Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

by jessyratfink in Cooking > Cupcakes

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Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

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I absolutely love pineapple upside down cake, but it's a little daunting for me. I'm not the best baker, and I actually don't own a cake pan!

These pineapple upside down cupcakes are the perfect answer - they're super easy to make but taste just as great. They take less than an hour to make so you can have a cute dessert for a bunch of folks in no time. And you can make them as fancy as you like! I didn't worry too much about making them pretty because I was only going to devour them anyway. :D

I also decided to leave these pineapple upside down cupcakes unfrosted - they're so sweet already. But I bet a pineapple flavored frosting would be excellent!

Ingredients:

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for the cake:
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 4 tablespooons pineapple juice (I used orange juice since I used fresh pineapple!)
  • 2/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

for the brown sugar topping:
  • 2 tablespoons of butter/margarine (I used Earth Balance)
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
  • can pineapple rings (or fresh pineapple!)
  • maraschino cherries
This recipe makes 8 cupcakes!

You'll also need a muffin tin, sifter, nonstick cooking spray, and an oven set to 350 F. :D

Get Your Prep Done, Preheat the Oven!

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Melt the butter and brown sugar in the microwave - 30 seconds should do it. Once melted, mix it well!

Sift the dry ingredients.

Mix the wet ingredients thoroughly!

And preheat the oven to 350 F.

Complete the Batter

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Once the wet ingredients are mixed well and the dry ingredients are sifted, you can mix them together.

Pour the dry into the wet, and mix until everything is combined and you can't see any clumps of dry ingredients. :)

Make the Layers in the Muffin Tin

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Spray your muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. :)

Spoon in a little bit of the butter/brown sugar mixture into the bottom of each cup - it ends up being a little less than a tablespoon each. Then place a maraschino cherry in the middle and surround it with bit of pineapple.

Now you'll spoon the cake batter over the pineapple - fill the tin almost to the top!

Bake!

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Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 20 minutes. Test their doneness with a toothpick - it should come out of the middle of a cupcake nice and clean!

Once they're done, you need to let them cool for at least 15-20 minutes, preferably on a wire rack. :) If you try to take them out of the pan right away, you'll probably lose your toppings because they'll be too hot.

Go around the edge of each cupcake with a butter knife to help loosen them. Then cover the muffin pan with a large plate or a cutting board and flip it over! This should let them come out nice and easy, and in one piece! You can see one of mine did a flip. :P That's okay - just reassemble it carefully. :D

Enjoy!

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Because of the topping, I'd recommend keeping these in the fridge if it's warm where you are! They keep well for a couple days, but they have a tendency to dry out a little after that since the batter doesn't have any fat in it. :)