Pineapple Mess Cake with Chili

 It wasn't supposed to be a mess, it was supposed to be a masterpiece, the most wonderful "Pineapple Upside Down Cake" ever made. 

I picked up a magazine/book called "Delicious Baking" from the supermarket newsstand purely because of the Pineapple Upside Down cake on the front cover. My mother used to make it for us back in the 80s and I immediately felt the urge to cook it.

This recipe has a slight twist, because it's actually Pineapple and Chili Upside Down Cake. Hmmm, I did wonder if I wanted to risk this or stick to a more traditional recipe. "Adding chili to a cake might seems strange, but it really complements the sweet pineapple in this gorgeous desert." OK, I'll try it.

Unfortunately, despite cooking for the correct amount of time, when I turned it out of the cake tin the inside was still uncooked, and it broke apart, spilling sloppy cake mix everywhere, dripping through the cake rack and all over onto my gas hob. This has never happened to me before. I had even I used the tried and tested "stick a skewer in and if it comes out clean, it's cooked" trick.

After I has stopped shrieking and cursing, I carefully scooped the whole lot up with two spatulas and placed the broken, half cooked mess of a cake onto a baking tray and stuck it back in the over for another 10 minutes.

All was not lost - once cooked through it was more than edible. Although it didn't look good and I don't have any lovely, tempting photos, please take me word for it, it tasted wonderful! And yes, they were right - the chili works brilliantly with the pineapple.