After a series of trial and error, I finally am ready to present to you the best easy pineapple upside-down cake from scratch! Made with a soft, fluffy, and simple vanilla cake recipe that uses only the most basic ingredients and a pretty topping of caramelized pineapple and maraschino cherries, this classic recipe is slated to be a staple in your baking repertoire.
If you follow my Instagram stories, you might be tired of seeing this pineapple upside-down cake already. That’s because it took me so many times to get it right, and every time I thought I nailed it, I shared it on Instagram, and then it turned out that I hadn’t quite turned out like I’d hoped, after all.
Sorry about that.
It was the fluffy vanilla cake layer that was so difficult. The pineapple and cherry top (/bottom?) is the easy part, it’s just a matter of combining melted butter and brown sugar in a pie plate and assembling your fruit, but a well-suited vanilla cake was much trickier to get right.
Can you believe that my biggest problem was that my cake started out being much too moist?
I wanted a vanilla cake that was reliable and would come out right every time, I needed it to be fluffy and soft, but it also needed to be sturdy enough that it could handle a little bit of weight on top once it was inverted, and not so moist that it absorbed all of the juices from the fruit, leaving you with a soggy sponge for a cake. Mostly, I wanted to answer the question:
How do you make a pineapple upside-down cake from scratch?
It doesn’t seem so difficult, but it took me about 8 attempts to get right.
The answer is simple, it takes pineapple, cherries, butter, sugar, flour, milk, eggs, and baking powder. The ratios took a while to perfect, but after some experimentation with eliminating the buttermilk and sour cream that I had been using in my recipe (and getting a bit friendlier with the baking powder than I initially was comfortable with), I finally achieved a stable, versatile, from-scratch vanilla cake layer that paired perfectly with the fruit topping and was not at all sponge-y.
The best part is that this vanilla cake recipe calls for only the most basic ingredients, making for an extremely easy pineapple upside down cake.
The final result was perfection ^^^
In anticipation of a question I get asked frequently about inverting cakes, I wanted to address the best way to flip your pineapple upside-down cake. Trust me, it’s extremely simple, but since the inversion part is so critical to this pineapple upside-down cake, I wanted to address that here, but I’m sorry if this seems too rudimentary to you!
How do I flip a pineapple upside-down cake?
- Allow your pineapple upside-down cake to cool for 10-15 minutes before you attempt inversion. If any of the cake has baked into the edge of your pie plate or cake pan, you can use a knife to gently loosen the edges and free them from the pan.
- Place your cake platter (or any plate that’s larger than your pineapple upside-down cake) over the pan — plate surface should be facing your vanilla cake layer.
- Using oven mitts carefully and firmly grip both the side of the cake platter and the cake pan on either side.
- Carefully but quickly flip everything over so that the bottom of the cake pan is facing upwards, and then set down your cake platter and carefully remove the cake pan (careful, it will still be hot!)
And that is it! This cake tastes best warm, so while you still want it to cool a bit, I don’t recommend waiting too long to dig in!
Enjoy!
How to make Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
Topping
- 1/4 cup butter melted (60g)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar tightly packed (100g)
- 10 pineapple rings/slices patted dry
- maraschino cherries
Vanilla Cake
- 1/2 cup butter softened to room temperature (115g)
- 3/4 cup sugar (150g)
- 2 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (195g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk room temperature preferred (120ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
- Pour melted butter into 9" pie plate or deep cake pan, make sure it entirely covers the bottom of the pan and use a spoon or spatula to grease the sides of the pan.
- Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter mixture. Arrange pineapple slices over the bottom of the pan, slice leftover slices in half and arrange up the sides of the pan, as seen in photo.
- Place cherries in center of pineapple rings and as desired in empty spaces. Set aside.
- To prepare vanilla cake, beat butter and sugar in medium-sized bowl until creamy and well-combined.
- Add eggs, beating one at a time until combined.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternate adding flour and milk to the wet ingredients, starting and ending with flour and mixing until just combined after each addition (I prefer to do this part by hand with a spatula to be sure not to overmix).
