Gluten-Free Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We've been indulging in a lot of fresh pineapple lately. Mostly chopped up and tossed over a scoop or two of ice cream around 7 pm, or so. It's like a ritual for us.

Dinner at 5:00 pm and dessert at 7:00.

However, the weather here in Texas is a bit cold for ice cream right now, so hubby suggested I try to make a gluten-free pineapple upside down cake instead.
That request took me by surprise because I've never ever tried to make a pineapple upside down cake. Even before going gluten free.

My thought was that it's been so long since I had one that as long as the cake tasted good on its own, I have nothing in my mind to compare it to.

Same for hubby.

Said he hasn't had a pineapple upside down cake in so long, he doesn't remember what it's supposed to taste like.

I started my search looking at gluten-free recipes.

Many of those featured on the first few pages of google search results used powdered milk, pineapple juice, maraschino cherries, and other ingredients I didn't have on hand.

I wanted just a simple, economical cake made with milk instead of pineapple juice, so I decided to look at non gluten-free recipes.

I've always had better luck converting regular recipes to be gluten free than I have had following a gluten-free recipe to start with. Not sure why that is, but it was definitely a good choice this time around.

This was my very first try at tweaking a regular pineapple upside down cake and it came out beautiful!

The recipe I started with came from Sugar Spun Run. 

What I Will Do Differently Next Time

The whole slices of fresh pineapple on top of the cake makes a super-nice whole-cake presentation -- very pretty -- but it's not very practical when you try to cut into a slice of cake with a fork.

The whole pineapple ring came off at one time leaving us with a gouged piece of cake.

Hubby recommended that I chop the pineapple up next time, into bite-sized pieces to make it easier to eat. Or use drained can pineapple. And I totally agree.

Other than that, I wouldn't make any other changes.

This recipe is perfect as is.

My Favorite Gluten-Free Flour Mix

Ingredients:

• 2-3/4 cups superfine white-rice flour
• 1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
• 1 cup tapioca flour or starch
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Gluten-Free Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• Pineapple, sliced or cut into tidbits
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups of gluten-free flour mix
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the 1/4 cup butter into a microwavable cup and nuke for 30 seconds to melt. You could also do this over the stove, but the microwave is much easier.

Pour the melted butter into a deep, round cake pan. Use a pastry brush to spread the butter out onto the bottom of the pan and up the sides.

Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of the butter.

Arrange pineapple on top of the sugar, in a single layer. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together oil and white sugar until nice and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Then stir in milk and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine gluten-free flour mix, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum.

Add the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Let the cake sit in the pan for 20 minutes. The cake will begin to pull itself away from the side of the pan. Top with a plate and flip the cake over, so the cake falls out of the pan and onto the plate. Hubby used oven mitts to do that because the cake pan was still quite hot.

Once inverted, I covered the cake and plate with plastic wrap to keep the cake from drying out.

I sliced the cake into 8 pie-shaped slices and topped each slice with some canned whipped cream to serve.

*The cake has to be flipped upside down while it's still quite warm. Just cool enough to not burn you. If you wait too long, the cake will crumble and stick to the pan when you try to flip it.