Pineapple upside down cake recipe: Machine-cut pineapples drenched in sugar syrup, how pretty and perfect! I used these babies in a pretty nice pineapple upside down cake recipe. I often end up baking with chocolate whenever I do bake and when I was asked to bring dessert for a potluck a few weeks back, I resolved not to let chocolate anywhere near the dish.
This recipe is slightly fansy-pansy. It calls for demerara sugar. I bought it just for this purpose, just so that I won’t screw up a second time.
Sidenote: Is demarara sugar available in India? If you know if a place, do leave a comment. Thanks!
Other cake recipes you may wish to try:
Christmas fruit cake
Orange cake with toffee sauce
Pineapple cupcake recipe
Flourless almond coconut cake
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Makes one 9″ cake
Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor’s Cakes and Bakes
(Amazon
Ingredients:
1 cup regular all purpose flour or maida
8 slices canned pineapple, drained
150gm / 3/4 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup demerara sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk (low fat works too)
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 190C / 275 F
2. Mix 1/4 cup butter with the demerara sugar and spread it at the bottom of a greased 9″ cake pan.
3. Arrange a layer of pineapple slices over it, slicing them to adjust and fill the gaps.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder. Keep aside.
5. Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl and add in the rest of the butter (1/2 cup) and the vanilla essence. Combine until smooth.
6. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Don’t overdo this otherwise the egg whites will turn dry.
7. Fold in the sifted sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then fold in the egg yolk mixture.
8. And finally the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Be gentle and only mix until the flour disappears into the batter. Don’t over-mix.
9. Pour the batter over the pineapple slices and bake for about 30-40 mins.
10. Make sure that you test the cake and not go by time because the first time I did that, I ended up under-baking the cake by about 10 mins or so. This one below is done perfectly!
The butter-sugar mixture will caramelize and come up a bit at the sides. Its yum!
Unfortunately, I don’t have a great final picture of the finished cake. I had to pack this in foil and take it for a party so no pics of slices.
It’s definitely tasty but I am not satisfied with it. I think pineapple, butter, sugar and flour can make something better – so the search is still on. Leave a comment if you have a great pineapple upside down cake recipe on your site!
Harshada says
April 20, 2016 at 11:47 pmYou can get Demerara sugar at The General Additives store is Sheshadripuram and Nature’s Baskets stores in Bangalore.
nags says
April 23, 2016 at 10:01 amthanks for the tip!
Shobhana Subramanian says
March 29, 2013 at 6:53 amHi Nags,
I got Demerera Sugar from Nilgiris in Chennai.
It's always available at the Nilgiris.
prettylife says
January 2, 2013 at 3:23 amWhile searching for a similar recipe, I found your post on another blog with no credit to you.
http://maurenedenapoli.blogspot.com/2010/11/sanjeev-kapoor-pineapple-upside-down_15.html
Nagalakshmi V says
January 2, 2013 at 4:27 amThanks a lot for letting me know. I have reported a DMCA complaint with Google.
Saks says
September 28, 2012 at 9:02 amHey Nags…i made this 2day for my dad in law's bday. it took me about 1 hr 2 prepare n bake d cake. but it vanished in a few mins 🙂 thanks a ton
Anonymous says
October 6, 2012 at 6:02 pmI found out i had i/2 cup of milk whch wasn't mentioned in the method when does the milk go in? i put it in the end but waiting to see what happens.I also found lumps which i never have in other cakes?please help
Saks says
September 28, 2012 at 9:01 ammade this 2day for my dad inlaw's bday….took bout an hr 2 bake it. but it vanished in a few mins 🙂 thnks nags
Rujuta says
February 15, 2012 at 4:55 pmHi Nags….I am a complete self confessed non-cook and a recent relocation to Africa has made me adventurous enough to give cooking a shot. I stumbled on this recipe(incidently i love your blog!especially the step by step snaps) and tried it yesterday…well it turned out to be something of a 50-50 affair. While the taste was awesome..the cake rose while baking and then settled down (almost like a pudding, but not exactly)…the only deviation from your recipe was that i added 2 tbsp of the canned pineapple syrup (since i felt the mix was not free flowing enough) and that i used self raising flour and the baking powder…you mentioned that your first attempt was also similar. So what do you think could have possibly gone wrong?? ~ Rujuta
Nagalakshmi V says
February 17, 2012 at 1:24 amIt's hard to say but I think the self-raising flour is probably one of the reasons. Also, you may have under baked it. I did that in the cake pictured above but whenI kept it around 12mins longer the next time I tried pineapple upside down cake, it worked great!
