Happy Birthday Vivek ~ Pineapple Upside Down Cake LOADED with RUM :-)

Happy Birthday, Vivek..... :-)

He's one of the pillars at Infoedge and one of my earliest mentors at Infoedge..... He's old wine that's been aging on the rack for over 10 years.....3rd March 1999 is when he joined Infoedge....

Isn't that ancient in an era where people change jobs at the drop of a hat.... Well am headed in a similar direction cause I've known Vivek for the last 7 years that we've been at Infoedge. He's one of the hardest and smartest working people I've ever known and learnt so much from and he is now the Business head of Jeevansathi.com after having worked his way up the techie ladder all the way to the top. Read more about his achievements here....

Readers, Long posts are boring... long posts are not read by most people..... So on n So forth...... But this is not a commercial website... This is my blog and I write about people n stuff I like..... This guy I like and revere a lot.... Brace yourself for a long post cause Vivek deserves this and a lot more......
His birthday deserved something special... He requested for 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake' and that's exactly what he got.... the bonus being LOADED with rum... :-)

That's his family.... Pushpanjali [did a Banofee Pie for her] and their darling princess...... n we all know who he adores more.... ;-)

That's Vivek with his favorite muse Pushpanjali in a 'Jab-We-Met' moment... They make such a lovely couple....

Vivek has this patent pose where he hides behind Pushpanjali...... like... alllllllllll the time....

The camera is his passion.... his work with it is just amazing... view some here.
This fabulous picture of mine is labeled ....'Vivek ke camere ka kamal'.... this was taken in office to try out his new flash and like WOW!!!!!!! The 2 guys jumping is Puneet M and Puneet C when we had gone to Tunganath.... What a trip it was, read about it here.

On the way to Tunganath we stopped over at a Dhaba outside IIT-Roorkie to have their favorite bread omlette and had quite an encounter with an extremely abusive owner... The hill top posing at Deveria tal was really worth the trek we did.

We have a blast at the parties at Vivek's place..... His favorite sorts of parties are those which have.... Booze and Cards. We've even played with plastic glasses n match sticks as money..... read more about beginners luck here. How hard all of them tried to tech me 3 patti [flash] but no avail.. I just can't deal with this game......

We played at a height of 8500 ft in Bir billing... first thing in the morning...... The view was amazing.

That's Vivek's feet dangling while parasailing in Billing, himachal pradesh at 8500 ft..... Check out more pictures of this awesome trip here. The dedicated guy to work that he is..... all of us are enjoying n Vivek's on the phone with Darshan in office checking sales reports and site performance...... poor Darshan.... ;-)

Camp Fires are his specialty.....
who even collects his own firewood... :-)

He's a deeply grounded guy who loves nature.....
These shots are spread out over Tunnganath, Manali, Leh, Rohtang Pass and Bali.... Yes, he driven to all these places and more..... Driving and Hills are something he's very passionate about....

This is his favorite picture of nature.... clouds rolled in within minutes of a clear sky to create this mystical shot.....

Pictionary is something Vivek n I both love... We've played pictionary in office n had really fun times...... We've even played in the train in the wee hours of the morning when finally the lady next door had to shush us up n break up our party.....

Pushpanjali is a great sport for themed parties and ensure that Vivek's also following the code.... That's us at my Red n White Theme birthday party..... Pl note he's in a red n white check shirt under the black jacket... :-)

His office cabin is right next to the conference room... people keep borrowing chairs for meetings and never return them.... what's the solution... he's got a notice pasted on his cabin door.... 'You can't take chairs from my room'.... and yes we love pulling his leg on it...... all the diwali party presentations feature this very prominently.....

The foodie that he is...... We gathered for the Gastronomical Tour of Chandni Chowk.....

We ate and ate ate and ate ate and ate ate and ate ate and ate ate and ate .......... till we were gonna burst........

Sharing was the only way we would get to taste all that was on offer in Chandni Chowk..... That's Vivek, Pushpanjali, Hitesh and Shalab sharing 1 glass of Nimbu Soda [Lemon Squash]

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

For Topping:

1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored

3/4 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

For Batter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 to 3 ground cardamom seeds

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon dark rum [I used 4 caps full, which is why this cake was LOADED with rum :-)]

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make Topping:

Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces.

Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly. in a dusted cake tin.

Melt butter in a pan.

Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes till the sugar caramelises.

Remove from heat and pour over the arranged pineapples in the dusted tin.

Make Batter:

Sift together flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt.

Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in vanilla and rum.

Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. [Better still just fold it in]

Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.) [Better still just fold it in]

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Let cake stand in the tin 5 minutes. [wait it it's slightly warm and not completely cold else the caramel may stick to the pan and not invert evenly]

Invert a plate over tin and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and tin firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet.

Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

Verdict: The caramel was awesome and the cake vanished in minutes.....

Happy Birthday, Vivek.