Pineapple glaze cake
Pineapple Doughnut Glaze Cake
This vanilla and glazed pineapple cake reminds me of school. I have three sisters and we all went to the same school, the local government school and it was pretty rough. I don’t recall Mother ever visiting the school, but had she done so, the first thing she may have noticed was that uniforms appeared to be optional…and there was nothing any of the teachers could do about it.
On arrival at school it was wise to make sure your uniform was short, your hair was loose and you didn’t have shiny black school shoes on. It seems I may have been more disobedient than the others because once off the bus or around the corner I would fold the middle of my dress over a tight piece of elastic shortening it. I had a pair of “desert boots” in a locker and I naturally undid my hair. I didn’t get bullied as much as my younger sisters. Bully’s are not new and our school had some very talented ones.
The biggest bully in the whole school was also perhaps the smallest at about 5 foot 2″. She lived in the local government housing estate, and had a lot of “friends”. She got whatever she wanted from anyone at anytime and was not afraid to literally tackle you herself. The sound of her voice hurling obscenities in your direction was terrifying enough, but when the orbs of her menacing little eyes pierced yours, shear terror rendered your legs into useless jelly stumps. Fortunately she didn’t attend school on a regular basis. But when she did, my younger sister was a great target. Mum, believed we would benefit from pride of uniform and deportment, but all she really made sure of was that we were all painted with a big white x that said “Please pick on me!”.
We left the house immaculately dressed in full school uniform. My poor sister didn’t have the temperament for deception and walked the school grounds with a Victorian era length skirt, shiny black school shoes, school logo-ed jumper and her hair in braids. At any time Denise, the bully, could have you pinned to a wall, or she maybe had a shoe, tossing it from one person to the next while you valiantly tried to intercept. She could even have thrown your square non bouncing globite school bag down the steps spilling it’s contents before all of her snickering “friends” Can you sense where this is going?
Cake with pineapple glaze
We were never given money for the canteen and so although my sister didn’t have the temperament to change her appearance she certainly was not going to miss out on a canteen treat just because she had no money. At recess the mission would begin and go on through lunch until her and her BFF, had asked everyone that would listen for a couple of cents for their collection. By then they would have enough small change to buy a pineapple doughnut between them. 
The two of them enjoyed the effort of this because they would get to talk to the boys and wander the school with a certain feeling of freedom. The highs could just as quickly turn into lows if the bully was at school. She could appear in front of them just as they were about to step up to the window at the canteen and take their money or if they had bought their pineapple doughnut she would simply snatch it from them. My sisters hated school. This cake is my recreation of her prized doughnut. Less greasy and far fluffier this cake will take you back to canteen days, if you are an Australian ( embarrassing). Hopefully the sight of it will not traumatise you, as it will my darling sister when she sees this post.
Pineapple cake with glaze
Pineapple Doughnut Glaze Cake
Ingredients
- 300 gm flour plain (2 cups)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 150 gm butter unsalted softened
- 150 gm caster sugar 3/4 cup
- 3 eggs x-large
- 125 ml pineapple juice
- 125 ml buttermilk if you have small eggs you may need a 1/4 cup more
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze
- 75 gm butter 3 tablespoons
- 180 gm pure icing sugar 1 1/2 cups
- 250 ml pineapple juice 1 cup
Instructions
- Oven 160 deg / 320F. Grease and flour a bundt tin
- Sift the flour, baking soda and powder together in a bowl and mix in the salt
- Beat the softened butter with the 150 gm sugar (3/4 cup) till light and fluffy add eggs 1 at at time. You will need to add a little of the flour mixture after the addition of the second egg. So stop the mixer and add a couple of tablespoons and mix before adding the last egg and beating.
- Add the rest of the flour and the liquids including the vanilla and mix . The mixture should be fluffy and not too thick. It should be easily spoonable.
- Spoon into the tin and bake approx 35 minutes.Or until the cake springs back when touched on the surface. Alternately use a skewer to test if it comes out of the cake clean.
- While it's baking, make the glaze by putting a small thick bottomed pot onto the stove. Add the butter the sugar and pineapple juice and melt. Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Eventually the mixture will combine then clear and then reduce till it is bubbling profusely. It will be thick enough to coat the outside of the cake.
