Welcoming the Warmer Weather - Dirty Pirate Icy Poles

Growing up, one of the best things in summer is icy poles. Essentially, just frozen coloured sugar water, they were such an awesome treat. You would fight with your siblings to get the best colour/flavor even though they were essentially the same. In my house, usually the red went first and the green were left until last. Then you become a teenager, you move on to frozen coke and slushees. Essentially still frozen sugar water but so much cooler in a cup than eating it from a plastic tube.  Then you become an adult and you are supposed to be more grown up. But it’s still 40C + in summer and you still want to run around under the sprinklers (on your two allocated sprinkler nights), and you still want an icy treat.

The Dirty Pirate is so named for it’s two alcohols – Captain Morgan Dark Rum (Pirate) and Kahlua (the coffee makes it “Dirty” like a 'dirty chai'). Mixed with coke and frozen, it’s quite the fun little naughty treat. Incredibly easy, all you need is the icy pole molds. My ones I got from K-mart for $2 for the 4-tray. These measurements will make 12 of this size. I particularly like the cup/straw shape in the bottom of the handle, so you can drink up the drips as it melts. Being alcoholic, they can melt quite quickly.

It’s been a long wait for Spring to kick in over here in Perth (35C today!), so at the first sign of a warmer weekend, I made some of these to celebrate. I have a feeling they’ll make an appearance at a few BBQs over summer. You will have to remember though, that if you make these for a BBQ where kids are in attendance, that you better make a tray of non-alcoholic ones too! They will not be happy seeing adults eating icy poles when they can’t have one. Mark the trays, so they don’t end with yours!

This works best with flatter Coke, so if you open a new bottle/can to make it - stir it a bit to release some of the bubbles.

Dirty Pirate Icy Poles

2 3/4 cups flat Coke

1/3 cup Captain Morgan dark rum
1/3  cup Kahlua

Stir all together in a jug or bowl with a spout. Pour into icy pole molds and freeze!

 

Comfort Food - Pina Colada Pudding Cake

Do you like pina colada? I actually don't like the cocktail so much, they're usually a tad too sweet for my drink tastes - but I do love the pineapple and coconut combination. It's a classic! Remember my Greek Yoghurt Souffle with pineapple, mango and coconut fruit salad? It was amazing! Loving the combo, when I saw a recipe for pina colada pudding, I was intrigued. And then disappointed and overwhelmed by all of the sugar in it. So I decided to make my own version, using a basic self-saucing pudding recipe as my base. Then, instead of using regular flours, I decided to use coconut flour, for fairly obvious reasons and superfine polenta to give it a nice golden colour. Which then makes this pudding cake gluten free!

It should be saucy at the bottom, but the pictures I've got show mine didn't turn out super saucy. Namely because my dish wasn't large enough, and I spilt most of the boiling water on the floor while trying to put it in the oven. Not my finest culinary moment, and I knew it was a bad idea when I was doing it. With an audience. But the cake still came out nice and moist and the pineapple pieces added a nice juiciness. That's why I've called it a 'pudding cake' instead of a straight pudding.

It is a decidedly unglamourous cake in presentation - but great for putting out as a serve-yourself dessert for a large amount of people. It will serve 10-12 easily. And then if you're lucky, you'll have leftovers for breakfast the next day (or three) reheated in the microwave!

Pina Colada Pudding Cake

825g can pineapple pieces - juice drained and reserved
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp dark rum
1 cup superfine polenta
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 small tins coconut milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp honey
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 160C

In the bottom of a big casserole dish, empty the drained pineapple pieces, the dark rum and the dark brown sugar, stir to combine, then spread evenly over the bottom of the dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, polenta, baking powder and bicarb soda. In a smaller bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the reserved pineapple juice, coconut milk, eggs, vanilla and honey. Whisk together the liquid mixture into the dry mixture, then spread this batter over the pineapple.

Sprinkle the sugar over the top of this mixture, add the remaining pineapple juice to the boiling water and carefully pour this over the top of the batter. Don't mix it in.

Pop it in the oven to bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until the cake is cooked all the way through, and the top is golden.

Serve warm with vanilla or coconut ice cream!