Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
This Homemade Pineapple Upside-Down Cake features a caramelized pineapple topping and an incredibly buttery, moist cake.
It’s been one of my goals this year to update and re-share some classic recipes for you to have on hand for when you need them. Today’s recipe is one I’ve always loved and I think you’ll love too – this easy pineapple upside-down cake.
One of the things that I love about this recipe is that it’s made completely from scratch. But don’t worry, it’s still incredibly easy to make! You can make the topping in the microwave and use canned pineapple slices and maraschino cherries.
The cake batter is also incredibly simple to throw together and uses everyday basic ingredients. It’s so incredibly buttery and moist, it beats anything you can make using a box mix. I think this cake could even convert someone who thinks they don’t like pineapple upside-down cake into loving it.
How To Make Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
There are two components to making this pineapple upside-down cake, the topping and the cake batter. Let’s discuss how to prepare each one!
How To Make The Topping
To make the topping for this cake you’ll melt some butter, then stir in some brown sugar, and spread it around into a 9-inch cake pan. If you want to make this step a bit easier, feel free to use the microwave to melt your butter.
Since I prefer to keep this recipe simple I use canned pineapple slices and a small jar of maraschino cherries. Just be sure to reserve the pineapple juice from the can because you’ll be using some of it in the cake, which I will explain later.
You can arrange the pineapple slices and maraschino cherries however you like in the pan. A 20-ounce can of sliced pineapple will usually have 10 slices, so I like to arrange seven on the bottom of the pan and slice the other 3 in half and place them along the sides. Then, place the cherries where ever they will fit. Once the topping is ready, set it aside and prepare the cake batter.
How To Make The Cake
To make the cake, you will start out by whisking together your dry ingredients – some all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. When measuring your flour it’s important to use the spoon and level method, otherwise, you can end up with a dense cake. Once the dry ingredients are well combined, set them aside and mix up the wet ingredients.
For the wet ingredients, you’ll start by creaming together some unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 4 to 5 minutes or until the mixture is light in color and fluffy. This step is crucial because it incorporates more air into your cake batter which results in a lighter, fluffier cake.
Next, mix in your eggs one at a time until they’re fully incorporated into the creamed butter and sugar. Then, mix in the pure vanilla extract and sour cream. At this point your batter may look a little bit curdled, but this is okay!
Once the wet ingredients are well combined, whisk together the remaining milk and pineapple juice. You can just use 1/2 cup of milk in this step, but I found incorporating a little bit of pineapple juice will infuse the cake with more pineapple flavor. Then, just alternate mixing in the dry ingredients with the milk + pineapple mixture.
Carefully pour the batter over the topping in your cake pan and spread it around into one even layer. The cake will take about 45 to 55 minutes in the oven, you will know it’s done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I recommend letting it cool slightly, then flipping the cake out of the pan.
FAQ’s
Can you freeze pineapple upside-down cake?
Yes, you can freeze it! You can either wrap individual slices or the whole cake tightly with plastic wrap, store it in a freezer bag or container, and freeze for up to 3 months. I recommend thawing it overnight in the refrigerator and letting it come to room temperature before serving.
How do you store it?
You may store this cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. While it’s not necessary to refrigerate this cake, I do recommend storing it in the refrigerator if you need to store it 1 to 2 days longer.
Can I use fresh pineapple?
Yes, it’s fine to use fresh pineapple in this cake. You can juice the pineapple as well to get 1/4 cup of pineapple juice or simply replace the pineapple juice with 1/4 cup of milk.
When do you flip the cake?
Once the cake comes out of the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then flip it and remove it from the pan.
Baking Tips
- Make sure all of your ingredients, including the butter, eggs, sour cream, and milk, are all at room temperature before getting started. This will help ensure that they mix together properly.
- When measuring your flour, make sure to spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
- If the cake begins to brown too much in the oven before it’s done baking, loosely cover it with aluminum foil until it’s fully baked.
- Want to make a mini version? Try my mini pineapple-upside down cakes.
More Cake Recipes To Try!