- Pour batter evenly over prepared cake pan and pineapple/cherry layer.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, loosely cover with foil and continue to bake (still on 350F/175C) for another 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with few crumbs (total cook time for cake will be 45 minutes).
- Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and then carefully invert cake onto serving platter (careful, it will still be very hot!).
- Allow to cool before cutting and enjoying, but don't wait too long as this cake tastes wonderful (best!) warm from the oven!
Nutrition
PIN IT:
You Might Also Like:
Brenda says
How many pineapple slices are in a can 15 oz or a 20 oz can? I’m not sure which one to get. I will be using two round cake pans.
I always order my groceries online and the grocery website doesn’t say.
Sam says
Hmm, I think you would need at leasts a 20 oz can, I can’t recall how many rings are in each can
Tucker says
Would this cake be too moist to stack two layers? If I were to bake them separately but when inverting, invert the second cake onto the first?
Sam says
This is a very moist cake, but it is fairly sturdy. That being said, I don’t know how well this would hold up to stacking like that.
Jamie says
If you have to bake it the day before you eat it, does it need to be refrigerated until you eat it? (Baking it the day before Thanksgiving)
Sam says
It really tastes best warm, but it will be ok to stay in a container on the counter.
Lindsey says
Are you able to add rum to this recipe? If yes, where would you add it?
Sam says
I believe you can. You would add it after the vanilla extract, but I am not sure how much you would add.
Mikael says
This cake is INCREDIBLE!!! What I loved most is that, unlike many pineapple upside down cake recipes, the cake itself is NOT pineapple flavored. I know a lot of people love adding pineapple juice into the cake but I find that overwhelming. This cake was super moist with a delicate vanilla flavor. It was complimented perfectly by the pineapple. I am not a huge fan of pineapple upside down cake but it’s my boyfriend’s favorite, so I made it for him but I ate over half the cake myself! I let it cool ten minutes before flipping and it flipped perfectly it came right out and looked beautiful. I cannot praise this cake enough!!! Not overpoweringly sweet. So moist. Melodious flavors. Just amazing. Amazing.
Sam says
You only ate half?! That’s some amazing control! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it. ☺️
Tracy Newman says
IF im not serving until tomorrow could i leave in pan and lightly reheat, then flip it when it is going to be served?
Sam says
I think that would work. ☺️
Regina says
so thrilled with this cake I followed the suggestions it tripled in size amazing thank you
Sam says
Yay! I am so glad you enjoyed it. ☺️
Chelsea B. says
This recipe was a huge hit and it was my first time making a pineapple upside down cake. The cake recipe was so delicious and easy! I will definitely be holding on to this recipe! Fantastic!!
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear that it was such a hit! Thank you for commenting, Chelsea, I appreciate it! 🙂
Christine Klem says
This recipe is amazing. It turned out PERFECT the first time and has now become my trademark dessert!
The only comment that you may consider adding is that it is a cake that should be made the same day that it is to be enjoyed (the color the following day is not gorgeous).
I wonder if it could be prepared ahead (ready for the oven) in the morning and then put into the oven 6-8 hours later. My family loves it and wants to gobble it up as soon as I flip it over 10 min out of the oven, and I am not sure that it will be as amazing if the batter sits in the refrigerator for several hours before it bakes. I imagine some types of cakes are more forgiving than others and wonder about this.
Sam says
Hi, Christine! I would be worried that the batter would dry on in the refrigerator if it sat that long. You could try covering it tightly and refrigerating it, but I don’t know how it will turn out. I am so glad everyone enjoys it! 🙂
Bethany Souza says
I see u used a glass pie pan. Have u used a reg 9in metal cake pan
Sam says
If it’s deep enough that will be fine, but the cake may need to cook for less time so keep that in mind.
aimi says
Hi, can i use square pan 9″ to replace the round one?how long you will suggest to bake the cake if i use square pan?tq!
Sam says
The baking time in a square pan, the baking time would be similar. If it is in a metal pan, it would be a little faster, just keep an eye on it. 🙂