Retro Baking & Walker's Bring It Back Campaign!

If you're watching the Great British Bake Off final tonight then I hope you've got some cakes or sweet treats in! Walker's recently invited me to take part in sharing a retro baking recipe. It's to celebrate their Bring It Back campaign which relaunched five retro crisp flavours for a limited time. I've reviewed all of the flavours HERE.

When I saw the words 'retro baking' I immediately thought of making either a Black Forest Gateau or a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. In the end I decided to make a Pineapple Upside Cake as I have vivid memories of loving this cake as a child. In fact I'm pretty sure I had it as my birthday cake for a few years in a row! And I realised that my kids have never tried one, and bonus, it's such an easy recipe that they could get involved with making it too. 

Of course I had to add a little twist to the original so this is a Pineapple & Coconut Upside Down Cake! 

Pineapple & Coconut Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

8 pineapple rings

1-2 tbsp golden syrup

150g soft butter/margarine

150g caster sugar

150g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

8 glace cherries

25g dessicated coconut (plus more for decorating).

METHOD

• Grease a large tin. 
• Arrange pineapple rings in a circular pattern in the tin.
• Place a glace cherry or other small fruit in centre of each pineapple ring (I used a mix of glace. cherries and mango pieces).
• Drizzle golden syrup over the pineapple rings.
• In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar and eggs. 
• Sift in the flour and mix until creamy.
• Pour cake mixture over pineapples and smooth down.
• Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.
• Once cooled drizzle a little more golden syrup on top (I used a brush to dab some on each pineapple ring).
• Sprinkle with dessicated coconut to decorate.

It's quite easy to make and the result is a fruity and super sweet cake that was a winner with the family! 

Thanks to Walkers for inviting me to bake a retro recipe. Don't forget you can still vote in the Walkers Bring It Back Campaign until 1st November 2015 with a chance to win £100,000! Enter by voting via the Walker website at www.walkers.co.uk or on Facebook and Twitter using the flavour hashtags:

#VoteLambMint

#VoteBeefOnion

#VoteToastedCheese

#VoteBarbecue

#VoteCheeseChive

Which flavour will you be voting for?

M&S Coconut & Pineapple Cake

This Coconut & Pineapple is from the new M&S Summer of Flavour range. I featured it in my New Instore Round Up earlier in the week so I was pleased when Mr. Grocery Gems picked it up on his way home from work yesterday. 

It's a fairly small cake, ideal for an afternoon tea, but looks impressive enough with lots of coconut flavoured frosting on top and large coconut slivers to decorate.

Apologies for the terrible photo, I honestly wasn't in the mood to set up a decent photo and wait for the cake, I was too impatient and just wanted to tuck in! Within the cake there is a fruity layer of pineapple jam, which I couldn't quite capture in the photo but it's much more visible in real life. The sponge cake itself is super moist and buttery, with the jam layer adding a deliciously sweet and fruity flavour. I didn't detect much coconut flavour within the cake itself, most of the coconut flavour came instead from the thick buttercream on top. It's absolutely gorgeous, but the dominant flavour overall was from the pineapple jam rather than the coconut. The whole family found this cake to be immensely enjoyable and there wasn't one single crumb left after we had all tucked in!

Grocery Gems Verdict: M&S Coconut & Pineapple Cake

Rating: 9 out of 10

Nutrition: 292 calories (per 1/6 of cake).

Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.

Purchased: Marks & Spencer.

Review: Volvic Touch Of Coco Pineapple Inspired by Brazil

Thank you to the reader who asked me to review the new flavour in the Volvic Touch Of range. This Volvic Touch of Coco Pineapple is the second drink inspired by Brazil that I've reviewed recently, the first being the Lucozade Brazilian Mango & Mandarin. As we get closer to this summer's World Cup, I'm sure there we'll be seeing more and more of these types of "tropical" flavoured products supposedly inspired by Brazil! Just as an aside, has anyone seen any products themed or attributed to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, there doesn't seem to be anything at all?

