Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Did you know that the first pineapple upside down cake recorded seems to be in a Seattle recipe book in 1925? This after the invention of a pineapple slicer by James Doles’ engineer and the invention of the maraschino cherry. Upside down cakes. The unexpected and delightful surprise enjoyed when things have been turned upside down.  I’ve been thinking a lot about cakes (particularly the kind that have for centuries been cooked upside down in a skillet on an open fire) as this week I was supposed to be practicing making lots of cakes on the jiko. Today we were supposed to be in Magozi where tomorrow I was supposed to be cooking wedding cakes with women in the village.

But things have been rather upside down around here. I had just two cake attempts. One was a complete disaster of uncooked goo with the fire gone out, darkness descending with no power and no water to wash our smoky selves … the other cake was merely burnt. Then I came down sick and have just emerged from three days in bed to rummage some food for the poor troopers here who are sick of stale bread … oh for some instant cuppa soup! They have all looked after me very well but things haven’t gone according to plan. But actually how often does it? But in making these cakes, the good stuff is always hidden on the bottom and it’s only through being turned upside down (or should that be right-side-up?) that it all turns out right. Our whole world is turned upside down, but we have a God who is turning it out. Looking sometimes at life or the world about us, often it’s hard to see things from that other-way-up perspective, but if we keep the finished cake in mind, we can keep cooking!

(No, I didn't make this cake!!)