- Hummingbird Cake
- Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- White Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
Video Tutorial
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
For the topping:
- ¼ cup (60 grams) unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup (100 grams) light brown sugar packed
- 1 20-ounce can pineapple slices reserve juice for the cake
- 20 maraschino cherries
For the cake:
- 1 and ½ cups 190 grams all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) sour cream at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) pineapple juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
To make the topping:
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until fully combined. Pour into the prepared cake pan and spread it around into one even layer. Arrange the pineapple slices on top, cut any extra slices in half and place along the sides of the pan, then place the maraschino cherries in and around the pineapple slices. Set aside.
To make the cake:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy (about 4-5 minutes). Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until fully combined. Then, mix in the vanilla extract and sour cream until well combined, making sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Whisk together the pineapple juice and milk.
- With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk and pineapple juice.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan on top of the pineapple slices and cherries and spread it around into one even layer.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If needed, tent with aluminum foil for the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack and remove from the pan to finish cooling.
Notes
I have made this cake twice now for birthdays. It is so simple and tastes delicious. I have gotten rave reviews from friends and family. I look forward to making it for celebrations . I did add a splash of bourbon and used bourbon cherries for the topping for an adult friends birthday…came out perfectly. Thanks for your great recipe.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Reviews look great. I grew up on pineapple upside down cake made from a box. I’m eager to try scratch. One (probably silly) question… how can you tell if you’ve over mixed the batter?
Hi, Ashley! It’s hard to know if it’s over mixed just from the batter, you can usually tell from the texture of the baked cake though. I recommend only mixing in the dry ingredients until they’re just combined with the wet ingredients.
Hi there, in the upside down pineapple cake recipe. Do you use both milk and the pineapple juice or just one or the other?
I use 1/4 cup of each one in the cake.
Can so sub the whole milk for almond or cashew milk?
That would be fine.
Your recipe sounds absolutely delicious. Plan on making it this weekend in celebration of Mother’s day. If I wanted to double the recipe for two pans could I do it all together or should I make two separate batches? Sorry, probably a silly question, but I am keen on needing to follow recipes the first go around so as not to serve terrible things 😉 Thank you!
It would be fine to mix it all together! Just be careful not to over mix the dry ingredients into the batter.
I want to bake this cake for my dad’s birthday on Thursday, but I can’t go to the grocery store I was wondering if I can substitute the sour cream for Greek yogurt?
That would be fine!
Hi there! Thanks for the recipe. Considering making two instead of one – would you suggest just doubling everything or making two separate cakes entirely? Thank you!
It would be fine to double it, just make sure not to over mix the batter when you add the dry ingredients.
Looking forward to making it. I have a 9” springform pan or I can use a 9×9 square or 9×12 what do you recommend?
The 9-inch springform or 9×9 square pan would be fine!
hi, my name is Isabela and I’m 9 years old. We’re (my mom and I) about to make this recipe and are gathering the ingredients. Since we have Soft as Silk Cake Flour, we were wondering if we can substitute that for the flour and baking powder in your recipe and if the proportions are the same. Thanks and bye!
Hi, Isabela! You can use cake flour for this recipe. It is lighter than all-purpose flour though so you’ll need to use an extra 1-2 tablespoons of the cake flour. Also, if your flour is just regular cake flour then you’ll still need the baking powder. If it’s self-rising cake flour you can omit the baking powder and salt.
Any changes needed for high altitude baking?
I’m not familiar with high altitude baking, but some readers have found this guide from King Arthur Flour helpful.
I never liked pineapple upside down cake but it was surprisingly delicious! I mean it was SO good!
Hi- can I substitute the cherries with any other fruit? fresh blueberries? or can I just leave the cherries out? Going to make it tomorrow.
That would be fine and it’s fine to leave them out too.
A friend of mine recently made a pineapple upside down cake but wouldn’t give me the recipe!!! I googled it and yours looked to be the best. My question is, can you add pecans to the cake batter? Also, do you adjust the cook time and temp for cast iron skillet? Last question, rather than using spray, is it okay to coat my skillet with butter?
Thank you.
Yes, that would be fine! I would probably mix in 1/2 – 3/4 cup of chopped pecans. I’m not sure how you would need to adjust the baking time for a cast iron skillet, if it’s larger, you may need to decrease it slightly. It’s also fine to coat your skillet with butter.
