Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes.

I’ve been a little absent this week: for that, I apologize.  But there’s been some IRL-drama that has kept me from doing much of, well, anything.

Last week, I posted about my company’s 20th anniversary potluck.  Well… in a very tragic turn of events, our company president was killed in a single-engine plane crash this past weekend.  She was a vibrant, amazing, highly successful 46 year old woman who we all adored, so things have been really rough around here.

And I, being…well…ME… have been baking as a coping mechanism.  It seems to be far less destructive than booze or pills, and my coworkers and husband get to benefit as well, so it’s sort of a win-win.

These mini upside-down cakes have been on my Pinterest board for quite a while, and they seemed somewhat appropriate since our world is a little “upside down” at the moment.  They were also super easy.  And very delicious, and pretty comforting.  And visually pretty.  Just generally awesome.  And I just bought a new jumbo cupcake tin last week, so I wanted to test it out.

Ingredients:

For the Cake -

2 eggs
2/3 C white sugar
4 Tbsp pineapple juice
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup shredded coconut

 

For the Topping -

3 Tbsp light butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-can pineapple rings (NOTE: I used crushed pineapple instead, since I had an open can of it in my house, and I really liked the result.)
6-maraschino cherries

 

Directions:

Step one, as always – heat your oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, combined the egg, sugar, and pineapple juice.  Then slowly add your dry ingredients (I added about 1/8-1/4 cup at a time with the flour) and beat until well combined.

The original recipe called for using a small sauce pan to make your brown sugar syrup, but I was feeling a little lazy, so instead, I melted my butter in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave (about 15 seconds), then added the brown sugar, mixed well, and nuked in the microwave for another 30-45 seconds.  If you don’t have a microwave, just melt the butter & brown sugar together in a small sauce pan on the stove & let simmer on low for 1 minute.

Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray (will make 6 jumbos, or about 8 regular size cupcakes), and then divide the brown sugar syrup between the tins (about 1.5-2 tbsp per cake).  Then place a cherry in the middle of each tin, and then add your pineapple. (With the crushed pineapple, a heaping tablespoon filled each cup.)

Now pour your batter over top, dividing it equally between the cups.  Bake for 25 minutes for the jumbos, or about 20 minutes for the regular size cakes.

Voila!  Looks like lil’ angel food cakes, huh?

Let cool for about 3 minutes, and loosen the edges by running a butter knife around the outside of each cake.  Then place a wire rack over the top of the pan, and invert onto the rack.  You might want to place a cookie sheet under the rack in case any of the syrup drips down.

Let cool for a bit, then serve!

The cake part tasted a bit like angel food.  It was delicious…and sort of appropriate. :)

R.I.P. Robin…we miss you very much.

NutriFacts:

Calories 331.4

  Total Fat 8.6 g

  Saturated Fat 4.6 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 2.1 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.4 g

  Cholesterol 61.7 mg

  Sodium 295.3 mg

  Potassium 142.9 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 67.8 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.4 g

  Sugars 55.7 g

  Protein 4.2 g