Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
This classic combination of caramel, pineapple, cherries, and butter cake needs nothing to embellish it, but if you must, top it with a dollop of whipped cream to make it fancy! Other fruits are delicious baked in the same manner. Try plums, apricots, or fresh cherries.
INGREDIENTS | SERVES 8
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- fresh pineapple slices (enough to cover bottom of 9″ round cake pan)
- ¼ cup dried cherries, plumped in cherry or pineapple juice to cover for 15 minutes
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 8 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup milk
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt unsalted butter and brown sugar in a 9″ round cake pan directly on top of a stove burner on low heat until the mixture starts to foam and the sugar starts to caramelize. Remove from heat.
Lay the pineapple and cherries on top of the caramelized sugar mixture and set aside. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the salted butter with the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the butter/egg mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk.
Fold the whipped egg whites into the cake batter, and then pour the batter over the fruit in the cake pan.
Bake for 50 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven, run a knife around the cake pan to loosen the edge, and then invert the cake onto a plate by first holding a plate face-down over the cake pan, then flipping the pan over. Leave the cake pan on top for 5 minutes to let the fruit naturally fall onto the cake. Remove the cake pan, and let the cake cool before cutting.
