Ingredients
Wet ingredients
Vegetable oil – 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Pineapple essence – 1 tsp (Can use 2 to 3 tsp of juice from canned pineapple alternatively)
Dry ingredients
All purpose flour/Maida – 2 cups
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1/4 tsp
Salt – a pinch
For the pineapple topping
Canned Pineapple – 1 can(can use fresh pineapple too)
Butter – 2 tbsp
Sugar – 1/4 cup
Method
Grease the bottom and sides of cake tins with butter liberally.
Cut out a circle in parchment paper to fit the bottom of the cake tin. Also cut a long straight piece to line the side of the cake tin. Grease the parchment papers liberally with butter.
Heat a pan. Add butter and sugar and keeping mixing till the sugar dissolves in butter When this mixture slightly thicken and bubbles form, remove from fire.
Pour the dissolved sugar in butter mixture into the caken tins and spread evenly.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Place pineapple pieces in the cake tin. (I used two small round cake pans and 8 inch round pan) Fill the empty spaces in the centre of the pineapple slices with pitted cherries, if you wish.
Mix all the wet ingredients well in a mixing bowl with an electric hand blender or a normal whisk. Make sure to mix well.
Now sift in the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl containing the wet ingredient mixture.
Do not use whisk or blender to mix. Instead combine all the ingredients gently using a spatula following the cut and fold method. ( For Cut and fold method – use the spatula to cut the ingredient into half and then fold the flour mixture by going around the pan in a circle. Repeat this gently until the ingredients are well combined.).
Please don’t over-mix. Over-mixing reduces the fluffiness of the cake.
Pour this batter in the cake tins. Tap the tins gently(10 times) till the batter settles down evenly.
Place the cake pans in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 to 35 minutes(timing depends on the oven and size of your cake pan). Check the cakes from 20 minutes at regular intervals, using a tooth pick or long thin skewer. If the tooth pick comes out dry without batter being stuck to it, the cake is baked.
Once cake is baked, remove from fire and place it on a wire rack. Usually for other cakes, we let them cool down before removing from pan, but for this upside down pineapple cake, turn the cake upside down immediately and remove it from pan.
It tastes good both hot and cold. However, I personally feel that this cake tastes even better when served hot. A blob of vanilla ice-cream on top adds to the taste too. However, it is your free will to do so.
Tips
While making the sugar, butter syrup once the sugar dissolves well in butter and bubbles form (approximately 3 to 4 minutes), please remove from fire and pour immediately in the greased, lined, cake pans. Do not overcook. After pouring, if bubbles are present on the surface, let them settle down and then place the pineapple slices.
Lining the bottom and sides of the cake pan is a must to avoid burning of yhe pineapple slices.
If you are using fresh pineapple slices, make sure to scoop out the center part.
Here in this recipe, I used two mini cake pans(6 inch diameter) and one (8X2inch round pan). You can use a single big cake pan of your choice.
