This cake is kind of like my life right now…upside-down in a very good way!
Spring is always a bit hectic with the kids’ school, schedules and activities. Something kicks in around May with Little League for 2 boys in addition to our already crazy afternoon calendar and a bunch of year end celebrations for all 3 of our kids. All of the sudden, I need to be in about 2-3 places at once, multiple times a week.
It’s all wonderful however, it literally feels like we are stumbling across the finish line (a.k.a. the end of the school year). I believe it is a cosmic price we pay for the joy that is summertime. I cannot wait!
I’m also feeling very inspired in the kitchen. It must be all of the great fruit and vegetables I’m starting to see pop up everywhere and just an overall feeling of happiness now that this beast of winter is finally behind us.
I recently scored a bunch of great Food & Wine cookbooks at a local used book sale. There was a pineapple upside-down cake in one of them, Chef Recipes Made Easy, edited by Dana Cowin. I thought it would be nice to create a gluten-free version of this cake to bring along to a BBQ this weekend. It’s so pretty, moist and delicious! I found I couldn’t stop eating it once I took a bite. That’s always a good sign.
The batter for this cake is made with sour cream instead of buttermilk. It is slightly more dense than my other cakes but I felt the texture balanced well with the moist fruit on top. It could also be fun to soak the pineapples in a little bit of Coco Lopez, Cointreau or Grand Marnier to kick it up a notch if you are going to an adult BBQ.
P.S. My Whole Foods cooking demo was so much fun last week. Here is a picture my sister took while I was doing my thing. I will be back in the Ridge Hill store on June 14th making Mini Mac n’ Cheese for everyone. Hope you will join us! 
- 20 oz can pineapple slices in juice (about 10 slices) or sliced, fresh pineapple
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1½ sticks butter (I used 12 tbsp Kerrygold)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1¼ cup gluten-free flour blend (King Arthur's plus ¼ tsp xanthan gum or Cup4Cup recommended)
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- ½ vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit
- Butter bottom and sides of 8" round baking pan, line the bottom with parchment Butter the parchment and and sprinkle on 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- Layer pineapple slices on the bottom of the pan
- Heat 4 tbsp butter with ½ cup brown sugar over medium heat and stir together as butter melts. Bring to boil and allow to cook for about 3-4 minutes, until darkened at edges and slightly caramelized. Pour mixture over the pineapple slices in the baking pan evenly.
- Whisk sour cream and eggs together in a small bowl until well blended, add in scraped vanilla seeds and set aside
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside
- Mix remaining butter and granulated sugar together in a stand mixer over medium-high speed or in a large bowl with a hand mixer until light and fluffy (about 5-7 minutes)
- Alternate adding wet and dry ingredients into butter and sugar mixture and mix together until batter is smooth
- Batter will be thick. Use a spatula to gently spread it evenly over pineapple. Pick the pan up a few inches and let it fall straight to the counter to help even out the batter.
- Place in oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes until top is golden-brown and toothpick entered into the center of the cake comes out clean
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and then invert it onto a rack to cool completely before serving.
