Nothing is quite as delicious as a homemade pineapple upside down cake. And nothing is easier to make than a bundt. I created this recipe to maximize the pineapple and brown sugar butter flavor, while using cheater ingredients in order to make life easy! This bundt is perfect for any occasion and is light, moist, and tastes like grandma used to make! Recipe below.
Pearl's Pineapple Upside Down Cake
What you'll need:
Bundt pan
Cooking spray with flour
2 cans of sliced pineapple rings in water
Maraschino cherries
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 box of vanilla instant pudding
Vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Brown sugar (1/2 cup)
Butter (1/4 cup)
*OPTIONAL: chopped walnuts (not used in the photo above because the husband said no)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Remove 1 can of pineapple rings and put on a small plate, saving the juice in the can
Take a sharp knife and slice the rings in half, set aside
Open the second can of pineapple rings and take out half
Chop up the pineapple rings into small pieces, set aside
Melt 1/4 cup of butter. Add 1/2 c. brown sugar to the butter and stir well.
In a large bowl beat the eggs and add as much air to the mixture as possible
Pour in the boxes of cake mix and pudding
Next add the vegetable oil and 1 c. of the reserved pineapple juice
Add 1/2 of your reserved chopped pineapple
Mix with a hand or stand mixer
Liberally spray your bundt pan with your cooking spray with flour. I love Pam.
Evenly distribute the brown sugar butter mix into the pan (only on the bottom, not sides)
Next, stand up your pineapple slices into the grooves of your bundt pan. I put 16 half slices into the bundt pan pictured above.
Then, place one cherry in between each pair of pineapple slices.
Take a large spoon and gently spoon in some of the batter atop the pineapple/cherries in order to help them stand up and keep their formation.
Then, evenly pour the remaining batter over the top.
Take the remaining chopped pineapple and evenly distribute on top of the batter ring. Slightly press them into the batter so that they are in the batter, but not fully submerged.
Bake the cake for approximately 30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out nearly clean. NOTE: ovens are finicky and 350 in my oven is more like 375. I baked my cake for 40 minutes at 325. Know thy oven. If you're not sure if your oven bakes high or low, try this: put your bundt in at 350. After 20 minutes test. If it's done, your oven bakes high. If at 20 minutes your cake is still batter in the middle, continue baking for 10 more minutes and test again. If after 30 minutes your bundt is done, congratulations - your oven is spot on. If you need 5 - 10 more minutes of baking time, your oven cooks low.
When the bundt is ready, remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then, place a plate or a cake stand over the top of the bundt, place your hand (in an oven mitt) underneath the bundt pan and FLIP! Voila! Although not easily shown in the photo, this bundt has fantastic gooey brown sugar butter glaze all along the top and looks gorgeous!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my husband and I did! Happy May everyone!
Love,
Miss Pearl