May 10, 2011

Pineapple Upside Down Cake





Upside down cakes are real fun - to make and all the more to eat! There's something terribly satisfying in turning this cake out from the tin to see the beautiful, luscious fruit dripping juices and melted brown sugar over your favorite cake recipe.

There's a variety of fruits you can use to make an upside down cake: pineapples, apples, cherries, pears and I've even seen a recipe for a mango cake. These can be eaten as they are or served with some delicious, cool whipped cream. I think they would be great to eat with Vanilla Ice cream too, although I haven't tried out that combination yet.

So I made a very simple version of the most common Pineapple Upside Down Cake. The thing is, there are a lot of different ways to make this, but the basic stuff you need is the same: Fruit slices, Butter, Brown Sugar, and a recipe to your most favorite type of cake.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake




RECIPE ~ Pineapple Upside Down Cake


Ingredients
  • Sliced Pineappes (Tinned or Fresh) - 7 to 8 
  • Granulated Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
  • Melted Butter - 2 Tbsp
  • Candied Cherries sliced in half
  • Recipe to any kind of vanilla/pineapple cake you like, it could be a sponge cake, butter cake, yellow cake or pound cake. You can even go for a ready made vanilla cake mix to keep things simple. Get all the ingredients for the cake ready. I used my pound cake recipe which you can find: here.
Note: For Brown Sugar, I used Demerara Sugar from Blue Bird, that's available in most supermarkets in India.
I used tinned pineapples. Drained the juice thoroughly before use. 
If you are using a cake mix that involves addition of water, and you are using tinned pineapples, you can use the juice from the tin for the cake.

Utensils & Bakeware
  • Mixing Bowls and Spoons/Spatula
  • Hand Mixer/Stand Mixer (Optional)
  • 8x2" Round Baking Tin or equivalent (Or whatever your cake batter will fit into)
  • OTG/Convection Oven - Regular or Microwave
  • Cooling Rack or Tray
Note: Round Upside Down Cakes look really pretty according to me, but you can go for any shape you like. 

Procedure
  • Prepare all ingredients at room temperature.
  • Prepare the baking tin by greasing with butter the bottom and the sides. Then pour in the melted butter into the bottom of the tin.
  • Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the butter so that it is spread evenly.

This combination of butter and brown sugar creates a nice adhesive like thing that causes the fruit to stick to the cake. It also tastes divine, once baked. Like I said before, you can add more brown sugar so that the entire surface is covered if you like. I just wanted to keep it less sweet. 

Some recipes involve creating a kind of sauce by melting the brown sugar and butter together. I haven't really tried that ever.
  • Arrange the pineapple slices to fill the bottom of the tin and then arrange the sliced cherries in the gaps. Remember to place the cherries right-side facing down.

  • Keep the prepared tin aside and get the cake batter ready.
  • Pour the batter into the tin over the pineapples just like you would a regular cake and smooth over with a spoon or spatula. Tap once on the table to get rid of any air pockets.
  • Bake according to the instructions of your cake recipe.
  • Once done, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Run a knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the tin.
  • Wait until it is completely and totally cool in order to avoid any disasters, and then invert the tin onto a serving plate.
  • Remove the tin slowly and carefully, and voila! You should have a beautiful Pineapple Upside Down Cake ready to be sliced and served!
Hot from the Oven!

Cooled and Inverted on to a Plate

Sliced and Ready to Serve!

Please do try out this recipe! I hope you have as much fun as I did in making and also devouring it. As always, I'm happy to hear form you!

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