Nags says
August 3, 2011 at 1:55 pmits mentioned in the recipe. 190C
Soja says
August 3, 2011 at 6:57 amAt what temperature are we supposed to bake the cake….???
Nags says
June 13, 2011 at 12:53 amyou can use any of the egg substitues like flax seed meal, yogurt, buttermilk, etc. I haven't tried any eggless pineapple upside down cake so i can't give you my experience for it.
Anonymous says
June 12, 2011 at 2:41 pmheyy what if i want to exclude eggs??
Nags says
May 4, 2011 at 7:21 amSo glad the pineapple upside down cake recipe worked for you. Mine needs to caramelize a bit more. Hoping to rectify it next time 🙂
Newbie says
May 4, 2011 at 7:07 amHi i tried this recipe yesterday. It tasted great. The demerara sugar i used was darker. So it fored a really dark crust. like you said it took longer in my oven-50 minutes.
Nags says
May 3, 2011 at 12:58 amabsolutely! fresh pineapples work just as well in any pineapple upside down recipe
newbie says
May 2, 2011 at 4:33 pmcan we use fresh pineapple?
Nags says
February 28, 2011 at 1:11 amI don't know how I missed that!! The amount of flour is 1 cup 🙂
Richa Priyanka says
February 27, 2011 at 6:17 pmhow much flour did u use? I couldnt see the measurement! I tried this sometime back too, not this recipe but the cake, and it turned out good, extra sweeeeeeeeeeeet for me!! did u get any other recipe? I am planning to use some in a veggie!
happyttyy says
November 22, 2010 at 7:15 amI tried to think so, but i found it was not as the same in the actual process. As you mentioned, I still have doubts, but really thank you for sharing!gucci handbags
kamitha says
November 22, 2010 at 5:59 amAfter seeing your post I at once went searching for Demrara Sugar…..this was available in Dorabjee, Pune….. 🙂 Happy Baking!
monikamanchanda says
November 12, 2010 at 5:40 pmI make pineapple upside down cake and comes out pretty nice, its my mum's recipe actually let me post it sometime next week… will leave a ling here when I do
And dermera is easily available here in blore, I actually use it pretty often too
Melanie Giant says
November 5, 2010 at 7:57 pmWow! My mom made some of this but she add chocolate syrup and I can tell you that it is delicious. You should better adding chocolate syrup too.
Divya Vikram says
November 4, 2010 at 3:38 amLove the first and last pic. So inviting and luscious!
Anonymous says
November 2, 2010 at 4:37 pmLovely cake. I remember I used to make this cake often. I did use a glazed cherry in the center of the pineapple rings before adding the batter. when turned the cake was turned out, it looked very pretty. I used to buy demerara sugar at the local baniya store, so it should be easily available everywhere.
I love your blog. Thanks.
Aparna Mulgund
Ananda Rajashekar says
November 2, 2010 at 3:34 pmJust too beautiful to eat!
Home Cooked Oriya Food says
November 2, 2010 at 1:59 pmlooks yum…
Bergamot says
November 2, 2010 at 11:20 amLooks good, Pineapple would add a nice tangy flavour. Upside down cakes are my favorite and loved by all. I tried strawberry peach & apple but I am yet to try out a pineapple upside down cake.
