Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Pineapple Upside Down Cake


It has almost been a year since I went to Hawaii with some girlfriends.  What a great trip!  A whole week of friends, the beach, bikinis, yummy food in the most scenic location.  We didn't do a ton of touristy things like sightseeing and going on tours.  It was a really relaxing and nice vacation.  Especially considering I don't get to see my really good friend, who I've been friends with since middle school, too often!  



My friend works at a hotel and won Employee of the Year, and got a free trip to any of their hotels.  She picked Maui, and I was just lucky enough to go with her!  The hotel had the best food.  I love breakfast food and this place did not disappoint.  The big buffet had so many different options of all the breakfast foods you could imagine with tropical twists, such as guava pancakes.  Yummy!  It was quite pricey, so we didn't eat there every morning.  Down by the pool and beach, they had a mini buffet that had pretty much the same stuff, but at the beach bar so it was about half the price.  So, after we would pick up clean towels for the day and reserve our chairs, we headed to breakfast.

This beach bar also had lunch, desserts and other snacks for during the day.  One of my favorite things was their Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  It's a very traditional dessert, but it was delicious and it probably didn't hurt that I was enjoying it in Hawaii.  

Ahhh... I wish I was still there!

Recently, I have been in the mood for Pineapple Upside Down Cake, so I made some and I want to share it with you!  


Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:
  • 2 oz. butter
  • 6 oz. brown sugar
  • 4 pineapple slices, canned
  • about 6 maraschino cherries
  • 4.25 oz. buttermilk
  • 2.25 oz pineapple juice, from the can of pineapple slices
  • 2.5 oz. vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 8 oz. cake flour
  • 5 oz. sugar
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • pinch nutmeg
  • 1.5 oz. shredded coconut
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Melt butter and brown sugar in an 8 inch deep cake pan over the stove.  (pictured below)
  3. Once melted, pull off heat (be careful... it may be hot!) and arrange pineapple slices and cherries in desired pattern.  Set aside.
  4. In medium bowl, combine buttermilk, pineapple juice, oil, vanilla and eggs.
  5. In large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  
  6. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk until combined.  Mix in coconut.
  7. CAREFULLY pour batter over fruit.  Caution:  fruit may shift a little when you add the batter. 
  8. Bake for 35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.  
  9. Cool 30 minutes before flipping upside down. 
  10. Use spatula to loosen edges before turning onto a cake plate.
  11. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.  



Place the cake pan right on the stove.  Doesn't matter if its an electric or gas stove.  Just make sure you don't touch the sides without checking to see if its hot!







I didn't spray the pan with nonstick spray first because the brown sugar and butter mixture will keep the cake from sticking.  


All done, waiting to be flipped!


My center cherries shifted a bit, but what can you do?!  No use crying over shifted cherries!




This is a very classic "upside down cake".  You can make this with plenty of different fruit.  Apples, peaches, blueberries just to name a few!  

Enjoy!!  

2 comments:

  1. Yum! Blueberry sounds really good too. What would I substitute for the pineapple juice if I made blueberry?

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    Replies
    1. Just substitute more buttermilk for the pineapple juice!

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