21. Pineapple Upside Down Inside-Out Cake

Yet again, if you follow my top 100 you are thinking, there was not a pineapple upside ins… whatever that long ridiculous name… cake by any name on that list. And again, you would be correct. However, there was a Moist Yellow Cake on the list and I used that recipe, with a few adjustments, to make this cake.

I am sure your next question is “what is up with the name of this cake?” Well, my dear inquisitive reader, this is not a traditional upside down cake. There are no pineapple rings making a glorious appearance on the top of this cake; therefore, it is not completely an upside down cake. The pineapple toping, here, is used between the cake layers, on the inside. Hence the name.

Now you may be thinking “Why?” And I would ask you “Why not?” But seriously, I needed to make a Birthday cake for work. This is the third Birthday we have had in about a month. Personally, I thought some maybe tired of the usual cake and frosting. So, I wanted to do something a little different—pineapple upside down cake. But wait, since this was a Birthday cake I wanted to be able to write on the cake. That is when I can up with the idea of placing the pineapple layers in between the cake.

Not to toot my own horn, but “toot, toot!”; this cake idea was genius. I made one batch of the Moist Yellow Cake recipe below. In two of the pans, I started to traditional pineapple upside down cake topping (melted butter, brown sugar, pineapple, and maraschino cherries). I used crushed pineapple as opposed to rings to make the cake easier to cut. I divided the cake batter evenly between three 8-inch pans.

To assemble the cake, I unmold and flip the two pans with pineapple bottoms while still very warm to prevent the brown sugar from cooling and the topping from sticking to the pan. Once the cakes are completely cool, you can stack them pineapple side up, for the bottom two layers of the cake and then place the plain cake (without pineapple bottom) on the top. The completed cake is covered in a simple glaze made from powdered sugar and pineapple juice. If you are worried about the cakes remaining together, place a little of the glaze mixture between the layers for glue.

If you want to put a new twist on traditional pineapple side down cake, give this method and recipe a whirl. The cake is unbelievably moist and the pineapple notes come through the cake wonderfully. Lastly, because this is not a traditional buttercream frosted birthday cake, it is a little lighter for this time of year… Well as light as anything can be when made with brown sugar.

Moist Yellow Cake(Adapted from the awesome Bakerella)

Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (room temperature)
- 2 cups of sugar
- 4 eggs (room temperature)
- 3 cups of sifted self-rising flour (or use 3 cups All-purpose flour minus 6 tsp, then add 4.5 tsp baking powder & 1.5 tsp salt)
- 1 cup of whole milk (room temperature) (For pineapple cake, use 1 cup pineapple juice and optional- 3 TBS dried/powdered milk)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring (I excluded for pineapple cake)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour (3) 8 inch cake pans.
3. Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.
4. Add sugar and continue to cream until light, fluffy, and pale yellow in color.
5. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.
6. Alternate adding the flour (or flour mixture if using alternative) and milk, beginning and ending with flour.
7. Add vanilla and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.
8. Divide batter equally into three cake pans.
9. Tap each cake pan on the counter to release any air bubbles trapped in the mixture.
10. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until done.
11. Cool, assemble, enjoy.