I was lucky enough to spend Mother’s Day with my family this year.
A few day’s before the actual event; my dad, sister, and I planned ways to make this year extra special. It was a little tricky because I was only able to be home for a few days before moving down South for the summer.
My dad assumed that I would be in charge of helping him make dinner, and I happily agreed. I also wanted to make a cake, because I like to do those things.
Come Sunday, my mom went to go work in a soup kitchen in downtown Indy all morning. This was perfect, while my sister hung out and my dad worked out, and I made the cake.
It gave me enough time to make it and bake it before going out for a Mother’s Day (late) lunch to one of our favorite restaurants, the Brugge Brasserie in Broad Ripple, IN.
Don’t those frites look wonderful?? (note: They are!)
After a big lunch, my parents went to go pick out what they wanted to cook for dinner and later we had another delicious dinner. After sitting and waiting for the right time, we surprised my mom with this amazing pineapple upside down cake.
This is one of the best pineapple upside down cakes I have ever tasted. I found the recipe on SmittenKitchen.com. Her recipe is much more mature then the pineapple upside down cake with the bright red maraschino cherries. And she describes it perfectly.
This is the quintessential summer cake.
My mom loved this cake. Actually, everyone seemed to enjoy it. It has a thick layer of caramel and a moist pineapple cake that is doused with rum. We topped ours with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, but it would be just as delicious on its own. Next time I am going to use more pineapple!
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Recipe (slightly) adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
Topping:
- 1/2 medium pineapple, cored and cut into quarters (I used a can of the rings packed in their own juice – but I recommend using fresh pineapple for that fresh pineapple flavor)
- 3/4 stick unsalted butter (I accidentally read this as 3/4 cup of butter so I had a LOT of carmel hence the funky looking pineapples sitting on top of the cake)
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (I upped this to 1 cup due to my butter fail)
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp dark rum
- 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
- 2 tbsp dark rum (for sprinkling on after baking)
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.
- If using fresh pineapple: slice off the top and bottom, then carefully cut down the sides of the pineapple to remove the rind. Then cut the pineapple into quarters, and cut off the core and slice. Arrange in the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan.
- In a small saucepan combine the butter and brown sugar. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Allow the caramel to cool slightly, then pour over the pineapple in the cake pan.
I did this next part all by hand. I thought it made the cake a little denser than if I were to have used an electric/handheld mixer, but it still had great flavor.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Then gradually beat in the sugar.
- Mix in the eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and rum.
- Mix in 1/2 the flour mixture. Then mix in the pineapple juice. Then the other half of the flour mixture.
- Spoon the batter over the pineapple and caramel layer. Bake for about 45 minutes. Remove when the tester comes out of the cake clean. Then sprinkle the 2 tbsp rum over the cake.
- Allow the cake to sit and cool for 5-10 minutes. Then invert onto a plate. (Make sure you keep the plate and pan held tightly!)
Enjoy!
