Pineapple fritters with salted caramel sauce

Method

1. Put the pineapple in a sieve lined with a clean J-cloth set over a bowl. Squeeze to release any juice, then set aside to drain (keep the juice).
2. To make the caramel sauce, put the 100g golden caster sugar, butter, clotted cream and a pinch of sea salt flakes in a heavy-based pan with 5 tbsp of the reserved pineapple juice and heat gently until the butter and sugar have melted. Increase the heat and bubble until the liquid turns a deep golden colour. Add a splash more pineapple juice if you like a looser consistency. Cool the sauce slightly, then pour into a jar and set aside.
3. Put the flour, baking powder, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon and 3 tbsp golden caster sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the eggs and clotted cream, then whisk in the pineapple pulp from the J-cloth until smooth. Add more pineapple juice to loosen if it feels a little stiff – it should be like a thick pancake batter (see Make Ahead).
4. Recipe continues after advertising adslot-recipe-4
5. Heat 2-3cm vegetable oil in the frying pan until it reads 180°C on a digital thermometer (if you don’t have one, a cube of bread should turn golden in about 30 seconds).
6. Carefully drop a teaspoonful of batter into the hot oil – use a second teaspoon to ease the mixture off and help create a round shape in the oil. Fry the fritters for about a minute until golden, then carefully flip over and fry for a further minute or so until golden all over and puffed. Remove with a slotted spoon and set on the lined baking sheet to drain any excess oil. Fry in batches of 4-6 fritters depending on the size of your pan, bringing the oil back up to temperature each time.
7. Pile the fritters up in a serving dish, sift over the icing sugar, add
   a pinch of cinnamon, then drizzle with salted caramel sauce to serve.