Flourless Pineapple and Coconut Cake

Ingredients

80 g cold Mirror Glaze - you will need to purchase Adriano Zumbo's book for his basics recipe.
500 g white chocolate, coloured yellow, tempered - you will need to purchase Adriano Zumbo's book for his basics recipe.
Dried coconut curls, to decorate

Pineapple Cake:

290 g eggs
315 g caster (superfine) sugar
395 g Pineapple Purée - you will need to purchase Adriano Zumbo's book for his basics recipe.
155 g fine desiccated coconut
155 g almond meal
24 g cornflour (cornstarch)
15 g baking powder

Coconut Ganache:

20 g pure cream (35% fat)
105 g coconut cream
100 g coconut milk
15 g liquid glucose
410 g velvet white couverture chocolate
35 g coconut milk powder
5 g lemon juice
25 g Malibu® Caribbean rum with coconut liqueur

Fresh Pineapple with Lime:

500 g fresh pineapple, cut into 1 cm dice
juice of 1 lime
zest of 2 limes, finely grated

Method

Pineapple Cake:

Preheat the oven to 165°C.

Put the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk until pale. Fold through the pineapple purée, then fold through all the dry ingredients. Put the batter in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Spray two 8 x 20 cm loaf (bar) tins with canola spray and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Divide the pineapple cake mixture between the two tins and give them a slight tap on the bench.

Stand them on a baking tray, then cover them with a second baking tray. Bake for 40–50 minutes. The cakes are cooked when a metal skewer comes out clean or a thermometer reads 93°C.

Coconut Ganache:

Put the cream, coconut cream, coconut milk and glucose into a saucepan and heat to 60°C.

Put the white chocolate into a food processor and process until roughly chopped. Pour the warm cream mixture into the food processor and process on medium speed until smooth.

Add the coconut milk powder, lemon juice and rum and blend for a further 15 seconds.

Transfer the ganache to a container or bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool and set at room temperature (in an air-conditioned room). If the room temperature is over 25°C, put the bowl in the refrigerator; however, cooling at room temperature is better.

Fresh Pineapple with Lime:


Put the ingredients into a bowl, mix well and store in the refrigerator. After 30 minutes of soaking, drain off all the liquid, then return to the refrigerator until needed.

Assembly:

Line a baking tray with plastic wrap and stand a wire rack on it. Put the cakes onto the wire rack over the baking tray. Heat the clear mirror gel to 28–34°C and pour it over the cakes.

Using a palette knife, make one swipe across the top to smooth off any excess gel.

Slide a palette knife underneath the cake and move it slightly to clean any dripping gel off the bottom of the cake, then place the cake on a serving plate or cake board.

Spread the tempered yellow chocolate on two 20 x 30 cm guitar sheets, to a thickness of 3 mm. Leave to set slightly.

Once the chocolate is touch dry, use a ruler and a scalpel to cut out two 9 x 21 cm rectangles, then inside each rectangle cut out another rectangle, leaving a 2 cm border all around. Lay a sheet of baking paper on top, flip the chocolate-covered guitar sheets over and place a baking tray on top as a weight to keep the chocolate flat. Leave it for at least 4 hours for the chocolate to crystallise.

Meanwhile, cut small discs and straws of the leftover chocolate to use as decorations.

Remove the chocolate from the guitar sheets and place a rectangle with the shiny side up on top of each cake, so it creates a chocolate border around the top of the cake.
Spoon the pineapple compote inside the chocolate border on top of the cake, then decorate with small peaks of coconut ganache, curls of dried coconut and the chocolate discs and straws.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

Equipment

Guitar Sheets - a flexible sheet of acetate designed for use with a guitar slicer, a type of multistringed guillotine frame used for cutting through confectionery.

Credits: Recipe and images from The Zumbo Files by Adriano Zumbo (Murdoch Books) $49.99 available now in all good bookstores and online.

Photo Credits: Recipe and images from The Zumbo Files by Adriano Zumbo (Murdoch Books) $49.99 available now in all good bookstores and online.