This is a wonderful dessert that can be made from items in your cabinet. Most of the time when I make it I don’t have the cherries but this time I did. I keep nuts in the freezer for baking. Usually I buy them on sale in the fall and buy extra for the freezer. This year I was able to get them 2 packages for the price of 1. So one went into the freezer. I use them for special desserts through out the year. Pineapple is nice to keep on hand. I find it on sale and will pick up a can or two.
I normally take pictures of the steps but was so busy and forgot. This recipe is from after WWII and is a scratch cake recipe. It is actually a small sponge cake baked in a iron cast skillet. It is so good and not hard to make. The ingredients are not expensive and can be cabinet staples. I have been making this cake since I was old enough to read the recipe. The instruction are what was on my mother’s recipe card so many years ago. It is written in narrative style that was normal for newspaper recipes during that time.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Step one:
Pre heat oven 350 degrees. (moderate heat)
In a heavy 10 inch skillet (Iron cast works the best) heat 1/3 cup of margarine or butter. I do this in the oven while it is pre heating. Now sprinkle 1/2 cup of brown sugar over the melted butter. Arrange sliced canned pineapples on top of the brown sugar in the bottom of the skillet. Save the pineapple juice for the cake batter. Add maraschino cherries and pecan halves around the pineapple slices.
Step two:
Sift 1 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt together. Set aside.
Step three:
In a mixing bowl, beat 2 eggs until thick. Add 1/3 cup shortening then gradually add 2/3 cups of sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in 6 tablespoons of pineapple juice. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring. Add flour mixture and stir in.
Step four:
Evenly pour batter on top of pineapples in the skillet. The butter will push up the sides a little but it won’t hurt anything. It will keep the cake from sticking when you turn it out of the skillet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. It will be golden brown on top and spring back when touched. Let sit for 5 minutes.
To turn out place plate on top of skillet and flip over.
Now gently lift the skillet off,
My skillet was a wedding present a long time ago. I kept it after I went to a glass stop stove just to bake this cake. I also kept my iron skillet that is 8 inches to make corn bread in.
Serve warm with whipped cream. My family will polish this off with out the whipped cream, cherries or nuts. As soon as they can smell this baking they hover around wanting to know if they are going to get to eat it as soon as it is done. When you are out of ideas and low on money think pineapple upside down cake. It will turn a boring meal into something special.
Momoe's Cupboard 
Beautiful! I love heirloom recipes, they are the best!
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Thank you this is really yummy.
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I love baking anything in my black cast iron skillet. I just recently saw a recipe for Pineapple Upside Down cupcakes and I’m beginning to crave it. Since you’ve posted this I guess I’m going to have to make it. thanks for sharing.
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Just wait until you smell it while it is baking. It is a delightful dessert.
Thanks for your comment.
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We must have a very similar recipe in our family, we bake ours in a glass dish, & turn it out. We still make it too. I bake mine at 180c here in the uk.
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They used what they had to bake in and Iron cast skillet was used for baking as well as frying in the old days in the USA. Just think of all the equipment we have now to bake with and cook. My grandmother would have be astonished. Glass would work well too.
Thanks for your comment.
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It certainly is a cake well worth the effort. Thank you for stopping in.
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I love your recipes!
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Thank you.
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Great recipe, I love the addition of pecan nuts, thank you.
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I hope you give this one a try. It is really good.
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I make rhubarb upside down cake, basically like your pineapple cake but I can never make the cake hold together when I lift the skillet off! It always sticks & I need to get a spatula to get it out, then it comes in about 4 pieces. I always scrape around the edge of the skillet before I turn the skillet over. Oh well, my husband enjoys it anyway.
Your cake looks beautiful, like a photo in a cookbook!
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I only wait about 5 minutes after I take it out to flip it. I was worried It would melt the plastic plate while I took the picture. My skillet is very well seasoned from years of use.
Put parchment paper on the bottom of the skillet cut to fit and then pour the melted butter on that with the sugar and rhubarb, Run a knife around the edges when done and it should flip right out. Peel the paper off and it will be just fine.
Thanks for your comment.
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This sounds just like the recipe I’ve been making since 1953 and I use a square cast iron skillet just like that. A wonderful dessert.
Lillian
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My skillet was a wedding present 40 plus years ago. It is very well seasoned. You can see that in the picture. I only use it now to bake in because I have a glass top stove. I have a round one for corn bread.
The smell that comes out of the oven is so yummy when it bakes. Thanks for your comments.
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I have a very similar recipe and it is absolutely delicious. Your cake is quite beautiful. I have never made it in my cast iron but am going to go try this out (I happen to have a pinapple on hand!). Thanks for sharing this!
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The cast iron reflects the heat evenly in the oven and makes the sugar caramelized all around at the same time. It really browns up nicely. Heavy cast aluminum bakes the same way. Nordic Ware bundt pans that are cast aluminum are really great for cakes.
Thanks for your comment. Enjoy the cake.
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mmm. . . it looks delicious. I always enjoy seeing the foods that you feature on this blog. They so often bring back distant memories of wonderful foods and events. Pineapple upside down cake makes me think of family reunions where it was often one of the desserts.
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Yes, this is real comfort food. We made this often and enjoyed it. It was mostly a winter treat for us. Thanks for your comment.
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Reblogged this on mihran Kalaydjian and commented:
Lazy Sunday Sketch
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Thank you for the reblog. I had many more visits then usual.
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This was one of the very first thing I ever learned to bake at high school. Happy Memories 🙂
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It is one of those recipes you remember always. I didn’t take cooking in school. I was already incharge of making supper at night for my father and brothers. I didn’t want the teacher to pick on all my bad self taught habits. I was making pies and baking all the time at home. I like science better.
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I must admit I don’t bake half as much as I did when the children were all little, but there’s something about cooking that I’ve always found relaxing. I must admit though if I had to choose between cooking or reading a good book I think I’d have to go for the book 🙂
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I love Pineapple down-side-up cake! 😀
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Thank you. I enjoy it too. Thanks for your comment,
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🙂
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My mother used to bake this when I was young. It was one of the best things she made. She never used a cast iron skillet but it was still so good! Sadly, I got rid of all my cast iron when I got a glass top stove, and now I am back to gas. 😉 Live and learn; I should have kept them! Making this soon!
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I wish I could post a picture here as your recipe turned out perfectly delicious.
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Thank you for you feed back. You are welcome to share the recipe. It is so good and easy to make.
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