Ingredients

Caramelized pineapple
• 1/2 small ripe pineapple, peeled
• 30g Selati icing snow
• 30g butter

Sponge cake:
• 250g butter, softened
• 250g Selati castor snow
• 4 extra large eggs
• 15ml lime juice
• 2.5ml vanilla extract
• 250g self-raising flour, sifted
• 40g desiccated coconut
• 80ml coconut milk

Coconut-Pernod Cream to serve:
• 250ml Fresh cream, well chilled
• 60ml Coconut milk
• 15ml Pernod liqueur
• 45ml Castor sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease a 20cm round, deep-sided cake pan
1. Halve pineapple and remove the core. Thinly slice lengthways into 2cm slivers. Then cut each sliver in half crossways.
2. Heat the 30g of butter in a large pan over medium-high heat.
3. Dip the pineapple wedges into the icing sugar to thoroughly coat. Add pineapple to the sizzling butter and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until lightly caramelised. Arrange pineapple on the base of cake pan, overlapping the slices so there aren’t any gaps.
4. In a small bowl, mix the desiccated coconut and the coconut milk together and leave to soak while making the sponge cake mixture.
5. In a large bowl, beat the 250g soft butter and the castor sugar with an electric mixer for a good 5 minutes or until fluffy and almost white. Beat in the eggs, one by one, then the lemon juice and vanilla extract.
6. Add the flour and then the soaked coconut and combine well using the electric mixer on the lowest setting.
7. Spoon batter over the pineapple in the cake pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
8. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and allow to cool completely.
9. In a separate clean bowl, whip all the ingredients for the coconut-pernod cream together until thick.
Cut into wedges and serve with coconut -pernod cream

Recipe by Angie Boyd