Pineapple Layer Cake with Strawberry Gloss

Here comes the sun ... (George Harrison)

I love old fashioned recipes, so I was delighted when someone recently posted a 1950s Golden Circle cookbook in the Old Shops Facebook group. For the uninitiated, Golden Circle operates a cannery in Northgate, Queensland, and canned pineapple is its flagship product.

I was intrigued by the recipe for Pineapple Layer Cake with Strawberry Gloss. This recipe involved the use of canned strawberries, which I have never seen. However, I made my own strawberry filling from fresh strawberries using this recipe.

This cake comprises 2 layers of vanilla cake which contains canned pineapple.  The layers are filled with strawberry filling, extra filling is piled in the centre of the cake, and the cake is iced with a pink tinted icing flavoured with pineapple juice.

The end result is a very sweet but delicious and unusual cake:

 

If  you would like to step back in time and make this cake.you will need:

1/2 cup canned pineapple pieces, drained (reserve juice)

4 ounces butter

2/3 cup sugar 

2 eggs

2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1 batch strawberry filling from the recipe linked above

Icing

1 tablespoon butter

Icing sugar

2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice from the canned pineapple

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line 2 x 8” round sandwich cake tins.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add in the pineapple and salt. Alternately beat in the flour and milk in three batches, starting and ending with flour.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake tins, and bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to sit in their tins for 5 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, cream the butter in a medium mixing bowl.  Add 2 tablespoons of sifted  icing sugar and the pineapple juice and mix well. Sift in just enough icing sugar to make a smooth, spreadable icing when combined with the other ingredients.  Add a couple of drops of rose pink colouring to tint the icing pink. 

To assemble the cake, put one of the cake layers on a cake plate or board. Pipe a thin strip of icing around the perimeter of the cake. Spread half the strawberry filling onto the top of the cake, being careful not to breach the icing perimeter, then place the other cake on top.

Spread the remaining strawberry filling over the centre of the top cake, leaving a border of 2cm between the filling and the edge of the cake. Cover the rest of the top of the cake and the sides with icing. (I had to make more icing to have enough.)

Once the icing sets, slice and serve the cake.