Did you ever notice there are some fresh fruits you just cannot …. trust? Yes, I said trust! You know what I mean. Let’s take fresh pineapple for instance…. It looks good. It smells good. It isn’t mushy or overly firm. You buy it, take it home. Look forward to that juicy, tart, sweet, tangy, delicious flavor…and (the horror!) it’s dry and kind of tasteless. Gosh darn it! Maybe it’s just me. In fact, it probably is just me. But that is my experience with about half of the fresh pineapples I purchase. So when the pineapple is featured, like in this Homemade Pineapple Upside Down Cake, sometimes…I have to admit, …I buy the can.
For this recipe, I chose a cake batter that also included some of the juice from the can, so the pineapple flavor carried through the cake and the topping. Sometimes this might produce a less moist cake, but for this cake, the buttery topping works its way into the cake enough that it is so good, so buttery, so pineapple-y, you really just can’t stop eating it. Is that bad?
Also, Pineapple Upside Down Cake is the perfect dessert to make during the pumpkin-gingerbread-candied fruit-peppermint season, too! Sometimes you can just get a bit too much of those, and this cake is light and tangy and refreshing with its beautiful tropical vibe.
So go buy a (trustworthy) can of pineapple! And Enjoy!
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
This recipe is adapted from Epicurious. The original calls for 2-3 tsp of cardamom. I used only 1 tsp, but feel free to add more. It adds a nice warmth in the same way cinnamon does. I also added a bit more butter to the topping portion. I also substituted canned pineapple for the fresh...
- Cook Time: 40m
- Serves: 8
- Yield: 1- 10" cake
- Category: Cakes and Frostings, Desserts and Sweets, Recipe
Ingredients
For the topping:
- 8 tbsp. (1 stick) Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 3/4 c Light Brown Sugar, packed
- 1 20-oz. can Pineapple Tidbits or Chunks, no sugar added.
For the Cake Batter:
- 1 1/2 c AP Flour
- 1 tsp. Ground Cardamom
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) Unsalted Butter
- 1 c Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 tbsp. Dark Rum (or 1 1/2 tsp Rum Flavoring)
- 1/2 c Juice from the 20-oz. can of pineapple used for the topping
- 2 tbsp. Dark Rum, for drizzling over finished cake
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Drain the pineapple, saving the juice.
- Heat the Cast Iron skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the butter. When it is melted, stir in the salt and sugar. Continue to stir until sugar has dissolved and mixture is bubbly. Then place pineapple chunks, tidbits or rings in the mixture. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip the butter until it is fluffy. Slowly add the granulated sugar until it is incorporated. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing until incorporated. Then mix in the vanilla and rum flavoring. Once all ingredients are incorporated, and mixer is on slow speed, add half of the flour mixture, followed by the pineapple juice then the remaining flour, being sure to mostly incorporate each addition. Do not overmix.
- Pour batter over the pineapple topping in the cast iron pan. Spread until evenly distributed. Bake just until a wooden pick stuck in the middle of the cake, comes out clean. For my cake this was 35-40 minutes. Once cake is done, remove from the oven to a rack. After 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the cake. Place your serving plate upside down atop the cast iron and flip the cake onto the plate. If any of the topping sticks to the pan, just remove it with a spoon and place it onto the cake. If using the 2Tbsp of dark rum, drizzle it over the top now. Let cool at least 20 minutes before serving, but it is equally good at room temperature.
Looks lovely, Laura:) Been a while I last made this cake, I feel like baking one now, but don’t have fresh or canned pineapples ?
Freda, thanks so much! Hope you get the chance to bake this!
??????