Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Recipe (2024)

Maraschino cherries are traditional, but can be replaced with pecan halves and/or pitted prunes, placed best side down in the holes and gaps of the pineapple. And I am willing to bet that Millie Peartree uses buttermilk, as I do, added alternately with the dry ingredients. The Greek yogurt thinned with milk seems like unnecessary, trendy fussiness.

My wife put soy sauce in the unlabeled container where we usually put vanilla extract, and you probably know where this is headed - I ended up putting 1/2 tsp of soy instead of vanilla in the topping! Luckily my daughter caught the mistake before I also put the soy sauce in the cake. In the end though, I think the soy in the topping added a dash of umami and cut the sweetness in the fruit just a bit. Overall, delicious!

Yes you can. I always make it with fresh pineapple and Amarena cherries. So much better than canned pineapple and those horrible tasting, garishly red, maraschino cherries.

This is an old fashioned recipe made using pantry staples. It is quick and economical. I'm sure it would be great with fresh pineapple, but in our rural stores fresh pineapples are usually very unripe and quite expensive.

This is my go-to dessert. I use a yellow cake mix, lemon or orange zest, a good brand of canned pineapple, dark brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and a few raisins.Pineapple juice (instead of water) and zest go in the batter. Over 1 1/4 sticks of butter melted in a 9x13” pan, I layer 1 1/2 C sugar, a dust of cinnamon, pineapple rings or chunks, raisins and the batter and bake as directed. The moisture and flavor improves if made a day ahead. It’s always a hit, especially with whipped cream.

We always cook it in a cast iron skillet, but the ones that are enamel coated are even better. Magic and oh, so good!

Let's not yuck other peoples' yum, shall we? Maraschino cherries are traditional, almond flavored, and the color of fun.

Hi Nancy, I have the same problem! Try this: hold down the Ctrl key (left of space bar) and press the + symbol. The screen text will increase in size.

Though Greek yogurt may be "trendy", I am much more likely to have it on hand than buttermilk. It makes a great sub for sour cream and other dairy products, plus I like to eat it!

This was delicious. I used a 9" cake pan as written. The cake was quite high so when I tipped it over, it rolled a bit to one side. :) Next time I think I will use a 10" cake pan to make it a bit more squat and to get more pineapple real estate on the bottom.

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but as someone who does occasionally use a box mix, my experience is that cakes from scratch are ALWAYS better! And my sisters the cake bakers would agree. It doesn't seem to complicated to me, although it may to others. Let's try it & see!

Hi, WJ! Thank you for flagging. The headnote was incorrect: You can use the pineapple juice in place of the whole milk (not buttermilk).

Hi! I made this today using fresh peaches in the topping. It was delicious! The cake is nice and light and the topping good, sweet but not too sweet. I added a few extra spices - ground ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon - in the topping and the cake, and used sour cream since out of yoghurt, but otherwise followed the recipe. A pleasant, relatively easy cake. Tasty! Recommend it.

Can one use fresh pineapple instead of canned? And will Amarena cherries work instead of maraschino?

If you’re going to the trouble of making your cake then for God’s sake buy a fresh pineapple. Canned is nothing like the real thing. You might need to plan ahead a few days to allow your unripe market pineapple to be ready but the result is totally worth it. Add your maraschino cherries if you wish but I prefer to leave them out. Eat it for dessert and next day for breakfast. Wonderful.

Made it as written except in a 12 in. stainless steel Cuisinart skillet and using about a 1/2 jar of Luxardo maraschino cherries leftover from the Holiday co*cktail season. It was exceptionally delicious with beautifully caramelized fruit and a slightly toasted edge. Because it was baked in the larger skillet the cake spread over a wider area and therefore thinner. However, my family all thought the depth of the cake was perfect and was not overdone or dry at 45 mins of baking time.

I love this cake. I didn’t have cake flour so I added cornstarch and it turned out with a moist but fluffy texture. The 2nd time I made it I increased the amount of caramel topping by 1.5, which I think made it better.

Making this in the tropics with freshly picked pineapple. The fruit was so fresh I didn’t want to spoil it with imitation vanilla (all that was available), so substituted Campari. Also substituted 1/4 cup of Cassava flour for all purpose flour which worked beautifully

This is a tasty and simple cake recipe. The pineapple adds a sweet (but not too sweet) topping, and the cake itself is light, fluffy, and moist.

Can you sub sour cream for the greek yogurt?

You can only enjoy an upside down cake made with canned pineapple, if you've never tasted it made with fresh pineapple. The difference in flavor is astounding!Now I only make the cake if I can get fresh pineapple. I also skip the ultra red dyed maraschino cherries, which don't resemble anything edible...

Bake in a cast iron skillet like my grandmother used for a cake that looked just like this picture. I miss her.

We used to make these back in the 70s using an electric frying pan, tinned pineapple & those gosh-awful maraschinos in the thick syrup that were dyed lipstick red & the consistency of plastic. The cake was standard fare at every dinner party & perfect if you lived in a dorm at uni, no oven needed. I was living in Toronto at the time, so hardly "Southern". I suspect you can still find the recipe in old Sunbeam appliance manuals.

I made this for my dad for Father's Day, as he really loves pineapple upside down cake. I followed the directions, except I don't like maraschino cherries, so substituted with dark sweet cherries. I used frozen, but canned would work fine, too. The cake was a hit with Dad, and was very tasty and moist.

This cake takes me instantly to my childhood as my mother used to do it as "dessert elegante" in the '60s. She used half walnuts instead of cherries and It was perfect. Try It!** funny that my mother was making in Italy a cake that is so american, maybe it was part of the fascination of those years towards everything coming from USA

I have always used the Fanny Farmer recipe aka cottage pudding, but for the pineapple I prefer to use a can or two of well-drained crushed pineapple. What this loses in initial presentation is quickly re-gained after cutting and serving the first slice. Those round slices look great until you try cut them while dishing up slices. Plus everyone gets lots of pineapple and lots of buttery caramely topping. I believe FF also says to remove the cake from the pan onto a platter within 5 min.

I use a 9" springform pan, makes for easy unmoulding. A parchment paper circle lets me avoid the pattern on the bottom of the pan.

The actual baking part is glossed over! What’s the recommended temperature? I’m at total novice at this.

My frosting-averse friends love when I bake this cake, and I love how simple it is. For a little extra pineapple sweetness, consider straining and simmering down the pineapple juice into a light syrup, poking holes into the cake bottom with a toothpick as it cools, and brushing the syrup on before flipping. I find this helps the cake stay moist, especially as a next-day breakfast treat.

If you’re thinking of using all-purpose flour, note the crumb will be a little more dense than with cake flour but it still turned out great. I used fresh pineapple and maraschino cherries. We had it for dessert but I can’t wait to have eat it in the morning with coffee!