pineapple would be good w/ cup of coffee.

First thing.  As you may have guessed, hashers are given hash names, and some of them would have likely scandalized the Ladies.  Hashers are adults and know how to let loose, but also be responsible about it.  That said, I'll just leave some of the full names (my own included) up to the imagination.

No hair, no pants, and no clues about my hash name.

Second thing.  Though the cake wasn't bad, I think some of the tasters were being a little kind despite my explaining that my cooking self-concept was not wrapped up in this cake at all.

A few common thoughts are apparent.  The cake was dry.  The cake was dense.  The cake lacked flavor outside of the sweetness provided by the pineapple and brown sugar.  And that is all fair.  Though again I do wonder how much of a difference adding the three tablespoons of butter to the brown sugar would have made.  In the end, it wasn't bad, but I am not likely to make it again.  Magic talked to me later on and suggested that some kind of booze in the pineapple/brown sugar part of the cake would have added some flavor and moistness, rum perhaps.  I think she's right, but my impression of the Ladies is that this isn't a direction they would have gone.  Maybe some sort of syrup poured over the cake, or perhaps over the brown sugar on the bottom could have been used.  But since it wasn't on my recipe for the day, I didn't add anything.

The look of the thing, once it was turned out of the pan onto the serving plate made me a little nostalgic for times when I was little and would go to my grandparent's house in western Minnesota in a town that in some ways was probably not too dissimilar to Thief River Falls and my grandmother would make desserts like this.  It was always so enticing, that shiny top with the bright red cherries (which she would always let me eat a few straight out of the jar).  She would never say I couldn't have a piece, even if dinner wasn't too far away.

No, none of these recipes that I've made out of the Cook Book could be considered the height of fine cooking.  But it is clear in my mind that the recipes in the book were put there because when made and offered to loved ones, that the Ladies were offering themselves, their time, and their efforts to others, and doing it with joy, just like my grandmother did.  Sure, I tease and laugh at some of what is in the Cook Book, but I think I would have enjoyed cooking with the Ladies and sharing my recipes with them like they've shared with me.

A Poll

Next time:  Cookies.  But wait!  I'm going to try something different.  Below are three options on the next page of the Cookies chapter.  I want you to comment below and let me know which you would like me to make.  The cookie with the most votes will be the one I make.  I believe I have comments set up so that you don't have to log in or anything like that.  If you are having trouble commenting, let me know (aaron.l.olson@gmail.com, or some other way that you know how to reach me).

Chocolate Filled Yum-Yums
Chinese Chews
Tasty Dainties

Voting will close when I feel like it.  Until next time, happy eating.