Mother's Day Special Request: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My mom remembers her mother's Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Well, actually she remembers the Apricot Upside Down Cake that her mom used to make. So for Mother's Day, I thought, why not?  I snagged a recipe from one of my new favorite sites, Sunday-Suppers.com.

Baking cabinet

I enjoy baking. I have two cabinets in the kitchen devoted to baking supplies and ingredients. It's a little bit of a problem sometimes, just because I believe we have to have a back-up for the back-up as far as supplies go so there are always bags and bags of sugar, flour and other ingredients hanging around calling for us to bake them.

So, the PUD cake goes like this:

I am one of those guys who has to have it ALL on the counter, right?  Everything out and handy before I start.


I used a special PUD cake pan. Never again. Used once. Went straight to the Salvation Army box.  Give me a heavy gauge, dark steel pan any day.  This thing was way too thin and, well.. it didn't produce the prettiest product.

The first thing is to make the caramel that goes on the bottom of the pan. Sugar, one pat of butter and a teaspoon of water over medium heat until it turns dark brown... Mmmm.

Pour the caramel in the bottom of the pan, wait about 2 minutes and put in the pineapple (or whatever) slices.

The batter is simple, sweet and delicious. I used chopped, toasted pecans as my spin on it instead of macadamia nuts. I almost used pistachios, but maybe next time.

After baking, let it cool and invert on a plate.  This needs to be refrigerated and I personally like this cake ICE COLD. Delicious.

It may not be pretty around the edges but my goodness it tastes so good.  I can't wait for dessert after dinner!

Sunday-Suppers.com Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1 1/2 C sugar
8 T unsalted butter (1 stick) softened, plus more for greasing pan
1 1/2 c. AP flour
1/2 C whole macadamia nuts, toasted & rough chop (I used PECANS - its a Southern thing)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 lg eggs
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/4 t almond extract
3/4 C whole milk
1 can sliced pineapple

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees and lightly butter a 9-inch round cake pan.Iin a saucepan over medium heat combine 3/4 C sugar & 1 T water, stirring occasionally until deep golden brown add 1 T butter. 8-11 minutes.

Pour the caramel into the prepared cakepan. let cool slightly. then lay your pineapple slices on top of the caramel.

Combine the AP, macadamia nuts, baking powder & salt.  Beat 7 T butter & 3/4 C sugar in a large bowl of an electric mixer on medium high heat until fluffy & white.  Add the eggs one at a time incorporating each completely. Beat in the vanilla, almond, & coconut extract.  Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk.  Add in 3 batches each, beginning & ending with flour mixture. Pour the batter into your prepared pan.  Bake 45-50 minutes, let cool 30 minutes then invert on plate.