This one is the mother of all pineapple upside down cakes. I was thinking back to the days of childhood and somehow remembered a great upside down pineapple cake that I had only once when visiting my gorgeous aunt who spoilt us silly with her fantastic cooking when me and my brother came to visit her in San Francisco. Somehow I never had another upside down pineapple cake again, it was just not on my moms repertoire of cakes, so she never got around to making it no matter how much I badgered her as a kid! Anyway, after randomly thinking of my aunts cake the other day, I embarked on a mission to go make my own upside down pineapple cake, and it was gonna have to be the very best pineapple upside down cake ever…
I came across this recipe on Simply Recipes and had to try it out, and so glad I did…it was like striking oil on the first try. The recipe is such a winner that we can’t stop eating it! Â The sponge is super moist and springy, with nice caramel pineapples on top which look glazed to perfection. Just be sure to leave everything out a few hours before so everything is at room temprature when you want to get baking. This cake is perfect for tea time if you have a ton of family around or dessert after dinner. If it is on your counter, trust me no one can resist walking past without helping themselves to a slice. It taste really great warmed up as well as cold…seriously just make this cake, it is so awesome!
INGREDIENTS
Makes 12 to 14 servings.
Caramel Topping
- 1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 can (20 oz) of pineapple slices
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 6 Tbsp cake flour
- 6 Tbsp of ground almonds (from about 2 oz of whole almonds)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups of sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sour cream
METHOD
1Â Start by making the caramel topping. Take brown sugar and butter and combine and melt in a saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly, this should take several minutes. (After sugar melts, don’t stir.) Pour mixture into a greased 10 inch diameter stick-free cake pan with 2 inch high sides. Arrange pineapple slices in a single layer ontop of the caramel mixture.
2Â Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk the flours, almonds, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 additions each, beating well after each addition. Pour cake batter over caramel and pineapple in pan.
3Â Bake cake until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Ha, we were just talking about how Mom used to make this cake all the time also!! Too funny, will need to try this out 🙂
Hey! so funny i was also thinking about it, that cake was seriously good! Well let me know what you think when you guys try this one out! x 🙂
Gorgeous! <3
Thanks Sophie! Its one of those must try recipes! 🙂
that looks so good!
Thanks Greg!