I accidentally starved my family last night and I’d like to make amends.
I’m counting on my friend Trina’s Pineapple Cake to do the trick. The trouble started with a Walton’s Marathon from which I simply could not disengage. I mean, really! All those adorable, earnest red-haired siblings? A pair of moon-shining spinsters? The grandparents! The Godseys! The garden! The goldenrod! … but I digress, which was exactly the problem last night.
There I was all caught up in Grandma’s recovery from a stroke, when in walked my own family. I looked up from my perch on the family room couch, somewhat redeemed by the folded piles of clean laundry surrounding me, and said, “Oh! Hey! We’re having pot stickers and spinach salad for dinner.”
See there, I had given the meal some thought. Later, though, I looked down at my plate with its measly portion of spinach and mushrooms and it’s handful of, well, there’s no other word for it, burnt pot stickers and I said, “Geez, this isn’t very much to eat, is it?”
“It’s good,” they said just before Molly sneaked off to the kitchen to make herself a bowl of cereal and Vince “ran an errand,” which took him directly to the local popcorn stand.
Olivia Walton would have been mortified (as would either of my giant-meal-serving grandmas).
I’m saying mea culpa with a cake, courtesy of a dear friend. Among her many skills, Trina was an excellent baker. When she served this pineapple cake and said it was healthy, I thought she was joking. (She did that a lot, too).
As proof, she sent me the recipe and I’ve been making it ever since. For company, I add a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. For me, though, I just sprinkle it with a little powered sugar. There’s no fat at all in the cake and the recipe is really easy to remember if you just think of the number 2, which, just as I write that, doesn’t sound right, but it’s a memorable tip.
Here you go:
Trina’s Pineapple Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
Powdered Sugar
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.
Mix all of these ingredients until thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan. (Be really careful to grease and flour well as there’s no fat in this cake. I use a baking spray and just make sure the corners are covered).
Bake 45 minutes until the top bounces back when you touch it.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool and serve. This cake also would be good with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.