I'd always assumed that these types of flavoured water had lots of artificial sweeteners so I was pleased to find that wasn't the case with this Volvic range. It's obviously not as healthy as plain water but it's less heavy than a fruit juice or soda. The Touch of Coco Pineapple has 21 calories per 100ml. The coconut and pineapple flavour is lovely, with neither element dominating the other or the water itself. Even though the coconut scent is quite strong the flavour itself is lightly done with a thoroughly refreshing result. Each sip provides an equal coconut and pineapple burst and it's a very familiar and successful combination. This will taste absolutely wonderful on a hot day over some crushed ice! 

When I was instore looking for the Brazilian inspired Volvic I also spotted this Touch of Tropical Fruits version. This also had new on the label but it turns out that it's been around since early last year.

This one is a pineapple, mango and passion fruit flavoured water so I wanted to see how it compared to the Coco Pineapple. The Volvic Touch of Tropical Fruits has a sweet and fruity mango flavour with the other tropical fruits adding a background depth. Again, it's wonderfully light and refreshing and I actually preferred the flavour (just slightly) to the Coco Pineapple. I'll definitely be buying both of these drinks again in the future, especially once the weather starts to warm up a bit!

Whilst the Touch of Coco Pineapple is a limited edition flavour there is also a new permanent flavour being introduced to the range, a Touch of Fruity Cherry. I love cherries so that's a must try for me then!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Volvic Touch of Coco Pineapple

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition: 21 calories (per 100ml).
Purchased: Sainsbury's. 
Price: £1.00p (1.5litre bottle).

Müller Corner Pineapple & Smooth Coconut

I bought this Müller Corner Pineapple & Smooth Coconut on a recent shopping trip to Co-Op. It's a new one to me and has a Voted By You rosette on the front. I don't know what competition this is referring to (I'm presuming it was something on Facebook), or what the other choices were, but I'm glad that a coconut flavour won!

It's described as a pineapple and coconut compote with original yogurt. Whilst not the most unique of flavour combinations it's still an extremely delicious one. The compote tastes just like thicker version of a pineapple and coconut juice, with lots of sweet tropical flavour. The plain yogurt is very creamy, and provides a lovely base for the sweet compote. I agree with this review from Erin on Guilt free Veggie, that it would have been even nicer if the yogurt was also coconut flavoured!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Müller Corner Pineapple & Smooth Coconut

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition (per 100g): 125 calories. 
Vegetarian: Yes.
Purchased: Co-Op. 
Price: Any 6 Müller Corner yogurts for £2 (offer). 

Smooze Coconut & Pineapple Fruit Ice

I bought this box of 10 Coconut & Pineapple Smooze Fruit Ices at the recent Allergy show, held at the Olympia in London. I also received samples of their other flavours to try; Simply Coconut, Coconut & Pink Guava, and Coconut & Mango. They're described as a coconut milk based gluten and dairy free iced treat with no artificial colours, preservatives or cholesterol.

The Smooze come in pretty nifty triangular packaging that's easy to hold without any mess. The fruit ice iteself is made of pure coconut milk and simple 100% natural ingredients.

All the Smooze flavours are deliciously creamy - it's hard to believe they are completely dairy free. My kids loved all the flavours, but the Coconut & Pineapple and the Coconut & Mango were their favourites. The coconut milk provides a perfect base for the fresh and sweet fruity flavours. At only 64 calories in each Smooze, they're also a fantastic alternative to ice cream and have been going down a treat during this heatwave!

I bought these at the Allergy Show, but they are also available at some health food shops. (They can be stored at room temperature until they need to be frozen).

Grocery Gems Verdict: Smooze Fruit Ice

RATING: 9 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition: 64 calories each. 
Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Purchased: Allergy Show, but check local health food shops.
Price: £3.99 for box of 10.