Pineapple Cakes

Prep Pineapple

1. First, make sure your pineapple is ripe 😬.

2. Cut off most of the leaves, but leave a small stub that will make it easy to hold the pineapple.

   

3. Hold the pineapple upright by the stub, and slice off the skin, piece by piece. (The photo just shows what it looks like after slicing off 1 piece).

   

4. Slice off the bottom as well.

5. Use your knife to carefully cut out the small black seeds.

   

6. Once the pineapple has all of its skin and seeds removed, lay the pineapple on its side, and cut into thin 1/2 inch - 1 inch slices.

   

7. Cut each slice into 5 pieces, around the core, and throw out (or compost!) the core pieces.

   

8. Mince each slice by cutting each slice into thin shreds, and then mincing the shreds, or to save time simply use a blender to mince the pieces.

   

   

9. Also, to make your life easier later, take the butter out of the refrigerater at this point to soften it.

Cook Pineapple

1. Heat a pan over high heat.

2. Add pineapple and 6.5 tbsp (80 g) sugar.

3. Stir the pineapple every 5-6 minutes until there are no more juices coming out of the pineapple and it's rather sticky.

4. Pour honey into the pan.

5. Turn the heat to medium.

6. Stir well for ~10 minutes until pretty sticky. You can honestly keep stirring for as long as you want to get a stickier and stickier texture - just be careful not to burn the pineapple.

7. Transfer the pineapple filling into a bowl, and refrigerate for an hour at least. If you want, you can pause here and make the dough + cakes the next day.

   

Make Dough

1. Make sure the butter is softened, and cream using a stand mixer or a mixing spoon + your upper arm strength.

2. Once the butter is smooth and creamy, add in ~1.5 tbsp (20 g) of sugar, and mix well.

3. Once sugar is completely mixed in, add in 1/2 a beaten egg (about 25 g) and mix well.

4. Once completely mixed, sift flour and milk powder in. If you don't have milk powder, just replace 1:1 with flour (the milk powder just gives the pastry a nicer crust).

5. Add in a pinch of salt and use a mixing spoon or stand mixer to mix completely. Stop as soon as the dough is well combined, and don't overmix.

   

6. The dough is sticky. Use a spatula to remove it onto cling wrap from the bowl, wrap and place the dough in the refrigerator for one hour at least.

   

Make Cakes

1. Once the pineapple filling is completely cooled, we can start making our cakes!

2. Prep a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and preheat oven to 340°F.

3. Remove the pineapple filling and use a spoon to divide into 16 balls of a little more than 1/2 a tbsp. You might have filling left over or you might have slightly smaller filling balls (depends on the size of your pineapple) - that's okay!

   

4. Place the fillings back in the refrigerator.

5. Remove the dough from the regrigerator - if it's still sticky, wait another 15 minutes.

6. Sprinkle flour over a cutting board and place the dough on the cutting board.

7. Use your hand to roll the dough into a cylinder shape.

8. Cut in half and put one half back in the refrigerator.

   

9. Roll the other half into a thin cylinder.

   

10. Cut into 8 equal pieces (cut in half first, then cut each half into quarters, and each quarter into eighths).

    

11. Take one piece and roll it into a ball.

    

12. Use your thumb to flatten the ball out into a small circle. Make it as flat as possible without any part of it ripping.

    

13. Place a pineapple ball in the middle of the dough.

    

14. Hold in your hand and bring the sides of the dough up carefully. Pinch at the top and roll in your hands to smooth out.

15. Flatten the ball slightly into a small, cake shape, and place on the cookie sheet.

    

16. (optional) You can also use mooncake molds to shape the cakes!

    

17. Repeat steps 11-16 with the other 7 pieces.

18. Repeat steps 9-17 with the other half of the dough.

19. Place the cakes in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.

20. After 8-10 minutes, move the baking sheet out and flip the cakes over carefully with two spatulas.

21. After flipping, bake for another 5-8 minutes until both sides are golden.

22. Let cool, then serve with green or oolong tea.