- When the cake is turned put of the tin and it is hot, put it onto a rack with a tray underneath and start to spoon over the glaze. Use a pastry brush for best results to spread the glaze and cover every part of the cake that is visable. Cool. Serve with fruit or icecream
Loved the recipe and the story. Both equally. Thank you so much for sharing. I’m Australian living overseas in search of the mythical pineapple doughnut that doesn’t seem to exist where I live and came across your recipe. So glad I did. Very nostalgic. Looking forward to making one again soon. I thought the ingredients and method was spot on with no changes necessary.
Hi Julian. I love that you have written to me and that I could provide you with the taste of home. Aw those pineapple doughnuts eh… and nasty public school days. Thank you for your kind review. Take good care.
Hi, I can’t wait to try this recipe because my dad misses these donuts! I’m a little confused because it says pineapple and vanilla but there is no vanilla in the recipe. Thank you in advance.
Hi Bel I hope you didn’t wait all this time for me to answer! I was away. I called it a vanilla pineapple cake mostly because it is a white cake but I have amended the recipe and added vanilla anyway because i think it would be nice in there. hope you get to make it sometime
Tania
kids can be so mean, sometimes adults can be meaner. it’s a shame but luckily there are more good people than not. the cake looks incredible x
Kids can be so cruel! Bullies have ruled the playground since day one, but maybe we need to win them over with this pineapple donut inspired creation. Thanks for joining the hop!
It’s a beautiful vanilla cake and yes, I can imagine it being a little like those pineapple glazed donuts we used to see in the school’s canteen. (But this is far better of course). And what about that bully! I wonder what she’s doing now and isn’t it awful that all these years later we’re still recalling the victimisation! You do wonder how wonderful it would have been if she had just been expelled xx
Charlie its funny you ask because my sister bumped into her a few years ago at a party. She was talking about how she had bullied kids at school and that she shouldn’t have done it. My sister was too scared still to tell her off!. In fact she didn’t even want me to mention her name in case she saw it ( not even remotely likely because I am sure she never learnt to read anyway)still traumatized!
Kids can be so cruel right? I can totally empathise. I was bad at sports and because I yet to be diagnosed with my gluten intolerance I was also covered in unsightly scabs and sores from my eczema. My hands were always so cracked and dry so the school bullies used to called me Skeksi (like off the Dark Crystal). Makes me glad I found my own happiness in life because being evil only eventually hurt the person doing it.
What a delicious looking cake Tania, and I hope your sister can eat it trauma free! I was bullied a lot at school too, probably because we were always the ‘new kids’ with all our moving around. I didn’t care what I wore and certainly didn’t care what the bullies though about my fashion sense, so just wore the uniform anyway. One of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done was to shove the main bully out of my face one day and watch her go head over turkey in a complete sumersault- just awesome! I was certainly left alone for quite a while after that 🙂 xox
Bullies make me see red. I’m so glad you could make something delicious to remind you of the good moments in spite of that dreadful girl. 🙂
Bullies exist at all times in your life – school, work, clubs, anywhere people congregate. It is so much harder to deal with it when you are young and my heart goes out to your sister.
This cakes looks too good to bring back such bad memories.
We had a girl just like that at our school, thick as a brick, small, and mean to the core. I attended 3 different high schools and never came across anyone else quite like her (thankfully). She popped up on my Facebook feed last year, looking as class-less as ever. Some things never change.
As for canteen food, early on in primary school we had choc milk, sausage rolls, party pies and cheezies at play lunch and for lunch you could buy ice creams. By the time I hit high school though that was all gone. Salad sandwiches was about as appealing as it got. I attended high school for a year and a half in Scotland and they served pizza, chips, fried chicken, cakes etc. The difference was crazy!
Great storey. Great recipe. I love pineapple anything. Yummy
Oh your poor sister! I hope she gets to have a taste of this cake at least ;D
Ugh, your poor sister. I hope her bullying memories have been eased slightly by this gorgeous-looking cake.
Your poor sister! Hopefully your lightened up version of the donut will help her put the traumatic memory to rest 🙂
I do love pineapple and vanilla together! What traumatic memories for your sisters though! We didn’t have anything fun like this at our school. It had a healthy canteen which was so dull but I suppose good for you 🙁
My mouth hung open while reading this. I’m from a small town in a very small state and I knew everyone in school. I don’t recall even one bully. We were all supportive of each other and happy when one had a success. Maybe I was just blind but I recall when I was in year TEN and Juliette LaChance said shit for the first time. I know, wacky stuff. I didn’t know anyone who smoked and I don’t think that far back that drugs were invented yet. 🙂
I love pineapple upside down cake so I’m sure this would have equal yumminess and I must make it.