Pineapple cake

This cake was inspired by the Indian style pineapple pastries. It came pretty close to that and I was very happy with the outcome. It was light and yummy. I made this for my sister's birthday. I would have liked to use a proper sponge cake recipe for the cake layers but could not find a good reliable one and since I have never tried it before, I decided not to take a chance with a birthday cake. But I will try it some other time. I was also inspired by a video on youtube and even used the combing technique that he recommends. For the basic cake layers I doubled the recipe here and skipped the nuts in it to bake two 8 inch round cakes. If you have pineapple essence, add 1 tsp for each layer of the cake batter. I did not have it and had to skip and it didn't make much difference. This recipe is relatively easy and hassle free.

Ingredients:

1. Canned pineapple - 1 can
2. Whipped cream- 4 cups
3. Powdered sugar - 2 tsps
4. Sugar syrup - 1 cup (not very thick)
5. Maraschino cherries - 7/8 to decorate

Directions:

1. Drain the pineapples and save some for topping and chop the rest into fine pieces. Save the drained liquid and mix it with the sugar syrup.
2. Place one layer of cake on the cake stand. Slice it into half across if the layer is too thick. Sprinkle the cake with the syrup and pineapple preservative liquid mixture until it is moist. It takes about 3-4 tbsps.
3. Drop a blob of the whipped cream in the middle and spread evenly with a spatula or butter knife.
4. Layer with the crushed pineapples and place the next layer of cake on top. Conitnue this till the topmost layer and for that skip the crushed pineapple.
5. Spread the whipped cream evenly on the top and sides of the cake. Now take a small piece of cardboard and cut one side like the teeth of a comb and used that to finish the sides. Use something smoother to finish the top.
6. Take the remaining whipped cream in a ziploc bag and cut a piece in the corner to use as an icing bag. Or if you have a proper icicing bag, go with that. Decorate with the pineapple chunks and cherries as desired.
   

I would recommend making this cake a day in advance so that all the goodness soaks in to make it taste even better:).

Directions for whipped cream: Take 2 cups of heavy whipping cream in a mixer bowl and to it add 2 tsps of powdered sugar (more if you want it sweeter). Gradually increase whipping speed from 2 to 8 and stop when stiff peaks start forming. A little before that add 1 tsp of vanilla essence. Its as simple as that!!