Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

By AnneS

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 can (~20 oz.) pineapple slices, drained
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (or walnuts)
• 10 maraschino cherries, drained and halved
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
• 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl of electric mixer, let the egg whites warm to room temp--about 1 hour.

2. In a 10" cast iron skillet, melt 1/2 cup butter over very low heat. Remove from heat.

3. Sprinkle brown sugar over butter. Arrange pineapple slices to cover bottom of skillet. Distribute the nuts and place cherries in center of pineapple rings; set aside.

4. Sift the cake flour with baking powder and salt.

5. At high speed, beat egg whites just until soft peaks form when beater is slowly raised. Add granulated sugar gradually; beat well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form.

6. In small bowl of electric mixer, at high speed, beat egg yolks until very thick and yellow.

7. With a wire whisk or rubber scraper, using an under-and-over motion, gently fold egg yolks and flour mixture into whites until combined. Fold in 1 tablespoon of melted butter and the almond or vanilla extract.

8. Spread the batter evenly over pineapple in skillet; bake 30-35 minutes, or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip.

9. Loosen edge of cake; let stand 5 minutes. Invert on serving plate. KEEP HIGH UP, AWAY FROM DOGS!! Serve warm, with whipped cream, if desired.