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
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Stefanie says
I have a 9″ glass pie dish but it’s only 1.5″ deep. Would that work for this recipe?
Sam says
Hi, Stefanie! It will work, just make sure you don’t overfill it. 🙂
Stefanie says
The cake came out wonderful. Brought it to a super bowl get together and everyone enjoyed it! Thank you for the recipe
Sam says
Yay! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Dona says
Can I use almond milk? Thanks
Sam says
The cake may not be as moist if you do.
Kathambi says
Thankyou so much for this recipe! I followed it to the T and it came out sooo well.. It was over before I knew it.. Yum!! Thanks again!
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how you liked it! <3
Norma McAndrew says
I made this tonight and it came out so good. Your personality that requires you to keep trying till you get is right is so appreciated and well worth the time you put in to it for the end result. I look forward to trying more recipes. Keep striving for perfection. You nailed it this time.
Sam says
Thank you so much Norma! I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
joey e says
i don’t have any cherries- could i make it without them?
Sam says
Hi, Joey! Yes it will be fine without the cherries. 🙂
Shanthi says
Instead of pineapple & cherries , shall I try using bananas & grapes.
Sam says
I’m not sure how those will work, sounds like an interesting combination, though!
Cathy says
This cake was very good. Next time I make it I will use a bigger pan as I thought the cake was a little thick (just my opinion). Other than that it was a big hit. My husband asked me to keep the recipe so that tells me it is a very good pineapple upside down cake.
PS: he is getting his 2nd piece as I type😊
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Cathy! I’m surprised he’s only on slice #2. 😂
Anna Ellis says
Could I double the recipe and use a 9×13?
Sam says
Hi Anna! The recipe will work to double and place in a 9 x 13, but I am not sure how long it would need to bake.
Pay says
how Far ahead of time is it ok to make this ? I need it for an event tomorrow night . I was also thinking of making individual cakes in a large muffin tin .. do you think this would work ?
Sam says
It will be fine to keep until the next day. I have not tried them in large muffin tins, I think it will work, but I don’t know how long they would need to bake. 🙂
Magan says
This is my first homemade cake and I’m super excited and I’m testing it tomorrow with my coworkers!!! I can smell it and if it taste as good as it smells, then I know it’s a hit! The only thing that I added was a splash of pinapple juice just because I was curious lol!
Sam says
I hope everyone loves it! 🙂
Ranjeeta Mathew says
Hi can I make this in a bundt tin?would the baking time be the same?
Sam says
Hi! Yes you can make it in a bundt tin but I’m not sure how long it would need to bake that way.
Suzy Urick says
Hi,
Are you using canned pineapple rings? Yours looks so much richer in color. Or is it the baking that changes them?
Suzy
Sam says
Hi Suzy! Yes I usually use canned pineapples. When you bake them, they will turn a much richer yellow color. 🙂
suzy urick says
It was amazing and the pineapples were gorgeous! Great recipe
Gabriella says
Awesome!!! Very good:)
Sam says
Thank you so much, Gabriella! 🙂
Musicknitter says
This looks amazing! My sisters favorite kind of cake! We are leaving camping. Her birthday is a few days after we leave. Can I freeze it? Do I leave it in the pan, freeze, thaw and reheat? Help! Trying to figure all this out!!!
Sam says
Pineapple upside down cake typically tastes best right after making. I would be worried about the cake degrading after a few days. It would be safe to keep it refrigerated for several days without eating it, but again I would worry the texture would degrade and it would be unpleasant.
Musicknitter says
What about freezing it? My trailer oven is not the most accurate!
Sam says
I think freezing it would work, just make sure to cool it completely before freezing. 🙂
Katherine Brevard says
Great flavor and moistness was spot on!
I used the gram weights given for the ingredients and at first thought maybe I missed something because I couldn’t “pour” the batter…it turned out fabulous!!! Thank you for listing the recipe with both volume and grams.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed the cake Katherine! Baking with weights is a real game changer. It really helps reduce over-measurements. 🙂