I’m not going to lie, every time I saw a pineapple upside down cake as a kid it terrified me. It’s a weird concept right? You’ve got this tasty cake and then you put this pineapple ring on it and then bake it until its mush. Sorry dude, it’s weird! So fast forward about 25 years and I’ve finally gotten the courage to whip up one myself in this Mini Pineapple Upside Cake Recipe with Homemade Whipped Cream. Super tasty, not soggy and a nice change up from the norm; Hope you dig it too!
Any good cake starts with the batter. I always use Bob’s Red Mill flour when making cakes since they have such an amazing assortment of products, but because I want this cake to be a bit denser I used Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour. This four is seriously so versatile that it would work perfect in just about anything you may need flour in, so it was a no brainer what I’d use when making this Mini Pineapple Upside Cake Recipe with Homemade Whipped Cream. The batter is a simple cake batter but you fold in some finely minced pineapple to help give it more pineapple flavor. I always thought growing up that the mushy pineapple shoved into the cake was what gave it all the flavor, well not true. Most recipes call for canned pineapple but I’m a bit of a purist so I added some fresh to the blender and blended it up until it was smooth but slightly chunky.
Pineapple goes really well with walnuts and pistachios so ummmm, I used both! I added them to a food processor and processed them on high speed until they were small bite size pieces, like the size of rice. Instead of that weird pineapple thing in the cake I’m going to use this as the top when I flip over the bundt pan. Add a bout1 tablespoon of the nut mixture to the bottom of a mini bundt pan and then evenly pour the batter over top. Just a warning that this recipe makes 24 mini pineapple upside down cakes so if you don’t want that much then cut this recipe in half.
While the cakes are in the oven for about 35 minutes we need to caramelize some pineapple rings and make a caramel sauce. Once you have rings sliced up you want to sear them in a large sauté pan on high heat with butter. They will only cook for a few minutes on each side and then you want to remove them from the pan and set them aside. The point is to caramelize the outside so all of the natural sugar flavors come out and then immediately remove them from the pan. Remember I’m not down with mushy pineapple so in case you don’t like that either you best keep an eye on it :-).
After you set aside the caramelized pineapple rings, it’s time to make some caramel. The recipe I have is so ridiculously easy it’s not even funny, it’s 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick of butter and a ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream. You want to whisk that deliciousness together over low heat in a small sauce pan until it’s smooth and thick. Remove it from the heat and then whisk in a bit of brandy. Brandy also goes really good with pineapple in case you were wondering why I did that. Now it’s just about time to plate this sucker up, just make sure the cakes have cooled to room temperature before flipping over the bundt pan.
Place the caramelize pineapple ring in the center of a plate and then spoon on some caramel. This part is up to you, you can put on as much or as little as you’d like. Next add the mini pineapple upside down cake to the top of the pineapple and caramel nut side facing upwards. You then want to add some homemade whipped cream right to the center of the upside cake where that hole is and a cherry to the top.
I know it seems like there are a quite a few steps in this recipe but I promise it is really easy to make! Happy Baking!
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cup of sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg white
- 2⅔ cup of Bobs Red Mill All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- ½ cup of vegetable oil
- ½ cup of whole milk
- ½ cup of whole yogurt
- 2 cups of finely minced fresh pineapple
- ½ cup of pistachios
- ½ cup of walnuts
- 2 pineapples sliced into 24 rings, core and peelings removed
- 1 cup of packed light brown sugar
- 1 stick of unsalted butter + 2 tablespoons
- 1 ¼ cups of heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons of Brandy
- ¼ cup of sugar
- 24 maraschino cherries
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Cream together the butter and sugar in a standing mixer on high speed with the paddle attachment. Next add in the eggs.
- Mix together the flour and baking powder in 1 bowl and the oil, milk and yogurt in a separate bowl until combined.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients beginning and ending with the dry ingredients on low speed.
- Fold in the minced pineapple and set aside.
- Process together both nuts until they are like a meal and then evenly sprinkle them between 24 mini budnt cake pans.
- Evenly pour the batter between the Bundt pans and bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned and firm. Cool completely.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan on high heat and caramelize the pineapple rings on each side, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Set aside.
- In a small sauce pot add the brown sugar, 1 stick of butter and ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream over low heat until smooth and thick, stir constantly. Remove from the heat and whisk in the brandy.
- In a standing mixer add in the remaining heavy whipping cream and sugar and whisk on high speed with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks are formed.
- To Plate: Place a pineapple ring to the center of a plate and add a spoonful of caramel over top. Add a mini bundt cake to the top of the pineapple nut side facing up. Add whipped cream to the top and a cherry.