Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

When I was up in Vermont for Christmas, my mom and I talked quite a bit about baking.  She’s a great cook, but absolutely hates baking because she thinks there are too many ingredients, too many steps, too many dirty dishes, and she finds the results unreliable.  She recently made these mini cheesecakes from the blog and thought they were way too much work.  I would describe the cheesecakes as pretty simple, but requiring a bit of patience when making the little crusts.  It was a nice reminder that my perspective on the difficulty level for a baking recipe is a bit skewed considering how often I bake and how much I enjoy it.

This recipe is truly easy and since it is just a doctored cake mix is very reliable.  I actually really like yellow cake from a mix, and unlike chocolate cake, think it’s very often better than homemade.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Topping

1 20-ounce can pineapple, crushed, chunks or tidbits (drained – reserve pineapple juice)
1/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
24 maraschino cherries

Cake

18-19 ounce yellow cake mix or pineapple cake mix (prepare batter as directed substituting the reserved pineapple juice for water)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Thoroughly grease 24 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Drain canned pineapple, reserving liquid in a glass measuring cup.
4.  Combine butter and brown sugar. Evenly spoon mixture into muffin cups. Place one cherry in the center of each cup. Top with 1 tablespoon pineapple. (If using pineapple chunks or tidbits decoratively arrange pieces in each cup.)
5. Place cake mix and eggs in large bowl. To reserved pineapple juice *add enough water to make a total of 1-1/3 cups of liquid. Pour liquid in bowl. Beat for 30 seconds on low. Continue beating for an additional 2 minutes on medium. Divide batter among muffin cups.
6. Bake for 20 -22 minutes or until the cakes spring back when pressed lightly with your finger.
7. Allow to rest in pan for 2 minutes and then invert onto serving platter.