{"id":7053,"date":"2010-04-21T11:27:20","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T15:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=7053"},"modified":"2010-04-22T09:46:01","modified_gmt":"2010-04-22T13:46:01","slug":"upside-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=7053","title":{"rendered":"Upside Down"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Here's our cake. Don't you love my sister's new cake plate(from Williams-Sonoma, http:\/\/www.williams-sonoma.com)?<\/p><\/div>\n

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Yesterday was National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019m not a slave to food holidays. So many of them were created by commercial interests. (I can find no evidence that Mr. Dole invented this one, and yet I can\u2019t help but wonder\u2026\u2026.)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Nevertheless, pineapple upside-down cake has long been a favorite of mine.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It\u2019s a dessert with many associations. The pineapple itself has long symbolized hospitality and elegance.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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To me fresh pineapple is a magical fruit\u2014a perfect blend of sweetness and acidity. I know the pineapple we get in the northeast can\u2019t compare with its cousins in their native climes. Nevertheless, if left to ripen for a few days a fresh pineapple can give us Yankees the illusion of living in a tropical paradise.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I generally eat the fruit plain\u2014but I\u2019ve been known to put it in fruit salad<\/a> or salsa<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Pineapple upside-down cake is a simple comfort food I remember with joy from my childhood.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Even made with canned pineapple it delights eaters. When I worked as a demo cook at Bloomingdale\u2019s I kept canned pineapple on hand for days on which I was uninspired. A quick batch of upside-down cake made even the most fussy of customers happy.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The cake is even better when made with fresh pineapple. To tell you the truth, the flavor isn\u2019t terribly different. By the time you bake fresh pineapple pieces they taste a lot like canned ones. Nevertheless, I love having more substantial chunks in the cake than one can achieve with canned pineapple.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I think it would taste even better with a little rum added along with the vanilla, but I couldn\u2019t find rum in the house so I don\u2019t know for sure.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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If you\u2019re interested in the history of pineapple upside-down cake, take a look at the Food Timeline\u2019s copious notes<\/a> on this item, which include vintage recipes.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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If you\u2019re interested in making your family happy, bake this cake!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Pineapple Upside-Down Cake<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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for the upside-down topping:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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1\/2 stick butter (1\/4 cup)
\n3\/4 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown as that is what I had, but light brown might look prettier)
\n2 cups pineapple, cut into chunks<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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for the cake:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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1\/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter at room temperature
\n1 cup sugar
\n2 eggs
\n2 teaspoons baking powder
\n1 pinch salt
\n1-1\/2 cups flour
\n1\/2 cup milk
\n2 teaspoons vanilla<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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First make the topping (which goes on the bottom!).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Melt the butter in a skillet\u2014a 9- or 10-inch cast-iron skillet, if possible. Stir in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, until it melts and bubbles\u20143 to 4 minutes.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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If you\u2019re using the cast-iron skillet you may continue with the recipe at this stage and cook the cake in the skillet. If not, transfer the brown-sugar mixture into a 9-inch round cake pan. Spread it through the bottom of the pan. Arrange the pineapple pieces on top as artistically as you can.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the baking powder and salt.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Add the flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in the vanilla.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Spoon the batter over the pineapple in the cake pan or skillet, and place the pan in the oven. Bake until the cake tests done (in about 40 minutes).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Let the cake stand for 10 minutes; then invert it onto a serving plate. You may need help with this if you use the cast-iron skillet as it feels a bit heavy during the inverting process.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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This cake is best served slightly warm with or without a little whipped cream.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Serves 6 to 8.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a>

Colonial Williamsburg created this lovely pineapple wreath. http:\/\/www.history.org\/<\/p><\/div>\n

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If you enjoyed this post, please consider taking out an email subscription to my blog. Just click on the link below!<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Subscribe to In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens by Email<\/span><\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Yesterday was National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day. \u00a0 I\u2019m not a slave to food holidays. So many of them were created by commercial interests. (I can find no evidence that Mr. Dole invented this one, and yet I can\u2019t help but wonder\u2026\u2026.) \u00a0 Nevertheless, pineapple upside-down cake has long been a favorite of mine. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9],"tags":[1152,1153],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7053"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7064,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions\/7064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}