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–+ servings
close up view of upside-down mini pineapple cakes
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5 from 2 votes

📋RECIPE: Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Mini pineapple upside-down cakes are just like retro classic upside down pineapple cake but in mini form! This mini cake has everything you look forward to the retro classic dessert –pineapple rings at the bottom with caramelized edges with tender moist vanilla cake.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 364kcal

Ingredients

For bottom layer - cake toppings

  • 1 can pineapple rings
  • â…“ cup butter
  • â…” cup brown sugar tightly packed
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 maraschino cherries

For top layer - cake

  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup granulated white sugar
  • 3 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoon pineapple juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • â…” cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder optional

Instructions

  • Pre heat oven at 350F.
  • In a bowl sieve all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon powder. Mix it together, keep aside.
  • In another large bowl beat eggs until creamed and fluffy, for about 2 minutes. Add white sugar and brown sugar, beat for a minute.
  • Add pineapple juice, vanilla extract (or rum if using), beat for few seconds to combine.
  • Now add dry ingredients. Whisk until combined. DO NOT over beat cake batter.
  • Keep batter aside.
  • Place pineapple rings on a tray lined with kitchen paper towel. Dab the rings dry with a paper towel on top. If you are using real maraschino cherries, place that too on paper towel to dry out excess liquid.
  • In a sauce pan add butter, brown sugar, salt and vanilla extract.
  • Whisk together and heat it until brown sugar is dissolved.
  • Remove sauce pan from heat and let it sit for few minutes.
  • Spray generous oil on muffin trays.
  • Pour a tablespoon of warm brown sugar-butter syrup at the bottom. (Note- I used regular muffin tray). For jumbo muffin trays you’ll need to add 2 tablespoon of brown sugar butter syrup.
  • Place pineapple rings on it.
  • Add halved cherry or full cherry (pitted) in the hole of pineapple rings.
  • Pour cake mix over to fill muffin tray ¾ of the way full.
  • Bake in pre-heated oven at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes(for jumbo muffin trays) or until toothpick comes out clean.
  • Note: cooking time will vary if use switch to regular muffin trays. Keep a close watch. Baking in regular muffin trays will need somewhere between 15 to 18 minutes. Check for done with toothpick test.
  • Pull them out of the oven and let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes.
  • Loosen the edges with butter knife. Place a cookie sheet on top of the muffin trays and flip them over. Mini pineapple upside-down cakes will come out clean onto the cookie sheet.
  • Enjoy immediately.

Video

Notes

You’ll need jumbo muffin tins to bake mini pineapple upside-down cake.  If you don’t have jumbo muffin tins, you can use regular muffin tins and follow one of these hacks:
  1. I used regular muffin tins to make this mini pineapple upside-down cake. To make pineapple rings fit at the bottom on regular muffin tins, simply cut pineapple rings into smaller rings using donut cutter. The size of donut cutter you have matters. The one I have results in smaller pineapple rings that fit perfectly in regular muffin tins.
  2. Use regular muffin tins and simply use crushed pineapple instead of rings. Look for crushed canned pineapple instead of pineapple rings.
The recipe yields 6 jumbo muffin cakes or 10 regular muffin cakes.
 
Nutritional Info – Please keep in mind that nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Calories: 364kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 605mg | Potassium: 172mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 50g | Vitamin A: 403IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 1mg