Pineapple Orange Ginger Cake
Featured in Gourmet Live Weekly Round Up: A Burst of Citrus
Those of you who have known me in the virtual or real world, must already be aware of my obsessions with orange and ginger. I really love them, each of them by themselves and and often paired together.
Well, I woke up one weekend morning, with a fully brewed plan to bake a chocolate cake. We were having a few friends over, and we were going to have a quick lunch together with pizza and pasta and a simple cake for dessert. But while I sat with my morning cuppa looking through my favorite blogs, I landed on Joumana’s space. She had posted a Fresh Pineapple Cake and the mere sound of that got my brain re wired; the idea of the chocolate cake faded quite quickly. I had the pineapple, and I also had oranges and ginger, and they were quickly combined in my heart.
I will get to the recipe quickly. Just to let you know that my mind is in a different place and actually all over the place these days. The day to go to India is drawing near; yes we will be going after a long time. The excitement and the slight anxious feeling that there is too much to be done before we leave, is leaving me jittery and absent minded. I am taking comfort in thinking a few months ahead when I will be home and will be “comfort food heaven”.
Okay, back to the cake now. It was really good – not really a pretty one to look at, but refreshing with the right balance of taste and flavors. Each bite got even better a day or two later. The tri some, awesome flavors, combined, merged and infused.
And we especially loved the zing and the warmth that the ginger added here.
It was an easy cake to bake, and I feel a light citrusy icing would have worked really well with this. I did not ice the cake as my little one refuses to touch a cake with icing or frosting on it. I have however given the recipe for a zesty icing to be used with the cake if you would want to. I dusted our cake with sugar and had some fine chopped candied ginger on the top.
Pineapple Orange Ginger Cake
Recipe inspiration: Fresh Pineapple Cake from the Taste of Beirut.
Ingredients: (serving: makes one 9″ diameter cake)
- 3 cups fresh pineapple, diced
- 1 large orange, peeled and segmented
- 2 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup sugar + 3 tablespoon
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour + 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
For Icing:
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon confectioners sugar
- 2.5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon lime zest
Or
confectioners’ sugar and candied ginger for garnish
Preparation:Combine diced pineapple, oranges and grated ginger in a non reactive pan; add 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoon sugar with 2 cups of water and simmer the fruits for about 12-15 minutes, until the fruits are tender.
Cool and drain the fruits, save the liquid. Process the fruits coarsely in a processor.
Combine sifted flour, salt, baking powder. Rub in the orange zest into the flour with your fingertips. Set aside.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the sugar and beat for another 5-8 minutes.
Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture, gradually at first, until the flour mixture combines into the egg mixture; add the melted butter slowly until the butter is incorporated.
Add the processed fruits to the cake batter, folding gently to mix throughout. Line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and grease the pan and the paper.
Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 30 minutes or until the cake is golden and puffed up or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and prick the cake all over with the toothpick; pour the reserved syrup on the cake; let the cake absorb the syrup and cool for at least 30 minutes.
To make the icing, whisk together the confectioners sugar, zest and lime juice. Place the cake on a wire rack set on a tray. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and let it set for about 20-30 minutes.
Or
Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on the cake and sprinkle finely chopped candied ginger if you wish.
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This looks sunny and so perfect. Love your flavors!
I have an obsession with pineapples, so this looks so appealing to me as well. xoxo
Wow the crumbs , texture is absolutely amazing soma.. i am seriously craving for a slice.. cos i love ginger flavor and this is my kinda cake too.. absolutely yumm and nothing to say abt ur pictures everything is out of the world… simple but classy.
A lovely flavor combination! so delicious sounding and looking.
cheers,
Rosa
I am sure I will love this cake. Arvind is more of a chocolate cake fan (only white chocolate) and I like cakes with fruit flavor. This one sounds excellent ! I will surely try this 🙂
I love love cakes with fruit flavors…natural…and ur pics…very very inviting..feel like grabbing one right away
what a lovely idea to add ginger!
Wow, , its looking gr8.. soft & moist 🙂
that looks incredibly moist. i am not a pineapple fan but the thought of ginger and orange sounds like bliss
This is what I was waiting to see for a while after your FB status, Soma. Love that you used fresh ginger in the cake. It looks just perfect and must have been really very flavorful too!
