Pineapple Fiesta Cake

For the cake heat the oven to 180°C (160°C, 350°F, gas mark 4). Grease and line 20cm / 8" cake tin. 

Whisk the egg yolks with the hot water and half the sugar until fluffy.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, gradually whisking in the remaining sugar.

Gently stir the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture until incorporated. Fold in the flour, dessicated coconut, saffron and salt until blended.

Spoon into the tin and bake for about 30 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, soak the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of cold water for 5 minutes.

Heat the coconut cream, stirring, in a small pan and add sugar to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Squeeze out excess water from the gelatine and add the gelatine to the cool coconut cream.

Whisk the cream until stiff and fold in the desiccated coconut.

Cut the cake horizontally into 3 layers. Fold the whisked cream into the coconut cream and stir in the pureed pineapple.

Spread 1 cake layer with 1/2 of the cream, top with another cake layer and spread with the remaining cream. Place the top cake layer in place and chill the cake for 2-3 hours.

For the decoration beat together the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract to make a buttercream. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring and continue to mix until you reach the desired colour you are looking for. 

Fill a piping bag with the buttercream and pipe small burst of icing around the base of the cake gradually moving up until the whole cake is covered. This will create the pineapple effect.

Using black sugar paste icing roll out two small balls for the eyes and a small sausage shape for the smile and stick to the cake. Complete the look by chopping off the stem of the pineapple and placing on the centre of the cake.