The Ingredients

Mixing the dry ingredients into the batter

Folding in the pineapple chunks and candied ginger

Caramelizing the pineapple slices

The caramelized pineapple slices

Layering in the topping

Hot out of the oven

The psychedelic shot!

This cake has been included in a Cake Collection over at 1 Family.Friendly.Food. Check it out!

Pineapple Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze
Serves 10

Ingredients:

Topping
1/2 pineapple, thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons Rum
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)

Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 – 1/4 cup diced candied ginger, depending on your preference
1/2 pineapple, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain reduced-fat (2%) Greek-style yogurt or cream top style vanilla yogurt
2 Tablespoons Rum

Caramel Syrup (Step-by-Step Photos Below)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)

Directions:

One hour before making the cake, remove butter and eggs from fridge and set out on counter to reach room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. (Make sure it is well coated or the top of the cake will stick when turned out.)

Prep Work

Remove top of pineapple and set aside for decorative use if desired. Carefully slice outer skin off of the pineapple. Cut pineapple into large pieces and remove tough inner core.

Coarsely chop half of the pineapple and set aside for incorporation into the batter.

Thinly slice remaining half of the pineapple. Soak pineapple slices in 2 teaspoons vanilla and 2 Tablespoons rum while prepping other ingredients.

Finely dice 1/8 – 1/4 cup of candied ginger and set aside.

Make the Batter

Whisk first 8 cake ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract, then yogurt. Add dry ingredients; beat just until blended. Fold in chopped pineapple chunks and all diced ginger. Set batter aside to rest.

Make the Topping

Melt 1/2 stick butter in a medium saucepan with tall sides. Add in pineapple slices with soaking liquid and saute until pineapple turns a golden color. Remove pineapple with a slotted spoon from pan and reserve. Wipe pan clean and set aside for caramel syrup.

Make the Caramel Syrup (Step-by-Step Photos Below)

Using a medium saucepan with tall sides, mix water and sugar until well combined. You may use a wet pastry brush to brush down any sugar crystals that stick to the sides of the pan. Turn heat to highest level, and cook mixture stirring frequently until the color changes to amber and it begins to smoke. (This will take at about 7 minutes.)

When the color change occurs, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Be prepared with long sleeves and oven mitts on, because when you add water the mixture will pop and splatter like crazy, sending burning hot sugar everywhere. You may want a bowl of cold water or a faucet nearby just in case any lands on your skin. Yes, it’s that hot and dangerous – exciting isn’t it?

Reduce heat to medium and whisk until mixture has reduced slightly. To check doneness, allow caramel to cool on a small spoon and then feel it to see if it is slightly sticky.

Assemble Cake

Evenly distribute reserved caramelized pineapple slices around the bottom of the bundt pan. Pour about 1/2 cup of caramel syrup on top of caramelized pineapple pieces. Set remaining caramel syrup aside for later use.

Carefully pour cake batter into bundt pan, trying not to disturb the topping, and smoothing the top of the batter with a spatula to create a level surface. Gently tap bottom of bundt pan on the counter a few times to settle batter and remove any air bubbles.

Bake cake until a tester (I used a long wooden skewer) inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter and let cool completely.

While cake is cooling, warm up remaining caramel syrup and drizzle evenly over the top of the bundt cake.

Once cool, you can garnish the cake by placing the reserved pineapple top in the center of the ring, if desired.

Cake is best if made one or two days ahead. Store covered at room temperature.

Caramel Syrup Step-by-Step Photos:

Okay – so the ingredient list here is quite simple, but after totally botching my first attempt (without a recipe), I found this recipe and tried again. These step-by-step photos should help you get a visual on what the process should look like when all goes well.

A few notes: The water is added in photo #6 (notice Mr. B stepped back when taking the photo – yes it was hot and dangerous for a minute there). Also notice that I switched from a metal fork to a heat resistant spatula? Yeah, apparently metal gets hot. Very hot. Not one of my brightest moments!

