Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is a deliciously moist cake that isn’t too sweet – perfect for a summer BBQ.

This is a recipe my dad and I perfected over many weekends at the cabin. My dad’s been gone for nearly 15 years, so I think of him and how much fun we had figuring out the best Pineapple Upside Down Cake recipe. There was very likely alcohol involved.

What I love about the pineapple upside down cake recipe is that it is incredibly forgiving. When we first started experimenting with this recipe, the cake base was going to more of an angel food cake type. Angel food cakes are made with egg whites, no yolks. The problem we faced was that we only had 4 eggs. 4 egg whites did not yield a batter that was easy to work with. The batter was crumbly and dry and so I threw in the reserved yolks on impulse. Also, no one wanted to drive half an hour to pick up more eggs.

What was a Hail Mary pass, turned into a great cake.

This cake is more pound cake than angel food, but it is still light and tasty. The pineapple and maraschino cherries give it a lovely tropical flavor that is perfect for dessert on the boat.

It’s important to keep the dogs out of the kitchen when making a pineapple upside down cake. If you forget, simply re-spread the sugar over the part of the pie plate that the dog licked. Don’t worry, it’s going to be cooked and besides, this will be the cake for the children who don’t like the maraschino cherries (they’ll never know).

A couple of notes, this recipe makes two cakes since this pineapple upside down cake is only one layer. We always made two because there are children who will not eat anything that has maraschino cherries on it. Raspberries were used instead, however they were placed on the cake after baking.  

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

Desserts

Keyword

Cakes

Prep Time

35 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Servings

cakes

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup butter salted
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 Eggs separate yolk from white
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract rum works nice too
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 cans Pineapple slices in juice 20 oz cans
• 1 jar maraschino cherries
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter

Course Dessert Cuisine Desserts Keyword Cakes Prep Time 35 minutes Cook Time 45 minutes Servings cakes Ingredients 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp kosher salt 3/4 cup butter salted 1 1/2 cup sugar 4 Eggs separate yolk from white 3/4 cup sour cream 2 tsp vanilla extract rum works nice too 2/3 cup milk 2 cans Pineapple slices in juice 20 oz cans 1 jar maraschino cherries 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup butter