Pineapple Upside Down Cake Tin

Our answer

Nigella's Pineapple Upside Down Cake (from Nigella Express and on the Nigella website) uses a Tarte Tatin tin for the cake, which has a solid base. Unfortunately you do really need a solid based tin for this cake as the juices from the pinapple mingle with the sugar that is sprinkled on the base of the tin to make a syrup which moistens the cake. If you use a loose-bottomed tin then the juices will tend to seep out of the small gap arpund the edge and be lost (as well as baking on to the base of your oven).

There is a 20cm Tarte Tatin tin made by Silverwood in the UK which is available on-line and John Lewis sell a 21cm version, either of which would be fine for this recipe. You could also look for the Wilton cake pans which are available on-line and from some bakeware suppliers. These usually have solid bases as this is more common for the US.

You could possibly try lining the base of a loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment (with parchment coming up the sides) and then wrap the base with a double layer of foil. This would probably prevent the syrup from spreading over the inside of the oven but you may find that it collects in the foil instead, leaving the cake a little dry.