A dessert: Pineapple upside down cake
Entertaining my little boy again tonight, so time for another easy baking project he could help with. He loves pineapple and we had some a couple of days old, so time to do something with it. Recipe from The Joy of Cooking (I've always had good luck with the basics from there). Took about 20 minutes to prep and get in the oven, bake at 350F for a little over 35 minutes.Pineapple upside down cake
This was made with fresh pineapple bought in chunks so no "disks" or circles (from the can) with cherry's in it.
Recipe:
- Drain and place one paper towel in 1 layer to absorb excess juice: 7 slices canned unsweetened pineapple (or equivalent fresh)
- Melt in a 9x2" circular cake pan: 3 tablespoons unsalted butter. Tilt to coat sides with butter.
- Sprinkle evenly over bottom of the pan: 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
- Place 1 pineapple ring in the center, and arrange 6 more around it, and place in the centers of the rings, and in between, 19 maraschino cherries, or pecan halves (or just fill with chunks, like I did)
- Whisk together in bowl: 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons buttermilk (I did not have any so I used just under 2 T of regular milk and a little lemon juice because some acidity is needed for the baking poweder to work), and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix together in a mixing bowl: 1 cup all purpose flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- Add to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until everything is just moistened: 6 tablespoons of unsalted, softened butter, 6 tablespoons of buttermilk (I again used regular milk, and this time some pineapple juice).
- Increase speed to high and mix for 1.5 minutes.
- In three steps, add 1/3 of the egg mixture, mix high speed for 20 seconds, and repeat until all incorporated.
- Scrape batter on top of pineapple, spread evenly and smoothen out.
- Bake in 350F preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and tilt to all sides to loosen cake from sides of pan. Let cool for a couple of minutes.
- Place serving plate on top of cake pan, upside down, and using oven mitts hold the combination and flip over and remove cake pan.
- Let cool a little more and serve!
--dolf
See my My Bread Adventures in pictures