This easy Pineapple Upside Down Cake recipe makes a delicious dessert served warm with cream or custard.
Or serve a slice cold with morning coffee or afternoon tea. Either way, this classic dessert cake is a doddle to make and a fabulous treat.
I love to make an upside down cakes and have several variations here on the site, including Blood Orange and Chocolate Upside Down Cake, Bilberry Upside Down Cake, Rhubarb and Ginger Cake and Blackberry and Almond Cake.
All of them are really totally delicious, I know, I've tried them all but sometimes it's hard to beat a good old classic.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake has been a family favourite of ours for years. When I started Only Crumbs Remain y youngest son, Will, designed the new logo for Only Crumbs Remains and I said I would pay him in cake when he was home from Uni and this is what he asked for. So how could I refuse?
Upside Down Cake or Dessert?
It is a dessert that can be made in minutes and once baked can almost disappear in as many minutes. Its a great standby for Sunday dessert, when I haven't thought of anything else to do as I usually have all the ingredients I need to hand.
Ingredients
See recipe card for full instructions and quantities.
for the fruit layer
- Butter - I tend to use lightly salted butter as that is what I have in the fridge. If you use unsalted butter add a pinch of salt.
- Light muscovado sugar - Muscovado sugar is less refined than soft brown sugar and retains its natural molasses, while some soft brown sugars are made from refined white sugar with molasses added back. Although they're usually interchangeable, muscovado is less processed and has a deeper, caramel-like flavour that's perfect for this dish.
- Pineapple rings - Classically made with tinned pineapple (drain well) you can also use fresh pineapple rings too.
- Glacé cherries - Optional. I confess I don't usually add the cherries as the boys don't like them but I wanted this to be a true classic recipe.
for the cake
- Butter - again, use salted or unsalted with a pinch of salt. Make sure it is at room temperature for easy creaming with the sugar.
- Caster sugar - I use golden caster sugar for most of my baking. It's the same as normal caster sugar, but it's unrefined. It is a little more flavoursome with light caramel tones.
- Eggs - Large preferably free range.
should be at room temperature so that they combine with the butter and sugar mixture without curdling. Egg at room temperature also allow more air to be introduced into the batter resulting in a lighter texture. - Self-raising flour - I use self-raising flour for convenience in a lot of my baking recipes. (Self-raising flour in the US is different to the self-raising flour we have here in the UK. So if you are based in the US, I suggest you use plain flour with baking powder to get the same results. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder per 100g (3½oz) plain flour. )
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Pineapple Upside Down Cake Step by Step
Step 1
Melt the butter and muscovado sugar together until combined and pour into the base of the prepared tin.
Step 2
Arrange the pineapple and cherries in the tin.
Step 3
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Step 4
Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding 1 tablespoon flour with the second egg.
Step 5
Fold in the remaining flour until just combined.
Step 6
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Step 7
Carefully spread level, taking care not to dislodge the fruit.
Step 8
Bake until golden and springy to the touch.
Step 9
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out.
Cook's Tips
- Make sure you drain the pineapple well before arranging in the tin. Pat dry on kitchen paper.
- Prepare the pineapple layer before preheating the oven to save fuel.
- Use ingredients at room temperature when making the sponge to help prevent the mixture from curdling.
- Take care spreading the cake mixture over the fruit so as not to dislodge it.
- Place a baking sheet on the shelf below to catch any drips that may over flow.
Equipment
Use a solid tin or a spring clip pan when making upside-down cakes. If you use a loose-bottomed cake tin the butter and sugar mixture will leak out.
How to serve
We like it best still warm from the oven with cream or custard as a dessert. Then again it is also good cold, so any left over is enjoyed as cake with a cuppa the next day.
I would love to know which way you prefer to eat it. Hot or Cold?
Storage /Leftovers
The cake can be stored in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 3 days.
Freeze for up to 1 month.
📖 Recipe
Easy Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Equipment
- 20cm (8in)
Ingredients
- 50 g butter plus extra for greasing (2oz)
- 75 g light muscovado sugar or golden caster sugar (3oz)
for the cake
- 5 - 6 pineapple rings
- 5 - 6 glaze cherries
- 125 g butter softened (4oz)
- 125 g golden caster sugar (4oz)
- 2 large eggs
- 125 g self-raising flour (4oz)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan)/350°F/gas mark 4. Lightly grease a 20cm (8in) shallow round cake tin.
