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:
Lynn Nuebel says
Great recipe! First time making this and I picked the RIGHT RECIPE! 5 🌟!
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you so much for the 5-star review, Lynn! I am so glad that you enjoyed the pineapple upside-down cake! 🙂
Jessica says
That cake was amazeballs. The batter came out a little more like dough for me (things commonly need more moisture in dry climates like where I live) so I just added the juice from my pineapple.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the pineapple up-side down cake, Jessica! Thanks for trying my recipe! 🙂
Sunitha says
Great recipe…I tried the recipe using fresh pineapple and the result was amazing…that was the most fabulous cake I ever baked….thank you so much for the recipe…
Sugar Spun Run says
That is wonderful, Sunitha! I am so happy that you enjoyed the pineapple upside-down cake! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it! 🙂
Max says
I Just put mine in the oven! I am nervous because I put the foil on for the last 15 minutes instead of the first 30… wasn’t paying attention… smh. But i did use crush pineapple in the caake mix and drained most of the liquid and also added roasted coconut that i blinded. I hope it taste delicious! I am sure it will. I tasted the batter and feel in love.
Sam says
I hope you love the cake, Max!
Gary Henderson says
We just made these but used a iron skillet with dividers in it. It turned out perfect!
Sam says
So happy to hear that the pineapple upside-down cake was such a success, Gary! Thank you for commenting, I appreciate it 🙂
Kim says
Hello, I’m going to try out this recipe, but I have a question: how deep should the dish be? I have a 9″ pie dish, but it’s not very deep so I’m a little worried. I also have a 9.5″ dish that’s a little deeper than the 9″ dish. How deep is the dish you used? Thanks in advance.
Sam says
Hi Kim! My pie plate is 1.5″ deep. Enjoy! 🙂
Paula says
I made this tonight and it was excellent! I haven’t made this for years. The only change was to add a little extra butter and brown sugar because in the past it was never sweet enough for me. But the recipe came out perfect and the pineapple upside down cake looks beautiful. I made it in the square 9 x 9 pan. I wish I could post a picture! Thank you!
Paula Augustyn says
I made this tonight and it was excellent! I haven’t made this for years. The only change was to add a little extra butter and brown sugar because in the past it was never sweet enough for me. But the recipe came out perfect and the pineapple upside down cake looks beautiful. I made it in the square 9 x 9 pan. I wish I could post a picture! Thank you!
Sam says
I am so happy to hear it was such a success, Paula!! Thank you so much for commenting, I really appreciate it! 🙂
iris fingerhut says
I’ve baked this cake 3 times using fresh pineapple and unsweetened coconut. sublime! today, I’m baking one today, for a friends birthday in Mexico, tomorrow, 6 hours drive. I’m torn about how to bring it. Turned out or leave it in the pan so they can reheat it and flip it there? thanks for a fabulous cake recipe.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the pineapple upside-down cake, Iris! I recommend flipping it after baking and store it in airtight cake container. I hope that she enjoys it. 🙂
Margie says
Hi! Can I use cake flour instead of regular flour or will this mess up the recipe?
Sugar Spun Run says
I haven’t tried this recipe with cake flour, but others have with success. I hope you love the pineapple upside-down cake, Margie!
Danny says
It is in the oven rite now and i am picky so ,be back to comment in a hour or two.
Good luck 😉
Sugar Spun Run says
I hope that you find pineapple upside-down cake delicious, Danny! 🙂
Danny says
Great recipe 🙂
I used a fresh pineapple and it turn out awesome,the sweetness was perfect.
Thank you and i will try other recipies as well.
Sugar Spun Run says
I’m so happy to hear, Danny! Thanks for commenting. I can’t wait to hear what you bake next! 🙂
Cheri A Magistro says
Hi! Can I bake this in a cast iron pan? If so, would I adjust baking time and temperature? TIA
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello, Cheri! I know others have tried it and have had luck. Unfortunately, since I have not, I can’t advise on bake time.Sorry I can’t be of more help. Maybe someone else can chime in here. 🙂
Acelene says
This turned out great for Thanksgiving, thank you
Sam says
Thank you so much, Acelene! 🙂
Kalaisri Sankar Kumar says
HI
I am planning to bake this cake for 16 people. So going to double the recipe.
Do I need to increase the bake time?
Happy Holidays
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello, Kalaisri! It really depends on the size pan that you are planning to use. I use a 9″ baking dish for this recipe. What are you planning to use?