Pineapple Cherry Upside-Down Cake

pineapple cherry upside-down cake by The Culinary ChasePineapple skillet cake has been around since the early 1920s. Dole held a pineapple recipe contest in 1926 and among the 60,000 submitted, 2,500 were for pineapple upside-down cake. And by the mid 1930s, it was the most widely cake made in America. It was still quite popular in the 1950s and 1960s. I’m sure some of my readers have fond memories of this – I know I do especially when my mom added maraschino cherries inside the pineapple rings. You can use whatever fruit you like. I stuck to the familiar pineapple, using a freshly cored one and frozen cherries in lieu of the maraschino ones. A fuss-free and fun dessert.

Serves 8
adapted from The Kitchn

Glaze
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
pineapple slices and frozen cherries, enough to cover the base of a 9-inch pan or skillet
1 teaspoon cardamom (optional)

Cake
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°f. If using frozen fruit, do not defrost.

pineapple skillet cakeTo make the brown sugar glaze take a baking pan or oven-proof skillet and melt the butter over low heat. Add brown sugar and stir. When sugar has melted add cardamom then remove from heat. Arrange fruit in the baking pan.

For the cake, cream butter and sugar. In a separate bowl measure flour, baking powder, salt and stir to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between, followed by the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.

Spread cake batter all over the fruit and bake 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let the cake sit for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake. You don’t want the cake to stick when you flip it over. Place a serving plate over the cake and use your oven mitts to flip the cake over. Serve this with ice cream or whipped cream.

upside-down cakeThe Culinary Chase’s Note:
If you have any leftover, cover in plastic wrap. It will keep for a couple of days. Don’t worry if the batter isn’t smooth. I made a mistake by adding the flour before the eggs went in…didn’t seem to make a difference in the taste. Enjoy!