Twenty-Something and Starving

I remember when I was little, my mom made pineapple upside-down cake once and I absolutely loved it. It’s such a fun dessert!

As it sits in its pan, it looks just like a plain old yellow cake to the untrained eye. Flip it, and like magic it’s a gooey, glorious cake topped with golden pineapple rings and brilliant red cherries. Yum!

I couldn’t tell you the last time I had pineapple upside-down cake. That is, until I made it last weekend!

For this particular pineapple upside-down cake, I sort of cheated. Gasp! Being that I wasn’t preparing it in my kitchen, I wasn’t certain what ingredients would or wouldn’t be readily available to me. So, rather than running out to buy extra ingredients I was missing, I decided to use a box of yellow cake mix as the base of this moist, delicious cake.

So simple to make and so darn tasty, this pineapple upside-down cake is sure to please even the pickiest of cake connoisseurs.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 (20 oz) can pineapple rings, juice drained and reserved

1 jar maraschino cherries

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons dark rum

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a cake pan of your choice, combine the melted butter, brown sugar and rum (it should be sticky and syrupy). Line this mixture with pineapple rings, placing cherries in the center of each ring and any empty spaces. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil and pineapple juice and whisk until the batter is combined and free of lumps. Pour over pineapple mixture.

4. Bake at 350 degrees until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Be sure to loosen the edges of the cake with a knife.

6. Carefully place a large plate or platter on top of the cake pan. Flip the cake over onto the plate and carefully remove the cake pan.