A Taste of the Tropics: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I know Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is a popular dessert, but I've never tried it. I don't mind pineapple, but I'm not it's biggest fan. I will rarely eat it on it's own and even then can only eat a couple of pieces.

I decided to ask Lee to pick a couple of meals for the week. He tells me garlic-roasted vegetables, pineapple upside down cake, and lasanga. Hmmmm....not really meals that go well...I decided to split them up this week. Since I was exhausted after work today and we only had something quick and easy for dinner, I decided to do Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for dessert. It seemed like a really easy recipe and something I could definitely handle.

I didn't have the size pan called for in the recipe, so I used a larger pan and it turned out just fine. I also decided to add some of the pineapple juice from the can to the batter and just left out that much water. I figured it would give a bit more pineapple flavor to the cake itself. It didn't seem to make a while lot of difference, but maybe next time I'll get some pineapple juice and have the full amount of water be replaced with pineapple juice and see if that adds some additional flavor to the cake.

I must admit, although I really liked the cake, I did peel the pineapple off the top before eating it. I couldn't really cut into it with the fork and couldn't be bothered to get a knife to cut into the pineapple.

I ate two slices and I feel so full! I complained about eating too much and Lee said "Robyn, you didn't eat half the cake! I feel like I'm going to be sick!" He literally ate half the cake and the sweetness is catching up with him!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
½ cup margarine or butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 20oz can pineapple slices
5 maraschino cherries

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Place pan with butter in the oven to melt.
2. Mix batter according to package directions. You may replace all, or part, of the water with pineapple juice for more flavor.
3. When the butter has melted, add brown sugar.
4. Place pineapple slices in layer on bottom of pan. Place one half of a maraschino cherry in the middle of each pineapple.
5. Bake in oven until toothpick inserted comes out clean.