Wondering if you can double topping seems would be tastier if had more topping?
It doesn’t seem like much, but I find that it’s really plenty. You may be able to double it, but I haven’t tried it.
Can you use a 12″ x 2″ round pan?
I think that would be fine, you may need a little more sliced pineapple and cherries.
I made this for Easter and my boyfriend said he really liked it, I thought it was too dense for my liking. It looked pretty just like yours. I put it in the fridge as the recipe stated and I’ve never done that before and I think it being cold also wasn’t to my liking. Timing in the oven was perfect and it was pretty. Thank you.
Flavor was excellent however my cake was extremely dense. Is this how pineapple upside down cake should be?
Did you make sure to spoon and level your flour and avoid over mixing the batter? If so, the sour cream can create slightly denser cakes so you can omit it, just keep in mind that the cake won’t be quite as moist.
This came is delicious. I only had crushed pineapple, so I drained that and used it. It came out perfectly and was so simple to make. Will definitely make again!
I can’t wait to serve this to my family tomorrow for Easter Dinner… it looks amazing, smells Devine and my mouth is watering!!
Can you skip the sourcream
Yes, but the cake won’t be quite as moist.
Will be making this beautiful cake for my dessert this Sunday, Easter.
Hope you enjoy the cake, Carol!
I had baked this cake last night and the kids loved it. It was incredibly moist and buttery. The canned cherries I used made a lot of difference and it had that jammy flavour. Loving this receipe and will be baking this more often.
Much love and thank u❤️
This is an amazing recipe! I’ve never made one of these and wanted to try it out. I have only one problem, I followed the recipe to the t but when I put the cake out, it cracked right around the edges where the pineapples are, like cracked circles around them. What could be the problem?
Hi, Eva! It could be for a few reasons, did you spray the edges of the pan well? If so, it could be that the cake was a little overbaked on the edges and caused it to crack. You could try reducing the baking time slightly or using a lighter colored pan.
Can you use fresh pineapple?
Yes, that would be fine.
Came out lovely! I haven’t had pineapple upside-down cake in probably 15 years and this really hit my nostalgic spot. I would gladly use the same base recipe for other flavors.
I have a 10” and 8” springform pan, which would be better to use? Since I don’t have 9.
I would probably use the 10-inch pan, the 8-inch may be too small.
Can I use 9.5 springform pan?
Yes, that would be fine! You may need to reduce the baking time just slightly.
Wow! I made this exactly according to the recipe, and baked it in a cast-iron skillet. It turned out beautifully. I especially liked the idea of putting the extra pineapple slices around the sides. It made for a lovely presentation, and a little extra pineapple is always welcome. Thanks for this great recipe. I’m looking forward to using it as a base for some other variations — Pears and walnuts would be tasty, in place of the pineapple and cherries, for example. The cake itself is so moist and flavorful, anything would go great with it.
Simply delicious! The recipe is perfect and the cake turned out wonderful!
I made this cake tonight out of craving to have a pineapple upside down cake for a few weeks. Let me say how awesome this recipe, and this cake turned out. The cake itself is incredibly moist, and chock full of buttery yumminess. The pineapple juice in the batter was immediately picked up by my taste testers. Meaning family. The only thing i have to say is this recipe is a keeper, and will be made for a long time coming. How satisfying it is to not have to use a box cake mix, and be able to make this batter with such ease is a true plus. I am already planning on making another to share with extended family tomorrow. I look forward to seeing the smiles from faces as they enjoy this cake. Thank You for such a wonderful addition to the recipe box.
So happy to hear that everyone enjoyed the cake, Heidi!
My nine year old granddaughter made her first homemade cake tonight she chose yours! I am so glad she did. It’s a keeper a new family Favorite for sure. It was always her dads favorite cake until tonight he said” Guess I never really knew a cake could taste better than any other cake with the same name this should be called Raimis delicious upside down Surprise cake because it’s better than a pineapple upside down cake!!!!” Who would have guessed? Thank you for the delightful desert all the way round. GRAMMY
So happy to hear that everyone loved the cake!
Made this cake, and I love how moist it is. The only thing I changed with the recipe was making a caramel sauce to go on top. It was eaten at work in two hours.