Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

If you think this is a cake only your grandmother would make, you have the world’s best grandmother. Do you know what happens when you put a base of sugar below sweet, juicy fruit and bake it? It browns at the edges, so you get that chewier, almost crispy in places, caramel-y outside and that softer, moister, fluffier inside. I made a double recipe and ate the second one from the top down — from caramelized top to cake-y bottom.

The only ways you can mess this up are by using pineapple from a can and letting the cake fall apart when you flip it. You have a lot more control of the former than the latter.

Buy a pineapple and let it sit on your counter until you can pull one of the green leaves from the top fairly easily. In winter, I sometimes have to leave the pineapples out for a week and a half before they’re ready. Another way of checking is when the bottom gets a little soft by the core. Some people say it smells stronger when it’s ready, but after weeks of living in a refrigerator unit, you’d have a tough time being aromatic, too.

The only other thing I changed from a traditional upside-down cake recipe was to use a gluten-free flour blend in place of all-purpose. The cake doesn’t have to rise, so it doesn’t really matter.

Oh, and yes you can make this with other fruit, like mangoes. Here’s some inspiration from Supriya at Quiche ‘n’ Tell.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Cool Grandma Style

2 tbsp Earth Balance (or butter)
2/3 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar, or cane sugar mixed with a 1/2 tsp molasses—use you hands to rub in the molasses until all the sugar is darker)
2 cups pineapple slices
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar (cane sugar is slightly better than refined white sugar, I think)
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk or plain, unsweetened coconut or soy yogurt (you can use sweetened vanilla almond milk or yogurt if you like a sweeter cake)

Place Earth Balance in an 8″ cast-iron skillet or oven-proof dish. Put in 350˚F oven for 4-5 minutes (you can do this while the oven’s preheating), or until melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle brown sugar on top. Place pineapple slices over top. You can make this into a pretty pattern or just fit them as tightly together as possible. If they overlap a little that’s okay, but the more surface area you have of pineapples, the more caramelized pineapple you’ll have in the end, which you definitely want.

In a large bowl, beat the oil, other sugar, eggs and vanilla on high speed until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  On low speed, beat 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then add half the almond milk. Add half the remaining flour. Then all the remaining milk. Then the remaining flour.

Gently scrape batter over pineapple slices and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for five minutes, then scrape around edges and place a serving plate over top. Take a deep breath, then bravely flip onto the serving plate. Eat.