Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

By mamacasma

These treats are miniature versions of classic pineapple upside-down cake, complete with Maraschino cherries.

Ingredients

• Topping
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• Unsalted butter, for greasing pans
• Granulated sugar, for dusting pans
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 can (20-ounce) pineapple slices, drained, trimmed to fit bottoms of muffin tins (There are 10 slices per can, so you will need to piece together trimmings for the last two muffin cups
• 6 Maraschino cherries, halved
• Cake Batter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, mixed

Details

Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 41mins

Preparation

Step 1

Place oven rack in lowest position and heat oven to 375 degrees F. Using softened butter, grease two 6-cup nonstick muffin pans or one 12-cup pan (smaller pans will be easier to flip over later). Dust each cup with granulated sugar; tap out excess sugar.
Topping: Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture looks creamy and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and spoon mixture into bottoms of prepared muffin cups, about 1 tablespoon per cup.
Arrange trimmed pineapple slices on top of sugar mixture and place a cherry, cut side up, in the middle. Set aside.
Cake batter: Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl. In the large bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer), beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs until combined. With mixer on low, alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture until batter is thick and smooth. Fill muffin cups. Tap pans on counter to settle batter.
Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Invert a large plate or platter over the top of each muffin pan, and flip pan over to release cakes. Serve warm or at room temperature.