Easy Pineapple Upside Down Cake
This moist , easy Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake is the perfect special occasion cake. It looks impressive and is so flavorful with the brown sugar & pineapple glaze- and it starts with a yellow cake mix!
Servings: 15
Ingredients
- 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix I used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist (15.25 oz). I like to sift my mixes.
- 3.4 oz (Small box) Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 4 eggs room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if in a hurry)
- ½ cup (116 g) Pineapple Juice (from the can of pineapples)
- ½ cup (116 g)Milk (preferably whole or 2%)
- ½ cup (108g )Vegetable Oil (we use Canola oil)
- 2 teaspoons 8g Vanilla extract
For the Brown Sugar Glaze and topping
- 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ stick (56g) unsalted butter, melted
- 20 oz can of sliced pineapple (we used 8 pineapple rings)
- 1 small jar maraschino cherries we only needed 8
Instructions
- Grease (with vegetable shortening) and flour a bundt pan. Ours is a 10 inch bundt pan but a smaller one is fine also (but as a general rule of thumb, don't fill your pan more than ⅔ full).
- Melt the ½ stick (¼ cup) of butter (we melted ours in the microwave).
- Pour the melted butter into the prepared bundt pan, and sprinkle with 1 cup of light brown sugar.
- Place a strainer over a large bowl or measuring cup and pour the can of pineapple rings into it, reserving the juice. (We will be using ½ cup of the juice later).
- Lay the pineapple rings onto napkins or paper towels and gently blot them. Blot the maraschino cherries as well. We used 8 of each for our cake- you can adjust as needed.
- Arrange the pineapple rings on top of the brown sugar in the bundt pan. Mine overlapped slightly. Within the center or each ring, place a maraschino cherry.
For the Cake Batter
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- Sift the cake mix into your mixing bowl. Add all of the other ingredients: instant vanilla pudding, 4 eggs, ½ cup pineapple juice, ½ cup milk, ½ cup vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.
- Mix at medium speed for one minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix one more minute. Pour or scoop the batter into the bundt pan, covering the brown sugar and fruit layers.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times may vary- check your cake for doneness as it approaches the 45 minute mark.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting it onto your cake plate or pedestal. Place the pedestal on top the the cake pan, and carefully flip it all as one (using dish towels or oven mitts to protect your hands from the heat.)
- Leave the bundt pan upside down for a minute or two to give the the glaze a little more time to drip down. You may still have a bit of brown sugar in your pan- that is okay!
- Serve warm or cool. If not serving right away, it is best to refrigerate and then remove from the refrigerator 2-3 of hours before serving.