This past Christmas, Mr. B surprised me with a red Tagine and Moroccan cookbook. I think he was dropping a big hint that it was time to learn how to make Moroccan dishes! We both love braised lamb shanks, and could eat chickpeas until we burst, so it only made sense to graduate into the finer dishes of Moroccan cuisine. As I thumbed through the recipes in Cooking at the Kasbah I noticed that several call for preserved lemons. With drawers full of my grandfather’s beautiful Meyer lemons I decided that the perfect way to make them last a bit longer was to preserve them and kick off our Moroccan eating adventures.

Preserving the lemons couldn’t be easier, and is an excellent way to use an abundance of citrus without wasting any part of the fruit. You will need a sterilized glass jar with a lid, salt, and lemons. That’s it. (Oh, and you’ll need to wait at least four to six weeks – I’m still working on that part!)

The ingredients

Slicing the lemon part-way through

Repeating the slice after turning the lemon upside down and rotating 90 degrees


Stuffing the lemon full of salt

Squishing the lemons into a sterilized jar

Check to make sure the top is covered completely in juice. (This jar needs a little more.)

Preserved Lemons (L’Hamd Markad)
Recipe Adapted From: Cooking at the Kasbah, by Kitty Morse

Ingredients:
4 lemons (Meyers are best), rinsed and scrubbed
Salt (Kosher, Sea Salt, or Ice Cream salt, will all work)
Extra lemon juice (as needed)

Special Equipment:
1 glass jar (sterilized, with lid)

Directions:
Dry off the lemons. Slice a thin dime sized piece off each end of a lemon. Place the lemon on end and cut straight down through the fruit, stopping about 1/2″ before the bottom (you do not want to cut the lemon in half). Turn the lemon on the opposite end, and repeat the cut at a 90 degree angle to the first cut. (Again stop before cutting all the way through the lemon.)

Fill the cuts with as much salt as you can, and place the lemon at the bottom of the sterilized glass jar. Repeat with the remaining lemons, pressing them down into the jar, until there is no space left for additional lemons. The lemon juice will have risen in the jar during this process. If it is not completely covering the top of lemons, add additional juice as necessary. Seal and set jar in a cool dark place.

Check on the jar over the next several days, adding additional lemons and juice if there is space. You want to make sure that there is always juice covering the very top of the lemons. After 4-6 weeks the lemons will have tender rinds, and be ready to use in recipes. Rinse the lemons gently and discard any seeds before using. Store jar in the fridge after opening. (They will keep for up to 6 months in the fridge.)

Cook’s Note:
If the juice doesn’t cover the top of the lemons completely, you may see mold beginning to form where the lemons contact air. Don’t worry, just remove the mold with a clean knife, and add more lemon juice to cover the lemons completely.

One of the ways we lived off the land when I was young was by fishing. My father is an avid fisherman. Mr. B and I even jokingly call him the Fish Whisperer. He has the uncanny ability to catch fish anywhere, any time, and usually once a week. The photo above shows my father, brother, me, and the biggest fish I have ever caught. I was about 10 years old and the late summer run of King salmon was moving through our area. I can remember the night clearly, not only because the 20 lb salmon was my biggest fish ever, but also because it was bigger than the 16 lb fish my Dad caught that night. You could say that even at 10 I was a bit (ahem) competitive. The grin on my face is both from the thrill of reeling in such a big fish by myself and knowing that for once I had really out-fished my Dad. (For the record – it hasn’t happened since!) With the frequent fishing in my family I have probably eaten freshly caught salmon at least 100 times. Yet, to my recollection, I had never braised a salmon. After making Molly Stevens’ Pinot Noir Braised Salmon and Leeks, I wondered what took me so long!

