Pineapple Upside Down Cake!
Ahhh, Friday morning. The day that would bring a beach picnic, nail appointment and luau at the Kona Village Resort! Yes, Friday promised to be a super fun day. At least it would be after I finished making the cakes. Oh yes, I made the cakes. I made individual pineapple upside down cakes for the guests, and a fabulous tropical carrot cake for Chad and me to cut. They were delicious, and it took me about 4 hours to make them all. Want recipes?
I’ll start with the pineapple upside down cake. The recipe I used made 36 individual upside down cakes using the fabulous Nordic Ware Mini-Pineapple Bundt pan,which makes your pineapple upside down cakes look like mini pineapples! Of course, if you don’t have one of the pans, you can use a large size muffin six cup pan, or the recipe can be adapted to a nine inch pan (or cast iron skillet).
One recipe makes 6 cakes
Topping Ingredients:
3 tbl butter
6 tbl dark brown sugar
6 slices of pineapple – fresh is best
Cake Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter or 1 stick, 3 tbl butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
*Note* I used a hand mixer for this because I feel like I have more control of my batter if I’m working with it directly, instead of with a stand mixer. You can definitely do the recipe with a stand mixer, but please be sure to watch your batter very closely, you don’t want it over mix.
1. Put the oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Add1/2 tbl butter to each muffin cup and put in the pre-heating oven until it melts (should only take a minute or two)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Add the vanilla to the milk and set aside.
4. If the butter has melted, take the pan out of the oven and add 1 tbl of brown sugar to each cup and spread the sugar/butter mixture around and into the corners. Place 1 slice of pineapple into each cup, then set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream the butter low until softened, then add the sugar in a steady stream. Increase your speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes until light yellow and fluffy. Occasionally stop to scrape down the sides of the bowls with a rubber spatula.
6. Incorporate the eggs one at a time, mixing with a spatula first, then beating with the mixer on low for 20 seconds after each addition. After the eggs have been added, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture is fluffy and aerated.
7. First mixing by hand, then with the mixer, add the flour mixture in 3 equal portions, alternating with the milk in 2 equal portions, beginning and ending with the flour. Do NOT over mix your batter. Give the batter a couple of quick folds with your spatula and that is it. Stop. Don’t over mix your batter.
8. Divide the batter among the cups, but only fill each cup 2/3 of the way. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester (bamboo skewer) comes out clean.
9. Put a cookie sheet on top of the pan. If you have a silpat, put the silpat between the pan and the sheet, then invert the pan and sheet so that the cakes come out sitting pineapple side up on the (silpat and) cookie sheet. Make sure you do this immediately, while it’s hot. If the sugar starts to cool too much, your cakes may be stuck.
Serve and Enjoy!
