Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Ta-Da! At Forrest's request, this week's "dessert of the week" is Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. I have been meaning to make this one ever since we had one for dessert at Roy's and recently we had seen an episode of "Good Eats" featuring this desert as well. Recipes for this cake are not abundant and it's genesis even more slim.

Although I found a good article here that states skillet style cakes were not new, but a recipe contest held by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later Dole) popularized this in 1925 after it was published in a book of pineapple recipe contest winners. So here goes week #3 and dessert #3.


Pre-flip, the cake looks like any other ordinary cake...unassuming in it's plain old cake pan


But oh my goodness, what gooey goodness lies here? What, my dear, were you hiding under there?

It looks like a picture out of an old Good Housekeeping magazine, and I half expect to see a jello mold next to it. I love the kitschy look of the pineapple rings with maraschino cherries in them. I didn't saute the rings like some recipes suggested so they were not totally soft, some thing to keep in mind. Next time I think I will add some crushed pineapple to the actual batter as well and soften the rings with a little pre-bake saute in the caramel.