Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This recipe has been a long time in the making. I attempted to make this during the winter & after about 3 failed attempts, I gave up.

The reason I gave up? 
 
The cake wasn’t photogenic.

I’ve said this a million times but I’m going to say it again:  my cooking skills are more ‘looks terrible but tastes fantastic’.  And pineapple upside down cake is the truest representation of this.  When I have to take pictures for the #omgblog, things get messy.   In my attempts at food styling, I once destroyed an entire pineapple upside down cake!  That wasn’t very fun.  I still ate it anyway because #cake, but my pineapple upside down blog post dreams were crushed…

Until today.

I finally decided to give the ol’ pineapple upside down cake another try.  With summer potluck season right around the corner, I figured now was the perfect time to make this again.  It is too good to keep to myself any longer.  So what if it looks weird?  It’s delicious! 

Aaand it’s still not photogenic!

The photos in this post are absolutely terrible & do not do this cake any justice.  For something so delicious, it’s incredibly difficult to photograph!  With a cake this good though, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it being photogenic.  It will be gone before you could even take a picture of it!  (At least that’s what I keep telling myself! )  But if you can make this cake photogenic, please share your secrets!

I snagged this recipe from my mom.  She’s been making this for years.  So many years in fact, that I remember making this recipe with her during my senior year of high school. It was for a “bring in some homemade food” thing for my Home Ec. type class.  The reason I remember this so vividly is because the night before, my senior class had their “senior prank”. It consisted of camping out on the lawn in front of the school. #sounique.  Back then, I legit couldn’t function on less than 8 hours of sleep. I got approximately 0 zero hours that night.  I was beyond tired & the only reason I stuck it out in school the next day was because I had to bring this cake to the class.  The worst part of it all? The class was in the afternoon!  But you better believe that as soon as that class was over, I was on my way home!

What I’m trying to say is that this cake recipe has been around a long time.  I didn’t want to go home in the morning, so the cake  went with me that night.  That should be its tagline:  so good it can survive a night in a car! 

Now that I’m an “adult”, I’m forced to make pineapple upside down cakes alone in my own kitchen & eat them while they’re still warm from the oven.  If only senior year me could see me now.  I actually think she would be most amazed at my ability to function on very little sleep!

Anyway, this recipe is guaranteed to be hit at your festivities, whether it's summer or not.  We actually make this a lot for my dad’s birthday in December & it’s just as good during that time of the year.  Who am I kidding though?  Cake is a good option any time of the year.  Whether you’re taking it to a summer cookout or hauling it in your car overnight for a senior class, this cake is irresistible!
I’ll admit, when I look at recipes & see tons of ingredients, my eyes start to glaze over & I generally skip over them.  This cake is an exception.  Yes, there are more ingredients than I would typically like, but the cake itself is soo good.  I’ve seen pineapple upside down cake recipes that use a boxed cake mix & I’m sure they’re good, but there’s something about a homemade cake with this recipe that makes it irresistible.

If you’re like me & have major anxiety over actually flipping the cake over, you could always leave it upside down.  Sure, it isn’t very pretty, but it can stay in the baking dish for easy transport to all of your festivities.  Even if it doesn’t look like the typical “upside down” cake, it still is delicious cake & you can’t go wrong with that.

The actual “upside down” part of this cake is so easy, though.  I’ve used a glass pan for all of my attempts & it just came right out of the pan without any problems.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
by Tiff @ onthecreekblog.com May-24-2017
A classic homemade cake perfect for any occasion!

Ingredients
(Cake)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Egg
• 2/3 cup pineapple juice (from can)

(Pineapple Glaze)

• 3 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 20oz can pineapple rings
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions - Preheat oven to 350 degrees

(Cake)
- Combine flour, baking powder & salt.  Set aside
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter & sugar
- Add egg & vanilla & mix until blended (about 1 minute)
- Add dry ingredients & pineapple juice, alternately.

(Pineapple Glaze)
- Pour melted butter into the bottom of an 8x8 glass cake pan in an even layer
- Sprinkle brown sugar over the butter
- Arrange pineapple rings over the sugar mixture.
(I managed to get 9 rings into the bottom by overlapping)
- Pour cake over the pineapple glaze
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Let sit for 5 minutes & then flip!