BEST EVER Pineapple Upside Down Cake

If you’re looking for a really easy cake recipe that is packed full of flavour, then look no further than my Pineapple Upside Down Cake! The best thing about this retro classic is the sticky caramelised edges, the moist and tender vanilla cake and the pineapple slices. And look how gorgeous those maraschino cherries are!

My favourite thing about this recipe is how easy it is to make. There are only a few ingredients and they’re probably things you have in your kitchen right now! Plus, it’s really pretty!

What does a Pineapple Upside Down Cake taste like?

I love how fashion and food make comebacks. Except I’m not sure this cake is necessarily making a comeback so much as it’s always in vogue. I remember my mum making this cake anytime a visitor would call and say I’m 10 minutes away. So that’s how long this cake has been in my life. It was delicious back then, it’s still delicious today!

I mean, where do I even begin with how it tastes! My new favourite word to describe food I like is darling! This cake is darling! It’s a mature of slight sourness from the pineapple, and caramel goodness from the brown sugar and cherries.

It’s not a particularly sweet cake either, which is why the brown sugar topping and sweet fruits evens everything out. And it’s moist! Boy is it moist! Yum! Couple that with some freshly whipped cream on top and you have something really special!

What you need for the Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Topping

• Pineapple Slices in juice. You’ll need sliced pineapples for this recipe. I used canned ones and I used the ones in the juice not syrup. The ones in the syrup are way too sweet. You can use fresh pineapple that you’ve peeled and sliced yourself too. You can find the canned ones in the canned fruit section of your supermarket.
• Maraschino cherries in syrup. These are cherries in syrup. Commonly used for cakes and cocktails. Real maraschino cherries are in a cherry liquor and are expensive and hard to find, so the alternative is the cheaper ones which are bright red and look better for a recipe like this. Alternatively, you can use cherries called glacé cherries that usually come in a bag and are found in the fruit and nut section of your supermarket.
• Brown sugar and butter. These two delicious ingredients combined make this absolutely delicious caramel flavour that leave your pineapples looking golden once baked and soaked into the cake leaving it super moist. I just used regular brown sugar. You can use light brown sugar, although that has a lighter molasses flavour. Dark brown sugar will make your pineapples look a little less golden but still taste really delicious!

Cake

• All-purpose flour. Regular, plain flour is fine here.
• Baking powder. This is different than bicarb or baking soda and is one of the ingredients used to help the cake rise.
• Salt. This helps add extra flavour in the cake
• Butter. I used the unsalted kind. If you’re going to use salted butter, then just leave the salt out of the recipe. You want to make sure your butter is at room temperature which is 18°C/64°F. This is the ideal temperature for creaming butter and sugar together which is what’s going to help our cake rise.
• Anything above that temperature, or if your butter looks really shiny, part or fully melted, your cake won’t rise as much, and it’ll come out of the oven oily.
• Large eggs. You want to make sure your eggs are at room temperature. And you want to make sure they’re large eggs. The carton will say it on the carton. Large eggs are between 55g-60g in weight each.
• Pineapple juice. This is reserved from the canned pineapple slices. Again, make sure it’s pineapple slices in juice, not sugar.
• Vanilla extract. I used pure vanilla extract that I made from scratch. You want to avoid using imitation vanilla. The real thing is always best.
• Greek yogurt. Make sure this is at room temperature. I know it’s usually stored in the fridge but just leave it out for 5 minutes. You can’t taste the yogurt in the cake, but it’s there because it makes your cake really moist!

How to make the Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1. Strain the Pineapple juice from the canned pineapple slices. You’ll need about 1/3 a cup of it.
2. Lay the pineapple slices and maraschino cherries flat on a baking tray lined with paper towels. Dab the tops with another paper towel folded in half. This is all in an effort to soak up as much of the juices as possible so your cake isn’t soggy.
3. Add some melted butter to a 9-inch cake tin. Use a pastry brush to brush the sides. The excess will pool to the bottom to help create the golden caramel top.
4. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Make sure it’s really evenly spread out. I found doing this by hand was easiest.
5. Lay the pineapples out flat. Just a tip, I placed one whole pineapple slice in the centre and then sliced the remaining pineapples in half to be able to fit even more pineapples on top of the cake.
6. Add the maraschino cherries in the centre of each pineapple slice. You can go nuts and add them in the centre of every gap. Once you’ve done all of that, set the cake tin aside and let’s move onto the cake!

1. Dry ingredients. Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a medium sized mixing bowl and mix using a whisk to combine.
2. Creaming the butter and sugar. Add the softened butter, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl. Use an electric hand mixer to beat together on medium high speed until light and fluffy. It’ll take about 3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs. Once you’ve creamed the ingredients together, add the eggs one at a time. Mix well before adding the next egg until all the eggs are in. 
4. Add the dry ingredients. Along with the pineapple juice and yogurt. Mix until well combined. Take care to only mix until all ingredients are combined and not mix any further than that otherwise your cake will become over-mixed and not be soft and fluffy.

5. Add the batter to the cake tin. Use a spatula or spoon to spread around evenly. Bake in the centre rack of your oven for 30 minutes.
6. Take out of the oven and cover with aluminium foil. Place back in the oven and bake for an extra 15 minutes.

7. Once baked, take the foil away and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then place a serving plate on top and flip over. Gently tap the bottom of the cake tin to loosen it up. Then lift up the cake tin and release the cake.
8. My cake has stuck to the tin! This can happen and is quite common! Simply use a spatula to scoop from the cake tin and place back on the cake like a jigsaw puzzle.

Serve with whipped cream

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