Growing up I knew when pineapple upside down cake was in my future. The sweet scent of the sugar and the pineapple as they baked made it hard to wait until it finished baking and just cool enough to eat. Since then I’ve made the recipe a few times to share with family and friends. But these individual pineapple upside down cakes are amazing and easy to make.

I saw a photo of individual-sized pineapple upside down cakes and thought I’d give them a try one evening when a few of our friends were coming for an outdoor barbeque. We timed the baking so the cakes would be finished soon after we were done with dinner and the cakes had time to cool a bit. We paired them with Irish coffees and decided we were in heaven!

I have a large muffin tin that’s the perfect size for the pineapple rings. It’s a  a great size for individual desserts. You can probably make them in a smaller muffin tin, however you’ll need to make the pineapple ring smaller to fit the pan.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need when making individual pineapple upside down cakes:

For the moist cakes:

2 large eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
4 Tbsp of pineapple juice
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

For the sweet topping:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 can of pineapple rings (save 4 Tbsp of the juice for the cake mix)
6 maraschino cherries

Putting it all together:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray your muffin tins with vegetable or butter spray so the cakes come out of the pan easily.

Put the eggs, white sugar and pineapple juice in a mixing bowl and beat for 2 to 3 minutes.

Next, in a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and combine for a couple of minutes more.

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan and cook until the butter is melted and incorporated with the sugar. Take off the heat.

Now you can assemble the cakes.

First spoon the warm sugar and butter mixture in the bottom of 6 large muffin tins.

Then, add a pineapple ring to each of the tins and place a cherry in the center of the pineapple hole.

Finally, spoon cake batter in each tin until it’s about ¾ full.

Bake the cakes for about 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick put into the cake comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool a few minutes. Run a knife around the outside of each cake. Then, place a wire rack on top of the muffin tin pan and flip the pan over. Remove the pan and let the cakes drip down and cool.

Eat the cakes while they are still warm and enjoy!

Other baking and desserts you may enjoy.

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