Buying a new pan is always a good excuse to bake cake. The very moment I set eyes on this lovely cast-iron cake pan in Winners, I knew I was going to eat pineapple upside down cake pretty soon. After browsing through dozens of recipes, I was strongly attracted by the one from The History Kitchen due to the delightful, mouth-watering food photography. While my cake was nowhere close to that sensational beauty, it did give me the satisfaction of holding the ‘inaugural ceremony’ of my newly acquired bake ware. I felt that the batter was a tad stiff; maybe I should have gone for milk instead of pineapple juice. The caramelized fruit fortunately did not stick to my pan and I did not have to struggle at all to get the cake out in a single piece. Most of the syrup, however, was immediately absorbed by the cake itself so I had none to drizzle on the top and sides. It was an overall modest attempt of what I think might become a regular teatime treat and is best served warm from the oven.
PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
7 pineapple slices, drained
7 maraschino cherries
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pineapple juice
Method:
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F for a convection oven).
- Use a 9 to 10-inch ovenproof skillet or 10-inch round baking pan or 9-inch square baking pan for this cake.
- Beat butter and sugar together and spread evenly over pan. Arrange pineapple slices and cherries over base.
- Sift together flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, beat butter on low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Increase the speed to medium, gradually add the sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with the juice and beat until creamy.
- Pour batter over pineapples. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean for 45 to 55 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the pan set on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge.
- Invert onto a serving plate, and lift off the pan. Serve the cake slightly warm or at room temperature.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
4 comments
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October 1, 2013 at 2:29 am
Shannon (rumblytumbly.com)
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for the recipe.
March 13, 2016 at 3:37 pm
Nabila
Hi,I really would like to make this cake,but I have a few doubts concerning the cake mould.Can the ordinary round cake mould be used? Won’t the pineapple and the butter-sugar mixture stick to the bottom?And can the mould be greased and floured as is usually done for other cakes to facilitate unmoulding?
March 13, 2016 at 6:25 pm
prerrnamirchi
Hi Nabila you can indeed use a regular baking pan for this cake but I would suggest that you line the bottom with aluminum foil to make cleaning up easy. If you do not want to mess up your existing pan, I think it would be safer to purchase a cheap aluminum foil pan at Rs30 in supermarkets which you can throw away after turning the cake out. Make sure to grease the pan well and invert the cake immediately after you take it out of the oven. Otherwise the caramel will set and make it difficult to get the pineapple and cherries out. Happy baking!
March 14, 2016 at 7:20 am
Nabila
Thank you so much,I am going to try it with the disposable pan!