This Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is good served warm, with a scoop of ice cream on the side, as well as cold with some vanilla custard or simply on its own. I've followed many recipes throughout the years, most of them containing gluten, dairy and a very long list of other ingredients. I've tried through trial and (a lot of) error to come up with a recipe that can be made gluten-free and dairy-free, requires the minimum amount of ingredients and not that much effort, yet still ends up being delicious, so here it is:
You will need:
For the topping:
7 pineapple rings (fresh or from a tin)
7 glacé or Maraschino cherries
20g of caster or light brown sugar
For the cake:
100g dairy-free spread
120g caster sugar
2 eggs
1ts vanilla flavouring/extract
130g gluten-free flour
1ts baking powder
How to:
Pre-heat the oven at 180C/160 fan/gas mark 4
Line the bottom of a 9 inch/23 cm cake tin with baking parchment (You can skip this step if you're sure your cake tin is non-stick 100% of the times, mine isn't so I do this to make my life easier)
Spread a thin layer of dairy-free spread on the base and sides of the cake tin.
Sprinkle the 20g of sugar on the bottom of the tin.
Arrange 7 pineapple rings on the base and place 7 cherries in the middle of each of the rings
Mix all cake ingredients in the order in which they're written and pour on top of the pineapple rings.
Bake at 180C for 25 min (or until golden brown)
Do the toothpick test (insert a toothpick in the centre of the cake, if the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is ready)
Remove the cake from the tin and leave it to cool with the pineapple side facing up (remove the sides of the cake tin, then put a plate or cooling rack on top of the cake and quickly turn it over)
Enjoy!
This cake can be divided in 6 decent-sized slices and it shouldn't take more than 35-40 minutes to prep and make.
If you're a fan of cinnamon, feel free to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon powder along with the sugar, before placing the pineapple rings in the cake tin.
I've used Maraschino cherries and caster sugar for the cake in the pictures above and glazé cherries and light brown sugar for the one in the picture below.
As always, if you don't want this cake to be gluten or dairy-free you can always use plain white flour instead of the gluten-free one and butter instead of the dairy-free spread and the results will be similar. If making this recipe with flour containing gluten, I would add to the mixture 2 or 3 tablespoons of fresh pineapple juice or syrup from the tin if using tinned pineapple.
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I hope life is treating you well. Take care