If you don’t own All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking by Molly Stevens- go buy it. Seriously, don’t wait any longer. It’s that good. I would even go so far as to say that it is possibly my favorite cookbook of all time. The opening section clearly lays out the fundamentals of braising in a manner that will unlock the door to endless experimentation and successful braised meals. The recipes are fantastic and include several variations to spur creativity with each dish. Additionally, suggested wine pairings can turn a slow cooked meal into an occasion to celebrate.

I combined two similar recipes in the book to incorporate both leeks and salmon in the braise. The leeks will actually take a little bit longer to cook than the salmon, so you will want to start those first and then add in the fish. The ingredients in this recipe are surprisingly similar to a Coq au Vin. However the Pinot Noir and leeks keep the dish from becoming too heavy, and allow the Salmon to maintain a creamy brightness that is simply delicious.

Sweating the vegetables

Ready to go into the oven

I love my grandfather. A lot. For the past few years, I gave him healthy baby Meyer lemon trees on Father’s Day. He diligently watered, fertilized, and nurtured these little twigs until they grew into beautiful fruit laden trees. And now, in the middle of winter, when my world is cold, white, and dark by five, my grandfather sends boxes of sunshine. I can think of nothing else I would rather receive than a box of Meyer lemons. When cutting open the box, I bury my nose inside and the fragrance nearly causes me to pass out from delight. It’s Meyer lemon heaven.

If you aren’t so lucky as to have a grandfather who kindly shares his citrus, before my grandfather’s twigs became trees I would frequently order boxes of Meyer lemons from La Vigne Organics . They grow beautiful citrus and the assorted box of lemons, limes, and blood oranges, can be a wonderful cure for the mid-winter blues.

There are many things that I like to do with Meyer lemons. A box always inspires creativity because I can’t bear to let any of them go to waste yet they’ll last for just a few weeks in the fridge. A few of my favorite things include: sorbet, candied lemon peel, Meyer lemon martinis, creme fraiche ice cream with aforementioned lemon peel, or simply in a glass with vodka, tonic and a few ice cubes. I will share more Meyer lemon recipes over the next few weeks but I want to start by giving you the simple steps to make candied lemon peel and use the resulting syrup and candied peel to make killer Meyer lemon martinis. (I realize that some purists will take issue with calling anything without gin a martini. I’m not a purist – they miss all the fun!)

Candied Peel Left Out to Dry

All you need is Vodka!

Candied Meyer Lemon Peel

Ingredients:
2-4 Meyer Lemons
1 cup water
2 cups sugar, divided

Directions:
Carefully peel long strips of skin off of the lemons, doing your best to leave behind all white pith which is just under the skin. Slice peel into thin matchstick-width strips. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water and 1 cup of sugar, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved, and the mixture starts to bubble around the edges. Remove pan from heat. Drop lemon skin strips into the sugar syrup and cover tightly with a lid. Allow lemon to steep in sugar syrup for 20 minutes.

Spread remaining 1 cup sugar on a large plate. Fish lemon strips out of the sugar syrup with a fork and drop onto the plate a few at a time. Toss lemon strips in sugar until well coated, and then place on a flat surface (a cutting board works well). Repeat until all lemon strips are coated with sugar, adding more sugar to the plate if necessary. Reserve lemon infused sugar syrup for use in the Meyer Lemon Martinis (recipe below). Allow lemon strips to dry for at least an hour. Store candied lemon peel in a covered container in the fridge for up to two weeks. Lemon infused sugar syrup will keep in the fridge for up to one week.

Meyer Lemon Martini
Serves One
I’m sorry I don’t have a photo of this – it just didn’t last long enough!

Ingredients:
2 oz Vodka
1 oz Meyer lemon sugar syrup (reserved from candied lemon peel above)
1 strip candied lemon peel

Directions:
Place martini glass in the freezer to briefly chill while drink is mixed. Fill a martini shaker with ice. Add vodka and Meyer lemon syrup to shaker. Shake gently to mix. Strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with strip of candied lemon peel.