The Culinary Gangster's Corner

Philadelphia's newest leaflet brought to you by Gladius

I want to thank you all for taking this journey with me into the culinary arts. Most of you know me as the alleged Right Hand of an alleged crime family in South Philly, but I assure you I am much more than that. That was not an admission to any misdeeds, for those law enforcement clowns reading this. I am not only a well respected individual in my neighborhood, renowned lover, and friend to many, I am also a Culinary Gangster^TM.

This new leaflet is my attempt to bring some light to these shady streets, and to teach you all how to cook a little something. One of the things that I loved as a kid that my mother always made me was and Upside-Down Cake. I've always been a fan of pineapples, and everyone is a fan of cake. I hope you enjoy this culinary journey that we are about to go on. 

With no further ado, I present to you:

The Prime-apple Upside-Down Cake

• Cake Flour: Lighter than all-purpose flour, cake flour produces a soft crumb.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda: The two add plenty of lift under the heavy topping.
• Salt: Balances the sweetness.
• Butter: Instead of melted butter, use 6 Tablespoons of softened butter. (Not the whole stick, though you do need more for the topping.) Creaming butter and sugar guarantees a buttery soft crumb. It’s how I prepare my vanilla cupcakes, too.
• Sugar: White granulated sugar sweetens and tenderizes the cake. There’s brown sugar in the topping to provide essential flavor!
• Egg Whites: Don’t let yolks weigh down a cake that’s already weighed down by the fruit topping. After all my recipe testing, I now swear by just egg whites here. So there’s no waste, here are my recipes using egg yolks.
• Vanilla Extract: Flavor.
• Sour Cream: Along with cake flour and egg whites, sour cream promises a tender cake crumb. Plain yogurt works in a pinch.
• Pineapple Juice & Milk: Liquid is key in most cakes because it thins out the batter. You typically make pineapple upside down cake with canned pineapple, so use some of the liquid in the can for the cake batter.

1. Prepare the topping: Melt the butter, pour into an un-greased cake pan or pie dish, sprinkle with brown sugar, then arrange the blotted pineapple rings and maraschino cherries as you see in my photos and video tutorial. I always refrigerate the topping as I prepare the cake batter—this helps solidify the designed arrangement underneath the wet cake batter.
2. Prepare the cake batter: Whisk the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla, then the sour cream. Pour the dry into the wet ingredients, pour in the pineapple juice & milk, and then beat to combine. You’ll have about 2 cups of cake batter and it’s very straightforward to prepare.
3. Spread over topping: Pour and spread the cake batter over the chilled topping.
4. Bake: Because of the wet bottom layer (which is the topping), the cake takes much longer than a typical 1 layer cake. Its juices will bubble up the sides, creating these incredible caramelized edges. (They’re so good!) With upside down cakes, it’s always good practice to place a baking pan or sheet on a lower rack to catch any juices should they splatter over the edges.
5. Cool: Cool the cake for 20 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Inverting any sooner will create a seeping mess—we want the topping to “set” as much as it can. You can serve this cake warm, though it slices much better if you let it cool completely at room temperature first.

There you have it folks. A fantastic Upside-Down Cake for you and your fellow Mafiosi...err...friends and loved ones to enjoy. If you're like me, and enjoy some spirits with your cake, there is some Cuban rum that I feel goes wonderfully with this recipe. You can add it into the topping, or into the batter itself. Either way it will add a special kick to the cake that is sure to cause an explosion in your mouth like a stick of dynamite.

If you try this recipe, and enjoy it, please feel free to find me wandering the streets of Philadelphia, and let me know what you think. Better yet, you can even bring me a slice of cake. It probably won't be as good as when the Culinary Gangster^TM prepares it, but not all of us can be Gladius.

Tune in next week, or whenever I feel like actually writing up another leaflet, for another Prime recipe.

This leaflet is brought to you by the Frequency Network^TM

Gladius, they say that a chef tells a story with his food, and none more so than you. $1 million each to the first 80 people to offer a unique remark on Gladius' succulent cake recipe, the pièce de résistance of the widely-announced, minimally-executed Philadelphia journalism endeavour. 

Sekhmet had been waiting patiently long enough that it felt like an eternity for Gladius to bestow upon us with his amazing culinary skills,

One week, turned into two, two turned into 4 and now it had been almost 2 months. There was only so many times that she could make this upside down cake, to the point that it has almost become boring repeating it.

she had tried to get private cooking/baking classes from him, but he had been dodging her, why? she had no idea.

She did know that a Right Hand Man could get very busy but not THAT busy. In frustration she decided to write to him.

Dear The Culinary Gangster's Corner,

I am writing to ask if you could please post more recipes

for us less knowledgeable people that would love to be able to better ourselves. (and possibly our partners and family)

As much as i appreciated the upside down cake,

i have probably made that recipe at least a good 20 times in the past month and a half,

Ohhhh something that has to do with Chocolate would be amazing

Considering it being <font color="#99CC99">Easter</font> and all

Kind Regards

Sekhmet

She then folded up the letter, putting it in an envelop with a fancy stamp and ran down to the post box.

Say Gladius, do you know how to make lobster ravioli? I could arrange a delivery

Hi Gladius,

You know what I'm really craving.

A fricking good burger. Nowadays it seems like there are no really good burgers to be had.

I just want a burger with onions, pickle cheese and bacon. Some curly fries and a thick vanilla milkshake. Is that too much to ask?

I am willing to pay 1M for this during the period I am in PH.

Stormshadow approaches Gladius and bows his head.
 

“Your tales of delicacy have enticed me to take up the craft as well. In my homeland, there is no greater gift one can give another than preparing a meal for them. The gesture along with the meal is what makes it as special, with no plate being entirely identical to the other.”

Stormshadow bows once again and leaves to prepare his tools