Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Did you know that this cake is considered a classic in the US. Not only it tasted good but it is definitely a breeze to prepare and bake. Presentation wise it will win hands down without additional touch-up with great colours too, thanks to the yellow of the canned pineapple rings and the redness of the cherry. Originally this cake is baked in an iron skillet, and as time progress it is baked in the oven but still very much retain the original recipe. There are many version of upside down cake too, substitusing the pineapple with other types of fruits like apple or peaches. Here's some trivia info about this cake :-

"The classic American 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake' dates to sometime after 1903, when Jim Dole invented canned pineapple. The Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (now Dole Pineapple) held a pineapple recipe contest in 1925, with judges from Fannie Farmer's School, Good Housekeeping and McCall's magazine on the judging panel. The 100 winning recipes would be published in a cookbook the following year. Over 60,000 recipes were sent in, and 2,500 of them were for Pineapple Upside Down Cake. So it is obvious that between 1903 when canned pineapple was first available, and 1925 when the contest was held, Pineapple Upside Down Cake had become a very popular item. The Hawaiin Pineapple Company ran an ad campaign in 1926 based on the fact that so many recipes for the cake had been submitted, naturally making the Pineapple Upside Down Cake even more popular." - adapted from Food facts & Trivia.

This particular recipe is adapted from Chef Wan's Simply Sedap Cookbook. I specifically made this during Mother's day recently for our family celebration at home and was definitely well recieved.

PINEAPPLEE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Bottom Layer
¼ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
8 pineapple rings
6 whole glace cherries

Top Layer
2 cups cake flour (ran out of this use, all purpose flour instead)
2 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup pineapple juice

Method:
1. For the bottom layer, grease a 22-cm cake pan with the butter and sprinkle brown sugar on the base. Arrange pineapple rings in a single layer over the sugar and place a cherry in the centre of each pineapple ring.
2. For the top layer, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in sifted ingredients, eggs, vanilla essence and pineapple juice.
4. Pour the batter over the bottom layer and bake for 45 minutes at 175° Celsius. The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes away clean. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes before turning cake onto platter.