June 13, 2008

Pineapple praline gateau


Dont be scared reading the name, its just the good old sponge cake rolled up in jelly-roll fashion, filled with tinted pineapple flavoured whipped cream and chopped pineapple chunks, and frosted over with pineapple and plain whipped cream. Scattered over the top are some chunks of crushed praline. It is supposed to be praline, but I took it out a little early and so it did not get the deep brown color of caramel. I followed the basic jelly-roll cake recipe that I had posted sometime back. Instead of filling it with jelly/jam, I filled it with whipped cream, for a simple and less sweet dessert.

It was heavenly, eventhough a few things went wrong for me (nothing that would affect the taste, ofcourse). I actually rolled the cake in the afternoon and could only fill it in the evening (I had to buy pineapple because it was an impulse baking!). By that time the cake had set. So when I tried to fill it, it actually broke along one side, when I was forcing it open. So the filling is not uniform, since I couldnt get to inside a fold. Then the praline didnt turn out to be like I expected. But still, as I said before, it was delicious!! Just dont forget your ingredients and fill the cake after 40 minutes or so of intial cooling and you will have one of the most tasty creations in your hands ! Have a great weekend and enjoy!!


Recipe (Makes a single roll):

Praline (my way!)

Almonds - 2 tbsp, toasted
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 oz

Add the sugar to the water and bring to boil, in a saucepan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and then it will start to become frothy. Stir until the sugar caramelizes and attains a golden brown color. Stir in the almonds and take it off the heat. Quickly spread the mixture onto a sheet of aluminium foil and allow to cool/harden. When cool, crush the praline using a rolling pin or in a food processor for finer grind.

Pineapple gateau:

Sponge cake - 1 recipe
Whipping cream - scant 1 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Pineapple essence - 1 tsp
Yellow food color - a drop (optional)
Chopped pineapple - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
Cool whip/ whipped cream - as needed

Method:

Mix and bake the sponge cake as per the instructions.

Cool the cake rolled up in a kitchen towel, for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the whipping cream, sugar, pineapple essence and food color until stiff peaks form.

After the intial cooling, open up the cake roll.

Spread the whipped cream on the inside of the roll, reserving some for the outside.

Sprinkle the chopped pineapple on top of the cream layer.

Roll the cake back up.

Frost the top and sides of the roll with reserved whipped cream and/or cool whip.

Sprinkle the crushed praline on top.

Cut into slices and enjoy!!


Tips:

  1. Fill the sponge cake roll after 40 minutes or so of cooling.
  2. I used canned pineapple, chopped the rings into bits and sprinkled it over the whipped cream to fill the cake.
  3. Tinting the whipping cream is only for eye-candy! No additional flavor is imparted. You can do without it too!
  4. As you can see, since the cake broke at a curve, I couldn't fill it uniformly. The filling should be spread uniformly and tightly rolled.
  5. Keep the gateau refrigerated since it contains whipped cream.

29 comments:

FH said...

Looks perfect JZ, like a Yule log. Good job. I like to snatch that Cherry!:)
Have a wonderful weekend.

Finla said...

WOw they looks beautiful. I can imagine eating them.
With the pineapple it has to tast delicious

Sherin said...

Wo.. this looks awesome, yummyyy!!!!.. Its like u have magical powers when it comes to cooking... I should come to US now, just to eat what u cook!!

Chef Jeena said...

I love sponge rolls they are so tasty. This looks and sounds so delicious, I love the garnish . :-)

Cham said...

Beautiful log, i love the pineapple flavor, lovely presentation!

Rachel said...

Remins me of my yule log that I did fro the Db's..

They look delicious

Divya said...

wow what a lovely presentation ..looks delicious

Suganya said...

WOW.... This is a very perfect cake. Looks so cute. Nice presentation. YUMMY recipe. Have to try is for sure. Enjoy the cake...

ranji said...

perfect JZ....u r really good at this:)..i would really love to have a bit of this..u have done a great job cooking and decorating it and ur hubby makes us all drool with his fantastic photography:)..i feel so tempted to pick up that cherry and gobble it up:)

Mansi said...

I don't see any "broken or cracked edges" J! looks great, in fact, I could eat up the whole log!!

btw, refrigerating it along with the cloth you rolled it in helps for easier spreading of fillign and rolling at the later stage:) I learnt it the hard way too after making my Raspberry jelly Swiss roll:)!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful one JZ ... looks yumm and perfect ... i dint see a crack in the pics either ...
can I have some of it ... or may be the whole log! :D ...

Uma said...

that looks delicious. beautiful presentation too.

Shubha Ravikoti said...

yumm yumm yum....yummm yummm yumm yumm yummmmmm... how can u do this to me... u keep tempting me and u know my waitline here is just increasing day by day...:(

hehhe just kidding... another amazing dessert recipe.. from the dessert queen...:) loved it...:P

Check my blog have something for u dear....:)yumm yumm yummmy !

Unknown said...

Looks divine and great presentation.

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Asha! will give u more cherries when u come over!

Thanks happycook, it certainly was delicious, and it tasted light too!

Thanks Sherin, you can come over anytime, I will be more than happy to bake something for you!!

Thanks Jeena and Cham!

The yule log look comes from the fork marks, right Rachel?

Thanks Divya and Sukanya! It was delicious. Try this one out, its such a quick and satisfying dessert!

Thanks Ranji, come over, I will bake one for you!

Mansi, if u look closer, u can see a break on the top right portion! But who cares about cracks!! :-)

Hey Skribles, have the whole log! :-)

Thanks Uma and pearlsofeast!!

Hi Shubha, my waistline is already much more than desired, so I decided that its time to pass around some calories girl! ;-)

Anjali Koli said...

Beautiful n Bookmarked it.

Unknown said...

simply superb...good job!!!!

Srivalli said...

OMG..JZ..that looks so sinfully delicious!...am sure that will increase my waistline like anything..but I would love to dig in...:)))...

Sig said...

You are indeed a dessert pro JZ... :) I love your plating...

bha said...

this looks so yum JZ......the pics look directly out of a food mag....better than that I must say :)

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Anjali ans Sowmya!

Hey Srivalli, come on over, lets dig in together :-)

Thanks Sig, I love the food plating more than cooking, i think!! ;-)

Bhags, thank u for ur lovely words!! I know I am not that good, but still try to bring variety in presenting the food!

Anonymous said...

Its nto just the name, the cake itself looks so fancy. Must be delicious :)

ST said...

The cake looking very yummy. I will try it soon.
By the way, there is something for you in my blog.

Ivy said...

Hi JZ, I am sure I left you a message yesterday as well. Must have made something wrong though. Your pineapple praline gateau looks great and love the taste of pineapple.

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks a lot Simran, Sireesha and Ivy!! Sireesha, thanks a lot for thinking about me! :-)

Archana Doshi said...

Looks picture perfect. Wish I live closer to your place when you made this. Pralines is something I love in almost all my treats :). BTW, I am hosting a ONE DISH MEAL EVENT, I would love for you to participate. The details are at my site.

Swati Raman Garg said...

tooooooooooooooooooooo goood... u know it so well to temp people haan ... and i think of dieting i urgently need some pineapple cake to end this urge...another amazing dessert from our dessert queen .... too good... u rock buddy ...

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks archana, you are always welcome to visit me!! And yeah, abt the event, I will check it out!!

Thanks Swati, welcome back! :-)

Sonia said...

Awesome....!!!
I must have to try this. Thanks for sharing us JZ...! U always come with fantastic recipe each time.
Sonu:)