Jayashree says
November 2, 2010 at 6:25 amI love the pic of the round pineapple slices. Most supermarkets in Chennai sell demerara sugar.
callezee says
November 2, 2010 at 6:24 amAmazing blog.. wow..! superb dish…. i like your post….
Srimathi says
November 2, 2010 at 3:48 amThe came has turned out well. I am sure you must have been satisfied with that.
The Scatterbrain says
November 2, 2010 at 3:20 amI see people have answered the question already. I got a packet of demerara sugar at nuts & spices once and also saw it at Nilgris. I dont know how to store it though, as it hardened up before I could use it. So every time I needed some, I'd use my pestle, break off a chunk and powder it in my faithful mixie.
Nags says
November 2, 2010 at 1:18 amSuhaina, I agree! It could have become a bit more browner at the bottom but that would mean sanjeev kapoor's baking time instruction would be wrong by 20-25 nins and I was a bit alarmed at that. Will surely be trying my hand at this again 🙂
Suhaina says
November 2, 2010 at 1:15 amcake looks yummy dear, but i think it should have caramelized a bit more towards the pineapple side.. any ways the cake look gorgeous just like you…I envy those who enjoyed it. hehehe.
DSK says
November 1, 2010 at 9:28 pmHey nags the pic looks really tempting 🙂
I have pineapple up side down cake recipe too..
u can check recipe….
http://dskrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/pineapple-up-side-down-cake.html
Priya says
November 1, 2010 at 7:24 pmBeautiful looking cake, absolutely divine..
Nitha says
November 1, 2010 at 3:30 pmLooks wonderful…
Mriganayani says
November 1, 2010 at 2:47 pmGosh.. I love the sugar bubbling on the sides!
Can't we just use brown sugar instead of the Dem sugar? I've got to make this one day – its been on my list for so long now that its almost forgotten! Looks pretty pretty!
PriyaVaasu says
November 1, 2010 at 1:27 pmCake looks gorgeous:)
Sheetal says
November 1, 2010 at 11:44 amThese days in Hyderabad we get all kinds of sugar – muscovado , demerara & the likes…
notyet100 says
November 1, 2010 at 10:05 amomg this looks so good,..i luv the step by step pictures,..wish u happy festival,..
♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ says
November 1, 2010 at 8:36 amU have a wonderful blog and this is one gorgeous recipe u have here!!
Divya Kudua says
November 1, 2010 at 8:22 amI absolutely love Upside down cakes and I feel Pineapple cake with tinned slices works best.I bake an eggless version from Nita Mehta's book which gives me perfect results every time.Here's the link to the post on my blog.
http://divyascookbook.blogspot.com/2008/11/pineapple-upside-down-cakeeggless-for.html
and yes,demerara sugar is available in almost all supermarkets in Chennai.
Gayathri's Cook Spot says
November 1, 2010 at 8:02 amLooks lovely.
Saee Koranne-Khandekar says
November 1, 2010 at 7:30 amI made the some time ago and was quite satisfied with it (http://myjhola.blogspot.com/2009/06/upside-down-wonder.html) Even made a peach and apricot upside down after that( http://myjhola.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunny-side-up-for-filmmaker-bro.html). But I am curious to find out what you invent from the same set of ingredients!
Paaka Shaale says
November 1, 2010 at 7:10 amThe cake looks so tempting. Nice recipe 🙂
Prathibha says
November 1, 2010 at 6:39 amThe cake looks yumm…Never attempted pineapple up-side down cake..I do not like fresh pineapple but I get tempted with those canned neatly cut pineapples in sugar syrup…Demerara sugar is available very easily here in mumbai in almost big stores and super markets.
Sharmilee! :) says
November 1, 2010 at 6:37 amWhat a lovely recipe….The lat pic is so so tempting…Delicious looking cake. I got demarara sugar once from Nuts & Spices, Chennai.