Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This is a refreshing and wonderfully fruity cake. It's perfect for a little treat during your family Easter feast.

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 45

Servings: 8 slices

Equipment

9" x 2" round cake pan
Nonstick cooking spray
Flour sifter

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

½ +⅓ cup cake flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons butter room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
3 each egg yolks room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ +⅛ cup buttermilk room temperature

Pineapple Topping Ingredients

¼ cup butter melted
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 cup canned pineapple rings cut into ¼ thick rings
½ cup Maraschino cherries pitted

Instructions

Prepare Cake Batter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 20 minutes before baking the cake.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Once all of the egg yolks are incorporated, add the vanilla extract and mix in.
Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, ⅓ at a time, mixing well after each addition. Start with ⅓ of the dry, mix well, and then add ⅓ of the buttermilk, and repeat two more times with remaining ingredients. Once everything is incorporated, beat well with a rubber spatula to make sure your batter is fully mixed and fluffy.

Prepare Cake Topping

Spray a 9” x 2" round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Melt the butter and pour into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar onto the melted butter.
Top with pineapple rings and place cherries between the pineapple pieces. Set aside, while working on your cake batter.

Baking the Cake

Pour batter into prepared pan over topping, and smooth with the spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.
Check the cake after 20 minutes. When it is done, the top of the cake should be golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the center. A cake tester should come out clean. It should have begun to shrink away from the sides of the pan.
Remove the pan to a cooling rack. Let rest 5 minutes. Run a small knife or metal spatula around the sides of the pan and invert the cake onto a cooling rack or cardboard cake round. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Heather's Helpful Hints

Fat plays a very important role in baking. It tenderizes the product by coating and weakening the gluten bonds within the structure. In fact, the name shortening was coined as such because it shortens the gluten strands when baking. The point behind all of this is to provide a word of caution when substituting other ingredients for fat in recipes. Often the structure and texture of a cake will be significantly different when you begin to substitute for fat. Definitely don’t try it in this recipe!

Nutrition

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