That cake screams spring, freshness and yum! Good job Soma. I’ve only ever had a ginger cake once but the flavour just didn’t come through. This looks great though! I’m sure you must eb very excited to be visiting India 🙂
Oh my, this truly looks and sounds awesome..I love the idea of using ginger in it..
cake looks gorgeous,..-)
Oh yum! I love the flavors Soma – all my fav things in one cake. I love this kind of home made cakes. They are warming and satisfying
Soma, looking at this cake I’m just thinking why didn’t I checked your blog 15 minutes earlier….b’coz 15 minutes earlier I had a fresh pineapple but I used it for making juice drank it & came to check this…..will def. try this…..
I love the idea of adding some orange and the zing of ginger to the pineapple flavor! You are making me want to make this cake again except with your version instead! Photos always superb! 🙂
The cake is looking Awqesome Soma ! I can just imagine the three flavors are deadly combo in any dessert and especially cakes, it work wonders. Saving this recipe of urs to try out my luck shortly….cheers!
Wow! The flavours are amazing. Love how you put them in a cake.
That is such a gorgeous colour and it looks incredibly moist and delicious!
Looks like an absolutely delicious cake Soma. Very reminiscent of summer.
By the way, I love your cake server, so beautiful.
I understand your obsession completely – and share the same dedication to ginger (if fact I’d rather have ginger than chocolate!). Lovely cake – so pretty.
Love the flavors here, Soma! If only I could stop by and grab a piece ;p.
I love the ginger in baking, pineapple and orange definitely will over beat the chocolate idea. Like the piece of cake!
I love ginger myself. And your cake looks perfectly delicious – beautiful crumb, and perfect round shape. It looks delicious – the photos are great.
very nice cake and lovely pics. pineapple and ginger go so well together. i think i might make this cake next week, as my inlaws are coming back from dubai and like these sorts of cakes with only icing and without frosting. 🙂
Hi,
I love orange and ginger too…just like you…seperately as well as together! Lovely cake and such a perfect shape ..perfect texture, perfect colur and sometimes its great to enjoy a cake without masking it with the icing….Lovely…Incidentally I am going to India too…after 3 years! so i am super excited. Have a wonderful vacation!
Shobha
Soma you must be very excited that you are going back to your country. Hope you have a wonderful time. I love all the ingredients in your cake but have never combined orange, ginger and pineapple together. I will certainly try this cake.
I love the combination too! The cake looks gorgeous! So moist!
This is the perfect cake for Spring…the colors are so bright and cheery. Love it Soma!
I am so excited for you and your upcoming trip…I’m sure that you are counting down the days!! Lucky you. 🙂
I love simple and fresh cake, this is SO very special and i’m for sure going to try your taste and flavour! 🙂
Love the combos!
You know what, this is making me grab the platter, I do bake a lot of Orange Cakes, as my daughter loves citrus flavour, Now this is combination of my daughter and me!, because I love Pineapple!, both of us will be loving this one, Absolutely gorgeous, thanks for sharing this recipe, and with ginger must be tasting great!, As always wonderful clicks
Lovely! This looks really delicious. 🙂
oh my this sounds and looks delicious 😛 i’ll have to add this to my ‘To Do’ list that i’ll hopefully one day (hopefully being the operative word) be able to complete! so glad i found your blog!
Hi! I was thinking of making this cake for my husband’s birthday. His request is that the cake be very moist and have pineapple in it. It’s the moist part I am worried about. How moist was it when you baked it? Also can you think of any other icing that could be used with this cake? I wanted to make a creamier icing. But this cake being already heavy in fruity flavor I can’t think of a good creamy icing that would complement it.
btw, you have divine photos on your blog. Can’t wait to find out if the taste matches the visual gorgeousness. 🙂
Thanks.
I just love all of your desserts on this blog. ALL OF THEM!
This is one of those amazing combinations that I read and think, “why haven’t I thought of this before?!” Pineapple is my all time favorite food, add in ginger and orange, and it sounds unbeatable! Thanks for the great recipe idea. We just launched the all new seasonalpotluck.com and February is oranges month. If you’d like to link up your recipe, we’d love to have you! http://bit.ly/zDoNfx
I came by for the blueberry gelatto recipe. Now I’m making this cake to go with it. I can’t wait for the flavor explosion! This is a new favorite website.
This is one of my favorite cakes. It’s moist and light yet so satisfying. Definitely cool and refreshing for the summer.