Torta de Piña - Pineapple Cake

This is one of the most typical chilean cakes. It's composed by a yellow soft cake, heavy whipped cream and pineapples as filling. It's really soft, light and moist. It goes perfect with a coffee!

So, if you feel like giving a try to a "chilean délicatesse" , this one is a perfect opportunity. Here we go!


Ingredients:


For the cake:

6 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup sifted all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. baking powder


Filling:
1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks
1/8 cup favorite white liquor (such as pisco, tequila, vodka, etc) **optional
1 quart heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powder sugar
Coconut flakes **optional


Directions:

1.- Grease a 9" spring form pan and set aside. In a medium bowl sift the dry ingredients all together. In a small sauce pan pour the sugar and wet it with a little bit of water (it should look like wet sand), cook it until it reaches the consistency of a soft ball (240ºF) and set aside. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and add the syrup. Continue beating until the meringue is cool. Add the egg yolks one at a time, making sure they are well incorporated after every addition. Finally, add the dry ingredients softly. Do not over beat.

2.- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake it at 325ºF for 30 minutes. The timing can vary depending on your oven, but make sure that when you insert a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let it cool completely and slice it in two parts, so you'll have 3 layers. To make sure your layers are even, you can use toothpick as a cutting guide as you move your knife through the center of the cake.


(This picture was taken from King Arthur Website)

3.- Preparing the heavy whipping cream. Beat the cream until is thick, if you lift the beaters of the mixer you'll see little picks on top of the cream. Add the powder sugar. Set it in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the cake.

4.- Open and strain the pineapple can. Reserve the juice and mix it with the liquor of your preference. Put the bottom layer of the cake on a cake stand and sprinkle it with the pineapple juice mixture until is very moist (not mushy). Add an abundant layer of heavy whipping cream and evenly distribute pineapple chunks on top of it, add a thin layer of cream again. To wet the second cake layer, put it on top of a plate and wet one side. Turn it upside down on top of the cake and wet the other side. Repeat the process of the cream, pineapple chunks and cream.



5.- Moist the last layer of the cake and assemble it on top of the rest of the cake. Cover completely with heavy whipping cream (a very thin layer, this is just to get rid of the crumbs). Refrigerate for 20 minutes.



6.- Once the first layer is set, add the final coat of heavy whipping cream and proceed to decorate with the rest of pineapple chunks.



** You can sprinkle some coconut flakes for a final decorating touch. Enjoy!