Pineapple cake

Ingredients

• Pineapple — peeled1 kg
• Winter melon500 g
• Sugar150 g
• Maltose syrup80 g
• Flour300 g
• Butter200 g
• Milk powder40 g
• Grated hard cheese40 g
• Icing sugar60 g
• Egg yolks2
• Cornflour40 g
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Grate the pineapple and winter melon coarsely and press out the juice through muslin.

   25 min

2. 2

   Reduce the pressed juice separately by half; it goes back into the filling as a concentrate.

   25 min

3. 3

   Cook the pulp with the sugar and maltose on a low heat for an hour, stirring every five minutes.

   65 min

4. 4

   Add the reduced juice and cook the filling until a spatula leaves a trail on the pan.

   20 min

5. 5

   Beat the butter with the icing sugar, yolks, milk powder, cheese and salt, and work in the flour and cornflour.

   15 min

6. 6

   Chill the dough half an hour, divide it into balls and flatten each in your palm.

   35 min

7. 7

   Wrap a ball of filling in the dough, press it into a square mould and bake at 170 °C for twenty-five minutes, turning it halfway.

   40 min

About the dish

The filling is reduced until a spatula leaves a trail on the pan. Underdone, it runs during baking and welds the cake to its mould.

The classic filling is pineapple mixed with winter melon rather than pure pineapple. The melon gives density and mutes the acidity; the all-pineapple version is sold as premium and tastes sharper.

The dough is made with milk powder and cheese — they make the shortcrust faintly savoury, which balances the sweet filling.

Worth knowing

• — Turn the cakes in their moulds halfway through baking. Without it the base stays pale while the top dries out.
• — Make the filling the day before. Overnight it stabilises and rolls into balls; hot, it slumps.
• — Rest the cakes a day before eating. The pastry takes up moisture from the filling and the crumb turns softer and more even.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

320 kcal

Protein

4 g

Fat

14 g

Carbs

46 g

More from Taiwan

• Lu rou fan — Minced pork belly braised in soy sauce with spices, spooned over white rice.
• Taiwanese beef noodle soup — Wheat noodles in a dark broth of beef shank with fermented bean paste and spices.
• Gua bao — A steamed folded bun with braised pork belly, pickled greens and peanut sugar.