grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

  • Home
  • Biography
  • Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • My Thoughts on Publishing
  • SHOP!
  • Garden
  • Food
  • Crafts
  • Farm
  • Reading & Books
  • Sunday Letter

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake

October 13, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 2 Comments

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I made mini pineapple upside down cake for bookclub Tuesday night. Our book of the monthย was The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin, which I’m sorry to say I haven’t read yet. Even so, sinceย the book was set inย the 1950s and 60s, I wanted to make a retro-chic dessert popular during that time.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake has an interesting history that originated back when most everything was cooked in a cast iron skillet. Flip cakes, as they were known, involved some sort of fruit on the bottomโ€”usually apples, cherries or plumsโ€”layered with sugar and a thin batter. The cake could be baked on an open fire, stovetop, or oven. When the batter was done, flippingย the cake onto a plate made for an instant fruit and glazed sugar display. (If you think about it, this soundsย almost like a layered cobbler.)

In the early 1900s,ย James Dole and the Hawaiian Fruit Companyย inventedย a machine that slicedย pineapples into rings. Bringing exotic canned pineapple to the masses further popularizing the Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I found my recipe at Taste of Homeย and made a few simple modifications including adding extra pineapple to the batter and increasing the amount of butter and brown sugar.ย It’s an easy one that uses a yellow box cake mix. If you only bakeย “from scratch”, well, kudos to you. I say, whatever works.ย Sometimes I let Betty Crocker work her magic.

Mini Upside Down Cakes - easy spin on an original

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 can 20 ounces pineapple tidbits
  • 1 small jar of maraschino cherries
  • 1 package yellow cake mix regular size
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup canola oil

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously oil 24 muffin tins. (And I mean generously.)
  • In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and melted butter. Add a heaping spoonful into the bottom of each muffin tin.
  • Drain pineapple well and reserve a cup of liquid. Add a few pieces of pineapple into each muffin tin on top of brown sugar mixture. Add a maraschino cherry in the center.
  • In a large bowl, add cake mix, eggs, oil, and pineapple liquid. Using your hand mixer, blend on low for 30 seconds and medium for 2 minutes. Fold in remaining pineapple.
  • Pour batter into each tin until 3/4 filled.
  • Bake approximately 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
  • The easiest way to flip these cakes from the muffin tin is to place a platter or cookie sheet on top of the muffin tin and turn over. Then, carefully place each individual cake on a wire rack and cool completely.

Notes

Serve as soon as possible.

My mini pineapple upside down cakeย was a hit at book club. Regarding The Swans of Fifth Avenue, reviews were mixed. I plan to read it because I’m intrigued by Truman Capote.ย What a brilliant, tortured train wreck.

I’m curious if you’ve read The Swans of Fifth Avenue, and if so, what did you think? And, do you have aย favorite Capote book?

[tweetthis]Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake – modern twist on a classic #recipe #dessert #foodporn[/tweetthis]

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Filed Under: Food & Recipes, Reading & Books Tagged With: book club, comfort food, Desserts, favorite recipes, pineapple, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, vintage recipes

Wanna receive posts via email? Sign up here!

Comments

  1. Rhonda G. Williams says

    October 13, 2016 at 10:07 am

    Haven’t read it, it’s pre-ordered and due to be delivered the 25th of October! I do love Truman Capote; my absolute favorite book is Other Voices, Other rooms.

    Reply
  2. Dorothy Johnson says

    October 16, 2016 at 4:32 pm

    Sounds good. I like the idea of using a different fruit because Terry doesn’t care for pineapple. On the other hand, if I use it, there’d be more for me. Nah–that’s be too much, so I might try apples with Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines. I’m all for convenience.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating





Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

Never miss a blog post! Subscribe via email:

Prior Posts

Tags

A to Z April Blog Challenge Autumn BAT Book Reviews childhood Christmas creative writing prompt Dallas Desserts Eureka Springs Fall Fayetteville Food Gracie Lee Halloween Hemingway-Pfeiffer home humor Johnson Family Keiser Lake Norfork Lucy and Annabelle Mississippi County Mississippi Delta Monarch butterflies Munger Place Nana nature Northeast Arkansas Northwest Arkansas Osceola poem Reading Schnauzer simple living simple things spring spring gardening Summer sunday letter Talya Tate Boerner novel The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee Thomas Tate Winter Wordless Wednesday

Books by Talya Boerner / Purchase in Grace Grits SHOP

Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

What’s Trending?

  • There’s Nothing Common about the Common Buttonbush
  • September Sunday Letter
  • A Sunday Letter Vacation
  • Sunday Letter: 07.16.23
  • Sunday Letter: 07.09.23

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!

All content and photos Copyright Grace, Grits and Gardening © 2023 ยท Web Hosting By StrataByte