Last week I promised you the Pina Colada cake and here it is. I designed this cake for a class I taught and if any of my students are reading this, I have changed the Coconut Sauce for an easier, tastier sauce.
After cleaning and cutting a fresh pineapple, I thought it might be easier if you bought a whole pineapple already cleaned and cored. Sometimes it's possible to take "from scratch" too far! In any case make sure the pineapple is ripe for maximum flavor.
The coconut sauce for this Pina Colada Cake is a breeze to make and tastes just like a pina colada, a favorite drink in my youth. It's also great for ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Many components of this cake can be done ahead of time. The rum syrup, the coconut sauce and the toasted coconut can be made days ahead. The pineapple can be prepared up to the point where it is glazed.
For the optimum Pina Colada Cake, make the cake and finish it the day it is served.
Yellow Velvet Butter Cake - the story and how-to photos are here.
2 cups cake flour (250 grams or 9 ounces)
1 ½ teaspoons double acting baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cups butter (170 grams or 6 ounces or 1 ½ sticks)
1 ⅓ cup sugar (270 grams sugar or 9 ½ ounces)
3 eggs
¾ cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x2 or 9x3 inch round cake pan with parchment, spraying the center only.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition with a rubber spatula, to keep mixture smooth. On the lowest speed, alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two additions, scraping the bowl smooth after each addition. Turn the batter into prepared pan. Level top.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Batter yields approximately 990 grams or 34 ¾ ounces.
Cool the cake for 10 minutes and turn the cake out; leave it upside down. With a toothpick, poke holes in the cake. Immediately apply the warm rum soaking syrup (below), using all of it. Set aside.
Rum Soaking Syrup
½ cup water
½ cup sugar (100 grams or 3 ½ ounces)
¼ cup dark rum
Place the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. 
Remove from the heat and add the rum.
Caramelized Pineapple
1 fresh, ripe pineapple or a ripe cleaned pineapple from the grocery
6 tablespoons butter, divided (90 grams or 3 ounces)
4 tablespoons brown sugar, divided (50 grams 1 ¾ ounces)
If using a whole fresh pineapple, cut the top and bottom off the pineapple. 
Remove the rind. 
Cut the pineapple in alf from to top to bottom. Slice ½ inch thick.
. Remove the core with a round cookie cutter. Set aside.
I trim the outer edge of the pineapple with a larger plain cookie cutter to make the slice more attractive. However this is optional.
Place 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a large skillet. 
Bring to a hard boil.
Place half the pineapple rounds in the pan and saute on one side, 
then the other until the syrup is reduced to a thick syrup and coats the pineapple. 
Remove the slices from the pan and repeat with the second set of ingredients. Cool the slices slightly.
Coconut Sauce
1 cup cream of coconut (not coconut milk)
¼ cup pineapple juice
1 teaspoon dark rum
Stir all together. Serve over the cake. Refrigerate for storage.
Yield: 1 ¼ cups
Toasted Coconut
Place sweetened coconut on a baking sheet. Place in a preheated 350°F oven and toast for 7 or 8 minutes. Stir and place back in the oven until evenly browned. Be careful towards the end as it can go from a medium brown to burned in a minute or two. This can be done ahead.
Assembly
Cake
Caramelized Pineapple
Coconut Sauce
Toasted Coconut
Place the soaked cake on a cake round or a serving dish. Arrange eight half slices the pineapple slices on the cake in a circle.
Cut the Pina Colada Cake into the desired number of slices and serve with the coconut sauce. Garnish with the toasted coconut
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Manisha says
I meant when I was in my 20s. Sorry for the typo.
hfletcher says
Hi Manisha: I knew what you meant - I too loved, loved pina coladas when I was much, much younger. Single acting baking powder starts producing carbon dioxide gas bubbles as soon as liquid hits it. If you wait too long to get your product in the oven when using single acting baking powder, the bubbles will start to deflate and the product will not rise properly.
Double acting baking powder reacts twice. First, some action comes from liquid but most of it is released when heat is applies. This makes for a much more fool proof baking powder. There are recipes for making your own baking powder but that would be single which is not as stable.
Here it is very difficult to find single baking powder. Almost everything sold is double acting which makes a great deal of sense and it what we used at the bakery.
I don't know if there is a substitute or not. If you can't find it in India, look on the internet. I'm sure you can find it there.
Hope this helps.
Manisha says
Hi Helen
I tasted my first pina colada drink in mid 20s and I remember that I couldn't catch the name of it. But wanted to have it again so I would go to the pubs of dry norther part of our country asking for it when malts ruled the roost.
Would like to know what is double acting baking powder?? Also is there a substitute for the same?
Love