Pineapple upside-down Cake - Gluten-free & dairy-free

I'm spending my holidays in the South of France in Nice, near my friends and family. The weather is so far extraordinary but this last sunday, out of nowhere, big clouds covered the sky to bring rain the whole day. As sundays under the rain always sound for pastries, my mum and I have decided to have a little bakery contest. Our challenge was also to make our pastries gluten-free and dairy-free.

My mum chose to make a tatin pineapple cake and as she is a big fan of sugar (and since I'm not anymore), we replaced the regular white sugar with coconut palm sugar which goes perfectly with the pineapple. This recipe is adapted from the classical yogurt cake that anyone can make with a yogurt cup. It was the first time for my mum to try cooking in a different way by substituting regular wheat floor with almond one, regular butter with canola oil and white sugar with coconut one.  And she was very surprised to see that the final cake was beautiful, moist, rich in flavor and amazed to admit that the cake was really easy to digest. So even if I lost this competition, for me I won another: make her love alternative pastries :) 

Recipe - Preparation 20 minutes - Cooking time: 40 minutes

• 375 grams almond flour
• 125 grams coconut sugar 
• 65 grams canola oil 
• 3 eggs (separate the yolks from the whites)
• 7 slices of pineapple
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder 
• 200 grams coconut sugar + a pinch of water for the caramel 

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C and add some canola oil to your round baking pan
2. In a mixing bow, add the yolks and the coconut sugar and beat until reaching a nice white and light texture.
3. Add the canola oil and keep mixing.
4. In another bowl, mix together the almond flour with the baking powder.
5. And in a third bowl, beat the egg whites.
6. Once ready, try slowly to incorporate the first mixture (yolks + coconuts sugar + canola oil) to the second mixture (almond flour + baking powder) when everything is combined, add the third bowl to the mixture and beat again until reaching a smooth and perfect consistency. 
7. On a pan, on medium heat, add the coconut sugar and the water and without using any cookware, just by moving the pan by the handle, try to spread the sugar and the water evenly on the pan. Once melt enough, very quickly, cover the baking pan by spreading the caramel. 
8. Nicely place the slices of pineapple on the caramel and spread the cake mixture on it. 
9. Put in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Once out, wait at least 15 minutes before taking the cake out of it pan. When chilled enough, reverse the cake.