- Melt 50g (2oz) butter and 75g(3oz) muscovado or caster sugar (see notes) in a pan stirring until combined. Pour into the base of the tin.
- Arrange the pineapple rings and cherries in the base of the pan.
To make the cake
- Beat the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of flour with the second egg.
- Beat in the vanilla extract, then fold in the remaining flour. Spoon into the cake tin and carefully spread level over the pineapple.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 35 minutes or until the cake is springy to the the touch.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then carefully flip out onto a serving plate. Serve straight away or allow to cool before serving.
Video
Notes
Cook's Tips
- Using muscovado sugar for the pineapple layer will giver a richer caramel flavour to the topping. For a lighter caramel use golden caster sugar. Alternatively you can pour a little golden syrup straight into the tin before adding the pineapple.
- Adding a tablespoon of flour with the second egg will help prevent the cake from curdling.
- The cake is cooked when pressing gently into the centre the cake springs back and does not leave a indentation.
- Do not use a loose bottomed tin to make this cake or the caramel will leek out.
Nutrition
Baked by Readers - Notes from Your Kitchens
One of the things I love most about sharing recipes is hearing how they work in your kitchens. Over the years, many readers have baked this Upside down cake and kindly shared their tips, tweaks and experiences in the comments.
- one reader increased the quantity by 1 ½ to fit a 10in tin
- another added a little Cointreau to the pineapple layer
- A couple of people added a little lemon zest and juice to the fruit layer to counteract the sweetness.
- and others baked it just as it is; saying how easy it is.
I made this exactly as your method. It looked perfect and tasted great! Very impressive. - Alison
You can find more tips and variations in the comments below - thank you to everyone who's baked and shared their experience.
Pin for Later
Kay says
Hi Jacqui
Just came across your site. Love the recipe of Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Made this at primary school and loved it then but have never been able to find a similar recipe to the one made at school.
Will definitely be making this soon and am loving your blog.
Regards
Kay
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Hi Kay, So pleased you are enjoying the blog. Do let me know if the pineapple upside down lives up to expectations and tastes how you remember it when you give it a go.
Brian Ellis says
Yesterday's pudding....yesterday. Scaled up 1.5x for my 10" tin. Wish I could include a photo. With this size tin 6 pineapple rings filled the perimeter with one more fitting inside the middle. One more ring cut into six triangles to fill the gaps on the rim. Enjoyed equally, with custard AND vanilla ice cream, by those who recognised it as retro and also by those for whom it was new.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I was tempted not to include this comment. If my boys read it they might start asking me to make a bigger version to 🙂 Seriously that sound like one perfect large cake and I'm so pleased it was enjoyed by all. If you want to email me a photo I would happily share it on my facebook page.
Isabella Sim says
Tastiest pineapple upside down cake I’ve ever made! So fluffy and light - perfect! And went down in 5 minutes after it came out the oven.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Delighted you enjoyed it so much.
Immy says
I last made pineapple upside down cake in primary school, at the time i thought it was so delicious. I made this with my 2 year old, his reaction was "wow" and "yummy". Very tasty recipe, thank you for sharing it. As someone else did I added a little lemon to balance it a little which was lovely.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
This really is a recipe that stands the test of time. Glad your 2 year old loved it and lovely to hear your memories of this retro dessert.
Kim Vickers says
I have just finished making your Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and it has turned out wonderful! I had to adapt your recipe slightly as I only had pineapple chunks instead of rings! When I melted the butter and soft brown sugar I also added 3 tablespoons of pineapple syrup from the tin, and also 1 tablespoon of Cointreau. Myself and my husband have just had a slice with single cream and a cup of tea! I can honestly say it tastes divine! Thank you so much for this recipe.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Love the sound of a little Cointreau in the topping I'm rather partial to a splash of booze in my bakes too. Delighted that you and your husband enjoyed this bake and hope you will enjoy more of my bakes in the future.
