Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Alright, I cheat a little bit with this cake. I use boxed yellow cake mix instead of making my own. Jeez, I wish I had that much time on my hands! Gotta takes some necessary shortcuts every once in a while, right?








Recipe:

1 box yellow cake mix
Oil and eggs as recommended on box
Fresh pineapple, cored and sliced
Maraschino cherries and juice
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter or margarine
3/4 cup fresh pineapple juice (to use in place of water), or however much box cake calls for.
1/4 t. Almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare cake according to directions, subbing juice for water. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat butter on stove until bubbling slightly, whisk in brown sugar and almond extract until sugar is fully incorporated. Remove from heat, pour into bottom of glass 9x13 pan. Arrange pineapple slices on bottom, putting as many as can fit in there. You may need to cut some in half. Arrange cherries in center of pineapple. Carefully pour batter on top of pineapples.

The final step before baking it is to take about 2-3 T (you can just guess here) of maraschino juice and drizzle it over the top of batter. Swirl it through with a knife.

Bake for 35-45 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes, flip upside down into new, slightly larger pan. Or a cookie sheet if you are afraid you might spill.

*Note: A lot of people use a cast iron skillet for this recipe, for a couple reasons. One, it is easier to transfer when finished, because most people have a round cake storage container. And secondly, anything cooked in cast iron is better. I only omitted using mine because I prefer my cake to not taste like bacon and charred goodness that one can only get from a well-seasoned skillet. But hey, if that is your thing, then go ahead and use it! Some people really dig that bacon-for-dessert thing.