Pineapple Upside Down Cake

by admin • November 17, 2012 • Bakery, Dessert & Sweet treats, Recipes • 0 Comments

This is one of my go-to cake recipes when I need to whip up something nice and quick for dessert.

Or for tea-time snack.

Or after a rough day at work and I just needed to take the edge off.

It uses ingredients that are easily available at the local supermarket. For the topping, I substituted the brown sugar for gula melaka (palm sugar). This gives it a nice, subtle depth of flavor.

You can just use brown sugar if you want, but I urge you to try it at least once with gula melaka. The topping will turn out much darker which may not look very appetizing. But as they say, never judge a book by its cover.

Or in this case, a cake by its color.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake (adapted from JoyofBaking.com)

Makes one 8-inch cake

For the topping

4 tablespoons (¼ cup) (55 grams) unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
¾ cup (160 grams) gula melaka or brown sugar
1 can of sliced pineapple, drained and pat dry with kitchen towel

For the cake

1 ½ cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup (113 grams) salted butter, at room temperature
¾ to 1 cup (120 – 200 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup (120ml) milk

Preheat oven to 325°F / 170°C

Butter a deep 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pan with 3-inch (7.5 cm) sides

Topping: Place the butter, brown sugar and gula melaka in a small saucepan.

Stir over medium heat until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking, without stirring, for a few more minutes or until bubbles just start to appear around the edges (the sugar starts to caramelize).

Remove from heat and pour into your prepared cake pan.

Arrange the pineapple slices on top of sugar mixture.

Cake Batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.

With a mixer on high speed, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy for about 8 minutes.

Reduce speed to medium and beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides.

Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture (in three additions), alternately with the milk (in two additions), ending with the dry ingredients.

Pour batter into cake pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 -55 minutes, or until top of the cake has browned and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan (a skewer/knife inserted into the cake [not the pineapple] will come out clean). Cover with a piece of lightly buttered aluminum foil after about 30 minutes if you find the cake browning too much as it bakes.

Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes.

Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and then invert the cake onto your serving plate.

Serve with ice-cream – coconut or vanilla goes well with this cake.