Mrs H says
Outstanding cake. Very easy to make. Was very moist and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. The best recipe I have found. Will now be a firm family favourite.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Delighted to hear it was such a success, I hope you will go on to enjoy more of my recipes. Thank you for taking time to rate and comment on the recipe.
Alison McEvoy says
I made this exactly as your method. It looked perfect and tasted great! Very impressive.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I'm so pleased. Thank you for taking time to rate and comment. It always makes my day that little bit better when I read comments like this.
Caroline Roberts says
I made this for the first time yesterday and it turned out perfectly! What a super recipe! Thank you so much!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So pleased and you are very welcome its a favourite in our house
Brenda Orr says
I really enjoyed making this for a dinner party. The only tweak I made (which I do for all my cake recipes these days) was to use chopped dates softened in boiled water instead of processed sugar. It was a great success-delicious! Thank you.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I've not tried that Glad it was a sucess.
Rosemary says
Adding lemon rind finely grated to the mixture and a few teaspoons of juice to the caramel enhances it a little and slightly offsets the sweetness. Something I remember from a recipe of the 70’s which is long lost!!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Ohhh yes that sounds like a lovely idea I must try it.
Jack says
I’m a baking novice - was really happy with the result, thanks for the fab recipe. Second go I added a bit of spiced rum to the caramel and used dark muscavado sugar. Also add a squeeze of lime after it’s cooked.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So pleased you are happy with the result Jack, and I must say I love the idea of adding a splash of spiced rum to the caramel. (I like adding a splash of booze to a lot of things.) Interesting that you tried with dark muscovado I would be a little worried that would be too dominating but I may well give it a try now.
Sue says
I came across your recipe looking for a way to use up some pineapple pieces I'd had in the cupboard for a while. It was very easy and the result was impressive. I only had the dark muscovado sugar on hand though, so used that. It makes the top very dark and not as visually appealing, and I agree, the dark muscovado does dominate the pineapple. It's still a delicious cake and a hit with everyone around the table but I'm looking forward to trying it the way you wrote it.
Great to see all the ideas people have for ways to tweak the recipe. Lots of excellent suggestions.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Sue I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. These days we sometime have to adapt to the ingredients we have. I use light muscovado sugar a lot and I had got down to my last few grains when luckily iI finally was able to get some unrefined soft brown sugar (almost the same) a week ago. If you still only have dark muscovado you could try substituting half with caster sugar for the future back which will
Amy says
Giving this a go today at work, will let you know how it goes lol
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Hi Amy, I would love to know what you thought.
Liz says
A lovely cake, but needed a bigger tin - mine was 7" and shallow, needed to be deeper, which made the cooking time longer and me watching the oven for spills.
Everyone enjoyed it.
Liz
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Liz you are quite right it should have been a 20cm (8in) tin. Not sure what happened there and sorry for the inconvenience. Glad you enjoyed it though, and hope it hasn't put you off making it again, it is one of our favourites. I've corrected the recipe now Thank you for pointing it out
k rowlandson says
This upside down cake was far far too sweet. The mixture was heavy and over sweet.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry you found this cake not to your liking. It is a classic recipe consisting of plain vanilla sponge topped with a sweet caramelised pineapple topping, which will inevitably make the overall flavour of the cake sweet and is characteristic of a pineapple upside-down cake. I have not altered the proportions in the basic sponge to counteract this as this would cause the cake to fail. So I can not see how I can reduce the amount of sugar and for it still remain the classic pineapple upside down cake.
I am surprised that you found the mixture heavy, that should certainly not be the case. Perhaps you did not beat the butter and sugar together long enough or your oven was not operating at the correct temperature. To avoid this happening again with other cakes you make you may like to read How to make the perfect Victoria sandwich as I give you lots of hints and tips in this post.
Lauren says
Exactly what you want from a classic Pineapple Upside down. Very tasty & even converted my husband. Will be using this recipie again and again. Thanks!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So pleased you and your husband enjoyed it. Sometimes the classics are just the best 🙂
Jenny Paulin says
This looks amazing Jacqueline . I love a bitt of old skool cake making! classics that should never go out of baking fashion. thank you for sharing with #Bakeoftheweek x
SallyBR says
Beautiful cake! Looks super moist, I bet it's hard to eat a single slice....
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
It is indeed Sally 🙂