Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

I started my baking project today with the humility brought on by last week's failure, but determined to get back on the baking bicycle (although not quite ready for the angel food bicycle, as Rose recommended). This time Woody assured me I'd have no problems. And, in fact, I didn't.

Even though there were plenty of things that could have gone wrong during the unmolding process and there were two separate caramels to make, I'd say it's a pretty easy recipe.

If you were inclined to cheat at any place in this recipe, you could probably use canned pineapple slices instead of a fresh pineapple. The advantage of fresh is that when you get a good one, it's so much more delicious. The disadvantages are that it's more work and if you get a bad one, it doesn't taste as good as a canned slice.

I got a mediocre pineapple, so it was probably a wash. Also, the pieces kept falling apart when I tried to move them to the pan. Also, my initial center holes, which I made using a small biscuit cutter, were too big. But the large biscuit cutter was the perfect size for cutting the rings to fit the pan.

As you see, I succumbed once again to cute Nordic-Ware mania. Jim has now laid down the law. Sort of. He hasn't forbidden me to buy any more, but he has said I can't retire until I'm sated. Only fair, since I told him he couldn't retire unless he augmented his meager pension by working in the shoe department at Nordstrom.

Pouring the caramel into the molds is trickier than making the caramel, because it solidifies so quickly. You can take care of that by microwaving it for a few seconds, but you still have to work quickly.

I wanted to serve it just like this, without even bothering with the cake, because I loved the way the pineapple and cherries looked.

After making the caramel and carefully placing the pineapple ring and cherry in place, the actual batter was quite simple. The turbinado sugar gave it an oddly speckled appearance.
There was very little batter, and I really should have portioned out the batter among the six molds by weighing it. But I didn't think of that until I'd already done a couple. They weren't totally evenly divided, but it was close enough.

I also loved the way the pineapple and cherries looked when the cake was done, so I was happy I hadn't served it without the cake part after all. Unmolding the pan was kind of a Thelma-and-Louise moment for me. I had to close my eyes and lift up the pan, having no confidence at all that it would all turn out all right. Fortunately (for me), the unmolding process turned out a lot better than driving over the Grand Canyon likely turned out for them.

Making the pineapple caramel for the drizzle was also no problem. Adding all the juice made the caramel a less fussy procedure than usual. By the time it had cooled, it was pretty solid; again, a few seconds in the microwave made it easy to drizzle.

I had planned to get a plastic squeeze bottle, as recommended, but I didn't see one and decided against driving all over the Twin Cities to look for one. So I just used a baby spoon for the drizzling--3 spoonsful a plate, with a small container left over - to flavor all the unflavored yogurt that I didn't use for the cake.

This is a lovely winter dessert. Rose's rendition of a traditional down-home cake is sophisticated enough to serve at a fancy dinner, but casual enough (it is upside-down cake, after all) to have with hamburgers or stew. The pineapple caramel drizzle makes a very attractive presentation, and the caramelized pineapple and cherry topping has more pleasing flavors and textures than the more typical method of just melting butter and sprinkling brown sugar on the bottom of the pan.

I already have a lot of cakes on my repeat list (the cakes I'll be able to make again, sometime after I finish going through the entire book), and this is the newest addition to that list.

TASTING PANEL:

Susan: "This is wonderful!"

Laurel: "Did you use fresh pineapple? The pineapple flavor is stronger than in most upside-down cakes."

Karen: "The cake is delicious--it's the sweetest of Rose's cakes, but just the right amount of sweetness. It's a tasty and satisfying dessert."

Jan: "It's very good. I like the taste and the texture."

Jim: "I really like this cake. I like the textures and that it's not overly sweet. I'd love to have it again."