Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

Posted: May 24th, 2010 | Jessie | | Tags: cupcakes, pineapple, upside-down-cake | 3 Comments »

I found the recipe for these adorable little cakes on the Coconut and Lime food blog.  I originally noticed this particular recipe because it featured pineapple and I love pineapple, but the reason I decided to make it is because the recipe uses a whole can of pineapple.

The appeal of a recipe that uses a whole can of pineapple may not be obvious, but as a frequent baker I end up with all sorts of containers of various leftover ingredients in my fridge: egg whites, egg yolk, pineapple juice, frosting, cream cheese glaze, dough scraps, chocolate glaze etc.  I put all of these things in little tupperware containers with the intention of using them somehow.  In reality they sit there for weeks (sometimes months) and I give up and throw them away.  The fact that this recipe utilized the whole can of pineapple really appealed to me because I wouldn’t have any leftover pineapple juice to throw away immediately (and feel guilty) or to save (and tie up one of my storage containers).

This recipe uses one 20 ounce can of pineapple rings.  Coconut and Lime’s Rachel Rappaport directs you to cut 1/2 inch chunks out of each ring to allow the ring to sit on the bottom of your muffin tin.  This didn’t work for me.  I suspect different brands of pineapple have different size rings.  I ended up having to cut about 2.5 inches out of each ring.

I saved all of the pineapple pieces, shredded them and put them into the cake batter for even more pineapple flavor.

With a big chunk cut out of the ring they fit nicely in the bottom of the pan.

With any upside-down-cake this is the moment of truth.  After cooling these cakes I ran a knife around the edge of each cake.  Then I flipped the pan onto the cooling rack, tapped the bottoms of each cup, and…

Success!  You’ll notice there are two cakes without pineapple rings.  I think adding the pineapple to the batter increased the volume so I had enough for two extra cupcakes.

And now for these cupcakes bike portability grade: C -

That didn’t stop my coworkers from eating these in less than half an hour.  They don’t look great, but they still taste good, so why not serve them.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

from Coconut and Lime

These cupcakes are very moist.  They almost have the texture of a cake soaked in a simple syrup.

Topping:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup I was out of corn syrup so I used Lyle’s Golden Syrup
20 oz canned pineapple rings in 100% pineapple juice, drain and reserve juice for batter

Cake Batter:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup flour
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Butter or spray (with cooking spray with flour) 10 wells in a cupcake pan.

3. Cut a 1/2 inch 2.5 inch chunk out of 10 pineapple slices and place the slices (not the little chunks) individually in 10 cupcake wells. They should lie flat in the pan and look like a “whole” ring again.

4. In a small saucepan, melt and stir together butter, brown sugar and golden syrup. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes or until it thickens slightly. Stir thoroughly to combine. Pour about one teaspoon of this topping into the bottom of each pineapple ring covered cupcake well.  I had extra caramel so I went back and added another 1/4 tsp. to each well.  Bad idea!  The caramel overflowed the cupcake wells while baking and made a mess on the bottom of my oven.

5. In a medium sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  I did this in my Kitchen Aid mixer.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  It’s such a small amount of ingredients that the paddle can’t reach it in the bottom of the bowl.  I ended up mixing things by hand.

7. Add the baking powder, mix briefly then add the flour alternately with the pineapple juice. Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 1/4 cup of batter over each pineapple slice and bake for 20 22 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan then invert over a baking rack. You may want to place parchment paper or a towel under the rack because they may drip. Serve on a plate, pineapple side up.

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