Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Upside Down Cake in a Skillet

I get that my mom wasn't much of a role model in the kitchen. But I really didn't know that you are supposed to make pineapple upside down cake in a skillet.  An offhand comment from a friend alerted me to this fact.  So I tried it.  And here is how it looks.  I used the largest iron pan I had.  It's the size for frying chicken.  Large diameter, deep sides, and heavy.  But it looked and tasted fantastic!

And here's the recipe, just for Sue!

Ingredients:

1 pineapple cake mix 

1 can Dole pineapple slices (liquid reserved)

1.5 c brown sugar (packed)

1/2 c butter

maraschino cherries

Directions:

Preheat the oven according to the directions on the cake mix box.  Melt the butter in a 10-12" high-sided cast iron skillet.  Remove from heat and sprinkle the brown sugar all around the skillet in an even layer.  Arrange the pineapple slices atop the sugar and place a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple slice.  You can also add additional cherries in between the pineapple as shown above. 

Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box.  Instead of using water, use the reserved juice from the pineapple slices to prepare the box mix.  Pour the batter into the skillet and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Expect that this cake will take significantly longer to bake than the directions indicate on the box.  My cake took about 55 minutes to bake through.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool slightly.  You want to flip the cake carefully, making sure not to crack it.  Also, you can't wait until the cake has completely cooled or the sugar/pineapple on the bottom will stick to the pan.