Pineapple Upside Down Cake is the stuff childhood memories are made of!
Throwing it back to the good ol’ 1970’s
With this veganized version of mom’s favorite dessert!
If you are younger than forty then you probably don’t have the same nostalgia attached to this cake as many of us do
But there’s no better time than today to start making your own dessert memories with Pineapple Upside Down Cake!
A can of pineapple rings and a simple one bowl mix of cake and you’re almost there!
I am using my famous bakery style Yellow Cake recipe for this one
However you can use whatever vanilla cake recipe you love the most
Even my Box Cake Hack will work great here!
A quick brown sugar and butter mixture for the pineapple rings to swim in!
Don’t forget the cherries though!
It’s just not 1975 without those horrifying maraschino cherries!
As you can see I have baked mine into individual portions simply by using a jumbo muffin pan
The mini bundt pan variation turns this little cake into a whole new desert experience with pineapple buttercream filling for the center!
Traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake is baked in a round cake pan, typically a 9″ pan
Whatever you decide to bake them in, just be sure to use my professional bakery pan grease
Especially if you are making them in the muffin tins like I did.
Notes for Success:
No matter what pan you are baking into, you will not let it cool all the way like we normally do.
The sugar mixture if allowed to cool to cold will be very difficult to unmold so be sure to unmold these cake into a cooling rack while the pans are still almost hot to the touch
I use soy milk as the milk for the majority of my baking as is the only milk that will sour upon adding vinegar which is what we do to make a mock “buttermilk”
You can use any plant milk of your choice if you are staying away from soy
However you will still need to add the vinegar, as that is also the activator for the baking soda to leaven this recipe
I am using a combination of cake flour and all purpose flour here, but if you have trouble getting cake flour you may use all ~all purpose flour instead
I love the mini bundt pan presentation because the pineapple ring fits just perfectly!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
For more recipes like this one click the links below!
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- Pina Colada Cheesecake
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- Cherry Blondies
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- Bananas Foster Cupcakes
Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake
The recipe below makes 12~ individual jumbo muffin sized cakes or 1-9" family style cake
Be sure to use the Professional Bakery Pan Grease Recipe for the pans
I have been lucky most times with Dole brand pineapple rings to get 12 whole rings, but sometimes I only get 10 in which case you may need an additional can to get 12 individual portions of this cake
Ingredients
For the Sugar Schmear:
- Vegan Butter 2/3 cup (150g)
- Light Brown Sugar 1+1/3 cup (275g)
For the Cake Batter:
- Soy Milk 1½ cups (355ml)
- White Vinegar 1½ Tablespoons
- Vegan Butter ½ cup (113g)
- Vegetable oil of your choice ½ cup (117ml)
- Granulated Sugar 1¾ cup (350g)
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 3 teaspoons (15ml)
- All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
- Cake Flour 1 cup (120g) *see notes above
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
- 1 Can Pineapple Rings *see notes above
- 1 Jar Maraschino Cherries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Grease your muffin pans or cake pan generously with professional bakery pan grease DO NOT USE PARCHMENT PAPER LINERS
- First prepare the sugar schmear by melting the vegan butter in a medium sauce pot then add the brown sugar whisking constantly while heating until the sugar is dissolved and bubbling
- Remove from the heat then pour about 2 Tbs into each of the greased cavities of the muffin tins or pour the entire sugar mixture into greased cake pan for the larger family style cake
- Arrange the pineapple slices into the pan *if using a cake pan or place one pineapple ring into each muffin cavity
- Place a maraschino cherry into the center of each pineapple ring
- Next prepare the cake batter by combining the vegetable oil with the melted vegan butter together with the vanilla extract in a small bowl or glass measure and set it aside
- Combine the soy milk with the vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken.
- *If you are not using soy milk which is the only plant milk that will thicken like buttermilk, you must still use the vinegar to aid in the reaction with the baking soda
- Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with the sugar.
- Pour all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk smooth
- Pour the cake batter over the arranged pineapples and cherries in the cake pan or scoop the batter into each muffin hole filling each cavity almost to the top with batter
- Bake immediately in a preheated 350°F oven for about 20-25 minutes or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs
- If baking in the larger 9" pan it may take a few minutes longer, but the toothpick test if the best indicator to know when it is done
- Let the cake cool slightly in the pans but not enough to let the sugar cool and stick in the pans or they will be impossible to unmold
- I usually let them cool for just 5 minutes
- While the pans are still hot unmold onto a wire cooling rack with parchment paper under it to catch the excess sugar drips
- I like to serve these cakes still warm, but read more below for storage information
Notes
Pineapple Upside Down Cake can be left at room temperature for up to 4 days wrapped loosely to prevent drying.
For longer storage refrigerate for up to 1 week wrapped well
For those wanting to make the pineapple buttercream filling for the baby bundt style cakes
I simply took about 1½ cups of my favorite buttercream recipe, which happens to be the American Style
Because I am super lazy!
Added in a well drained ½ cup of crushed pineapple and 2 teaspoons of Spiced Rum Extract from Olive Nation!
If you want to go check out Olive Nation they are offering a 20% discount code for your order just for hanging out with me!
Thank you for sharing your recipes! So I used a circle 9 inch pan that was 1 inch deep and there was wayyy to much batter. I will be using a bigger pan next time 🙂
Can you use fresh pineapple?
Yes! Sure!
Really yum!!! Made them to sell at a restaurant I work in and everyone loved them! The only issue whilst cooking is that the Schmear overflowed and the oven got quite messy…any tips to avoid that? I already tried using less schmear
Hey there, so in the video I mentioned that I do the sugar syrup (cooking it first) because that was the way I did it in my bakery, we would just make a bulk batch of sugar shmear and leave it in the fridge for the daily bakings of pineapple upside down & things like sticky buns too!
I probably should note it here though (since not everyone watches the videos) that it is ok to just add about 1 Tbs brown sugar to the bottom of a WELL BUTTERED pan (I would still grease it first though because these things love to stick in the pan!)
This may prevent the overflowing of the syrup, because well… there is no syrup to start with LOL
But alternatively you could place a sheet pan under the pan you are using, just in case there is any messy overflow
Thanks a lot for the tip! I’ll try just adding the sugar next time as mentioned 😁
Hi. Can you use gluten free flour? I have a gluten free vegan customer. I have a cup to cup gluten free flour.
yes it works great 1:1