Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Upside-down cakes don't get enough credit. Think about it... when was the last time you made an upside-down cake or when was the last time you were served upside-down cake at a party or at a restaurant? Bet you can't remember. It's probably one of the quickest cakes to make and it can be made with any fresh or canned fruit that you have available. I made this cake with fresh pineapple, but peaches, mangos, apples work well too. Use whatever fruit you have available because, if I had to guess, you probably have the rest of the ingredients needed to make upside-down cake in your pantry already. Thus, no trip to the supermarket. See you've saved yourself time already so get baking and surprise your family with something different for dessert tonight.

Ingredients:

• 5 rings of fresh pineapple, if you are using canned fruit you will need 30 ounce can, drained thoroughly, reserving 1/2 cup of juice
  
• 1 cup butter, melted (you will be using 1/4 cup for base and 3/4 cup for cake)
  
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon pure almond or vanilla extract
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in pan and stir in 2 tablespoons of brown sugar until blended well. Pour mixture into 8 or 9 inch pan coating sides and bottom of pan.

Arrange fruit on top of the butter and brown sugar mixture in any design you want (be creative). If you are using peaches, apples or mangos you may want to overlap the fruit. For the pineapple upside cake I added cherries for color. See photo below of how fruit was arranged in the bottom of the pan before the batter was added.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Next combine 3/4 cup of butter and granulated sugar in a pan stirring over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and add almond or vanilla extract. Then add butter mixture to dry ingredients. Stir until just combined and then add eggs. Mix well.

Pour mixture over fruit slices. Bake 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Let cake stand for 10 minutes before inverting on the serving plate.


Note: If you are using canned fruit, you can reserve 1/2 cup of the juice and add it to the butter and granulated sugar mixture. Leave out the extract if you use the fruit juice.

Don't you just want to bite into this cake now!!!