Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
The famous Pineapple Upside-Down Cake that everyone craves! I have baked this cake so many times and never had a flop until recently. You will never believe what the fiasco was because this is so simple that I could not believe it either.
I understand that not putting enough brown sugar in the pan can cause you to have a cake that is very light in color; you know that beautiful golden color on top! Well, it was not even the sugar. It was something so simple that made me so mad and believed me I would never do it again.
Pineapple Upside-Down CakeWhen baking a pineapple upside down cake, a basic cake recipe is usually ideal and whatever spices or extract you wish to add to make the cake more flavorful is always good to do. The cake can be baked perfectly, and you can even remove it from the pan immediately as it is usually done. But it is the latter that can cause a problem for me.
So the other day I made a pineapple upside down cake and was happy with the results, meaning enough sugar and baked perfectly. The problem was not removing it from the pan. I did remove the cake correctly from the pan and made one mistake that I think I will never make again. Did I say that before?
I used the wrong dish to transfer the cake. Yes, I did! The plate I used was not flat enough, so the cake was lopsided. Something told me to leave it alone, but I did not. I attempted to move and shake the cake so it could seat in the center of the plate. WRONG! I kept moving and shaking and never thought about what the heat inside the cake would do the batter.
The inside of the cake changed. Yes, it changed! The interior was just a very moist, and I say very moist almost like the batter just set. DING! DONG! Do you hear bells ring also? It almost looked like a lousy cheesecake inside. The inside looked like it was cooked but not cooked. It is nearly pasty. Can you believe this! Moving and shaking are not recommended for a perfect pineapple upside down cake. This note should be the first thing someone sees when reading a recipe. I believe this is a great tip that should be shared.
Did I bake another cake, you bet I did. So here is my perfectly baked Pineapple Upside Down Cake with a touch of Rum Barbancourt, just the way Haitian people make it.
Enjoy!
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray or butter for 10 inch round pan
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour sifted
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- ¾ cup pineapple juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ to 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 – 20 ounce can sliced pineapple or fresh pineapple
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- Cherries
- Dried Prunes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 10 inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and coat with flour.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla, rum and pineapple juice.
- Gradually add sifted flour mixed with baking powder and stir to incorporate
- Use additional butter or nonstick spray to prepare pan. Add brown sugar to prepared pan. Arrange the pineapple slices, prunes and cherries over the brown sugar. Reserve remaining pineapple slices and cherries for another use. Pour batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a platter and serve at room temperature.
- Yield 10 to 12 servings
Notes
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
Corn Allergy:
Always choose ingredients without corn or corn derivatives.
Are you Haitian? Because I never see pineapple upside-down cakes that contain prunes, the way my mom used to make it!
Yes, I am. Adding prunes to pineapple upside-down cake is a choice. You can read more about me and the blog here.
Hi Gemma! I’ve made your Gemmas Pineapple Upside Down cake recipe for my birthday every year, for the last 10 years. I don’t see it on your website anymore. Is there anyway you could send it to me? Or tell me what to add to this recipe? I know there was whole vanilla bean and lime juice. Thanks you for your time and recipes.
Sincerely,
Hi Julie! Wow! Thanks for sharing the love.
We were making some revisions to the blog post. Here’s the revised recipe: https://www.caribbeangreenliving.com/gemmas-pineapple-upside-down-cake/. Don’t forget to rate the recipe. Enjoy and Happy Birthday!
I don’t see rum listed in the recipe, but the title says with a TOUCH OF RUM. How much rum did you add?
Melissa, thank you for noticing that. I usually add 1 tablespoon of rum in my cake recipe. My preferred choice is rum barbancourt which is a dark rum. If not available in your area, you can use a good quality dark rum. Thanks again.