Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Have all ingredients at room temp before beginning. Have ready a 9-inch skillet or a 9x2 inch round pan or bunt pan.

INGREDIENTS:
7 slices canned, unsweetened pineapple (from 20 oz can)
3 TBSP unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
19 maraschino cherries (optional)
19 cooked pitted prune halves or quarters (optional)
19 pecan halves (optional)
2 large eggs
2 Tbs buttermilk (to make your own: mix 1/2 Tbs white vinegar or lemon juice with almost 1/2 cup milk. Let sit 5 min. You will use 1/2 cup total in this recipe)
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (don't add if using regular butter)

6 Tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
6 Tbs buttermilk


DIRECTIONS:
Drain pineapple and place on 1 layer on paper towels to absorb the excess juice

Place butter in the skillet or cake pan. Place the pan in the oven just until the butter is melted, or melt it on the top of the stove. Tilt to coat all sides with butter. The extra butter will settle in the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Place 1 pineapple ring on the brown sugar in the center of the pan and arrange 6 more around it. In the center of each ring and in the spaces between them, place cherries, prunes or pecans (all optional).

Whisk together eggs, buttermilk and vanilla with a fork.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt for a few seconds with an electric mixer in a large bowl.

Add softened butter and  6 Tbsp buttermilk (8 Tbsp total)

Beat on low speed just until moistened. Increase speed to medium with a hand held mixer and beat for exactly 1.5 minutes. The batter will be stiff. Add 1/3 egg mixture at a time, beating for exactly 20 seconds and scraping the bowl after each addition. Scrape the batter over the fruit in the pan and spread evenly. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove cake from oven and tilt pan in all directions to detach from the sides. Let cool 2-3 minutes before unmolding. Invert a serving platter on top of pan and flip. Scoop remaining fruit/topping from pan and spoon over cake.

Recipe from The Joy of Cooking Cookbook

2 comments:

Rachel Rowell said...

thanks for adding this!

Anonymous said...

You're welcome. It's a long recipe, and I even shortened it a bit. But oh so good!