Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a classic American recipe, and has the most perfect light, but moist crumb, and is filled with delicious pineapple flavor. Hold onto your hats, this is seriously amazing!
Pineapple upside down cake is such a classic recipe! So often it can be totally underrated. While it may not be the first cake recipe you think of when you’re planning a birthday party or making a dessert, it will certainly be memorable once you take that first bite. The topping of this pineapple upside down cake is made with brown sugar and butter. When it goes into the oven it melts and cooks and turns into a caramel-like texture. That’s heavenly on its own, but then we top it with pineapple and cherries!
When you flip the cake over so the pineapples are on the top, that caramel mixture seeps into the cake and makes this pineapple upside down cake so tender and moist. We prefer to serve this pineapple upside down cake a little warm, but you can easily serve it cold, straight out of the refrigerator. If you serve it warm, make sure to grab a pint of vanilla ice cream to go on top. You’ll thank me later.
Do I need to grease the cake pan?
Not this time. The melted butter in the bottom of the pan is all that you should need for it to come out easily, once you gently run a knife around the edges of the pan.
Can I make this in a 9×13 pan?
This recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9×13 pan. All ingredients should simply be doubled. The baking time will remain roughly the same at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes.
Yogurt Options for Pineapple Upside Down Cake:
We love the tanginess of full fat Greek yogurt, but you can use any plain yogurt. Fat free, low fat, whole fat, dairy free, it’s up to you! In a pinch? Sour cream works too!
Storage Instructions:
To store pineapple upside down cake you can put it in the refrigerator. To make sure the pineapple and cherries don’t stick to your plastic wrap, stick toothpicks around the edges and in the middle. Once you’ve done that, wrap both the cake and its plate loosely in the plastic wrap. Place the pineapple upside down cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. In addition to being stored in the refrigerator, you can cover this cake in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for up to one month, but I promise it won’t last that long!
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other amazing cake recipes:
Watch the video below where we will walk you through every step of the recipe with a video demonstration.
Made it today. Soooo good! Looking forward to having another piece for breakfast tomorrow.
Should the cake be taken out of the pan right after it comes out of the oven? Or should it cool a little first? Thanks?
I let it sit for 10 minutes and then flipped onto a cake stand. Then I let it sit in the cake pan upside down for about 2-3 minutes. I was shocked, it came out perfectly, lol
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe, keep sharing this type of recipes.
Delicious!! I doubled the recipe for a 9×13 pan it turned out perfect!
I absolutely love pineapple upside down cake! This is another great recipe. Thanks Rachel for giving me the confidence to try so many of your delicious recipes!?
Love her clear instructions. Keeps it simple and in the recipe no mixer required. Nice.
Could I use coconut milk as substitute for milk. I need non dairy substitute.
Coconut milk isn’t a great substitution for vanilla cakes because it’ll give it a slight coconut flavor. But in this instance, coconut flavors pair really well with pineapple and cherries so I’d say go for it!
I did use it for the reason you gave! Turned out great!
Can make this gluten free and use quinoa flour? Would it make it too heavy?
I have no tested this recipe with gluten-free flours. Results vary a great deal when substituting gluten-free flour for all-purpose.
That’s for sure…. I’m not having great luck trying to find a gf flour that works well for any kind of baking 🙁
Can I use fresh pineapple slices
Yes.
If I use fresh pineapple slices I won’t have the juice as I would with the canned pineapple. Will this affect the recipe or should I substitute it?
You can use fresh pineapple and replace the pineapple juice with water. It won’t have quite as strong as a pineapple flavor. Another option would be to blend some of the fresh pineapple into a liquid to replace the pineapple juice, though I realize not everyone would be willing to take this extra step. So both are options when using fresh pineapple, but one means an extra dish to wash and the use of a small appliance which can be a hassle.
When I use pineapple,without the juice, in making recipes, I save the juice and freeze in freezer bags. It sure comes in handy for other recipes.
The opportunity to grill the pineapple 1st makes me want to try using fresh pineapple immediately! Talk about taking it up a notch. This shall be my priority this week!
I made this recipe using fresh pineapples and I didnt end up using all of the pineapple so I squeezed the left overs to get the juices
So delicious! Thanks for another great recipe.