minecraft Blogger

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe

Cook time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Ingredients

Topping:*

Cake:

Method

1 Start by making the caramel topping. Take brown sugar and butter and combine and melt in a saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly, this should take several minutes. (After sugar melts, don’t stir.) Pour mixture into a 10 inch diameter stick-free cake pan with 2 inch high sides. Arrange pineapple slices in a single layer ontop of the caramel mixture.

2 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk the flours, almonds, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 additions each, beating well after each addition. Pour cake batter over caramel and pineapple in pan.

3 Bake cake until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 12 to 14 servings.

* Note an alternative topping that my father is favoring these days. 2 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup butter. Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium until all sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Boil until syrup becomes warm amber in color (about 10 minutes). Add 1/4 cup butter, carefully as it will foam up a bit. Swirl the pan so that the butter is all incorporated, stirring with a wooden spoon if necessary. Remove from heat and pour out into cake pan. Continue with recipe as noted.

Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words and link back to the source recipe here on Simply Recipes. Thank you!

Finding a dream engagement ring at the very best price needs understanding of cut, colour, clarity and carat. Photograph: /Reuters

Argos typically sells almost 200% more diamond rings in the run-up to Christmas compared with Valentine’s Day, with sales reaching a high for the year on 24 December.

Jewellery buying manager, Alice Rigby said: “Despite the tradition of going on bended knee on 14 February, we see far more sales of diamond rings during the festive season. Many customers, men in particular, get panicked the closer it gets to Christmas. The more under pressure they are to find the perfect present, the more cash they will spend – and what better surprise on Christmas morning than to open a box containing a beautiful sparkling rock.”

But before men (we’ll stick with tradition for this article) get down on one knee, they need to figure out what kind of engagement ring they’ll be proffering and how much they have to spend.

Experts say those popping the question don’t necessarily need to spend more to get bigger diamonds or more impressive jewellery, they just need to know a few tricks of the trade.

Alastair Smith, a Briton living in Sydney, spent six months researching the market to make sure he got his now-wife’s dream ring at the very best price. He’s written a book about his search.

How To Buy An Engagement Ring explains what kind of retailers men should approach, how to save thousands of pounds on diamonds, and how to get the exact diamond you want.

“Most men like to think they know their partner pretty well, but the reality is that guys often get it wrong when it comes to engagement rings,” says Smith, “The jewellery industry doesn’t offer a centralised place for impartial information, meaning that men end up repeating the same mistakes as millions before them. Buying an engagement ring has changed, and there are thousands to be saved if you know what to look for and where to find it.”

Before you start diamond shopping you need to understand the “4Cs”: cut, colour, clarity and carat. Each diamond is priced individually according to the mix of the 4Cs. Online jewellers BlueNile.com has a useful pricing matrix which shows the effect that tweaking the 4Cs has on price – the prices shown below are taken from this matrix.

Smith says this is most important. “Cut is the defining factor for how much a stone sparkles and a well-cut stone will look larger, hide flaws and be more brilliant than a poorly cut one,” he says. “Go for the very best you can afford.”

His view is backed up by Vashi Dominguez, TV diamond expert and founder of Vashi.com. “A better cut means more sparkle,” he says. “If you’re on a limited budget, focus on getting the best cut for your money.”

Diamond cut is normally ranked excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. Some retailers will have their own “signature cut” grading level above excellent.

Price difference: Assuming a 1 carat round diamond, G colour and VSI clarity, a “signature ideal” cut at BlueNile.com would cost between £6,700 and £7,400, while a “good” cut would cost between £3,800 and £7,700.

The colour of diamonds ranges from D to Z. D is fully colourless so the best and rarest, but only a diamond expert can tell the difference between a D and G colour diamond, so those on a tight budget should opt for a G or H.

Price difference: Assuming a 1 carat round diamond and a very good cut, a D colour diamond would cost about £5,400 to £9,400, while a H would be about £4,000 to £6,000.

This refers to blemishes and inclusions and each diamond will have a clarity rating. FL is flawless (and expensive), IF is internally flawless, and there are then various grades of “inclusions” from VVSI (very very slightly included) to I3 (eye-visible inclusions).

“For the best deal, look at SI1 or SI2 (slightly included) diamonds. Your fiance isn’t going to study it under a magnifying glass and most inclusions will only be visible to experts,” says Dominguez.

Price difference: Assuming a 1 carat round diamond, G colour and very good cut, an SI2 would cost £3,000 to £6,200 while an IF would set you back £6,000 to £11,000.

There’s money to be saved by dipping below a round number. For example, opt for a 0.95 carat diamond rather than 1 carat. This is known as “buying shy”.

“Jewellers know that people are much more likely to buy a one carat diamond than a stone that comes in just under,” says Smith. “Nice round numbers are known as ‘magic numbers’, but by dipping just below them you can make big savings with very little noticeable difference to how big the stone looks.”

Price difference: Assuming G colour, very good cut and VS2 clarity, an exact 1 carat diamond would cost £4,400 to £5,700, while a 0.9 carat diamond would cost between £3,100 and £4,300.

As well as a diamond, ring-buyers also need to think about ring metal. Platinum tends to be most expensive but high quality white gold can give the same glamorous aesthetic more cheaply. Bear in mind that most people opt for the same ring metal for their wedding ring, so you might want to subtly find out your intended’s preferences.

The experts agree that anyone buying an engagement ring should give high street jewellers a miss and go online instead.

As with other online retailers, internet-only jewellers can offer cheaper deals as they avoid the overheads associated with running a shop. Make sure you shop around and only buy from a company with a good reputation and excellent, authentic reviews.

As well as saving up to 80% of the cost of a diamond, shopping online at certain sites allows buyers to match up the exact combination of the 4Cs that they want.

“Online has completely changed the diamond industry, as people now have their pick from hundreds of thousands of diamonds and rings, rather than just the handful that their local jeweller stocks,” says Smith, “Going online gives guys access to the best choice and the best prices.”

Smith eventually bought his fiancé’s ring at BlueNile.com. Other online retailers he recommends include EnchantedDiamonds.com, JamesAllen.com, Ritani.com and Vashi.com.

If you’re on a really tight budget you can give diamonds the swerve altogether and opt for an alternative stone such as a sapphire or zircon. Alternatively check with your relatives to see if there are any heirlooms waiting to be passed down. Not only is this option potentially free but jewellery with history can be much more meaningful and significant.

For more information go to howtobuyanengagementring.com