Frosted Almond Pineapple Upside Down Cake Stacked

Kennon-Green & Co. Fiduciary Financial Advisor, Wealth Management, Global Value Investing

I made a note to myself at Club 33 in Disneyland to learn to make a good pineapple upside down cake after tasting how delicious theirs was.  I wanted to find a version with the amaretto liquor flavor that they had, but haven’t had any luck, so instead, I decided to try a very highly rated recipe I found online as I waited for the newest expansion pack for Civilization to download and install from Steam.

[mainbodyad]The verdict?  The yellow cake recipe that makes up the foundation is now my go-to yellow cake batter.  That’s it.  I’m done looking.  It’s perfect.  However, this is not my pineapple upside down cake.  I was hoping to avoid pulling a 10-year project like the cinnamon roll recipe, but at this point it can’t be avoided.  I’m going to have to find a base recipe for those amaretto German liquor cakes, and modify it to accommodate the pineapple upside down cake ingredients.   It’s just chemistry, so I’ll figure it out in the end.  I will be able to produce that delicious cake, or at least something equally as wonderful.

But, seriously, the batter … it’s out of this world.  It’s entirely butter, sugar, eggs, cake flour, baking powder, and salt but the constitution makes it unlike anything I’ve ever tried.  It was like eating fluffy clouds.  That’s the best thing to come out of it, which was completely unexpected.

Tomorrow, I’ll have to drop this off at the office or take it to my family members.  This is a lot of cake, so there is no way we’ll be able to finish it.  The good news is, if anyone wants to make it themselves, it’s an easy recipe.  It’s not nearly as involved as that double-layer coffee-infused chocolate cake.  My favorite cake, though, remains the lemon beehive cake I make during the spring and summer.  I haven’t yet done it this year, so I need to get on that.  Still, I just need to accept that I like pies more, especially that granny smith apple pie I make.  

Beginning of the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Batter

The base of the pineapple upside down cake batter is butter and sugar.

 

Mixing the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Batter in KitchenAid

We had to constitute the mixture together slowly so the cake batter was fluffy and moist with a perfect consistency … this meant adding a cake flour, salt, and baking soda mixture to the butter and sugar base, alternating it with buttermilk.

 

Creating Brown Sugar Topping for Pineapple Upside Down Cake

While the cake batter mixed, I had to put down the brown sugar foundation that will become the top of the cakes when they are flipped …

 

Brown Sugar and Butter Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We put the melted butter on the brown sugar, which will bake and create a pie-like topping for the cakes …

 

Cutting the Pineapple Slices for Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I had to cut the pineapple slices for the cake …

 

Putting Pineapples Into the Cake Pan

I need to find an easier way to cut consistent pieces of pineapple.

 

Putting the Cherries into the Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Funnily enough, we had a giant jar of cherries my grandma dropped off out of nowhere a few months ago, which saved me from having to go out and get some.

 

Putting the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Batter Over the Fruit and Brown Sugar Butter Mixture

The next step was the take the cake batter and evenly split it between the two pans, covering the pineapple, cherries, brown sugar, and butter.

 At this point, I made the icing, but you’ve seen me do that before so I didn’t put up pictures.  

Getting the Pineapple Upside Down Cakes Out of the Oven

The cakes had to cool … the one on the left had already been flipped but the one on the right still had a few minutes left before we could take it out of the pan …

 

The Two Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

With both pineapple upside down cakes, it was time to stack them …

 

Frosted Almond Pineapple Upside Down Cake Stacked

We surrounded the now-stacked double layer pineapple upside down cake with a pineapple flavored buttercream icing, accented with almonds.

 

Serving Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We plated and served the pineapple upside down cake …

It’s been a good day … first the changes to the KRIP portfolio, which added oil, gas, and mining giants to the investments, then the Civilization launch date, trying cake recipes … and I fell asleep for a few hours in the afternoon.  Nothing crazy or earth shattering, but just life.  I’m ready to go to bed.  It’s 2:57 a.m. here and I need sleep.

[mainbodyad]