Pineapple Upside-down Cupcakes

Wow! Cupcake Friday came around pretty quick this week…seeing as how I just posted the Buckeye Cupcakes on Tuesday. But Friday it is. And have I got a good one for you this week.

Among our talented members of Dishing-It-Up! is one of the editors of “Family Fun Magazine”, Ellen Harter Wall. Through Ellen’s generosity I get to enjoy this great magazine every month. So when I opened the August issue and saw Pineapple Upside-down Cupcakes I knew exactly what the next Friday’s cupcake was going to be. I love pineapple upside down anything!

Put that in a cupcake and I’m in heaven! I just love the crunchy, crusty, buttery, baked sugary deliciousness of the topping, with pieces of juicy pineapple and a maraschino cherry in the middle! Oh-my-gosh! (Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my keyboard.) Then once your taste buds pass the topping, they hit the moist & bouncy cake that supports the toppings. That is if we’re talking good pineapple upside-down cake.

So I had pretty high expectations when I started to bake these cupcakes. The recipe looked straightforward. And the results? Well…let me tell you these cupcakes are so incredibly delicious that I wanted to eat them in multiples. (And Bob was out of town so I could have done just that with a reasonable chance of getting away with it. However, he reads the recipes and knows how many there should be and he gets just the teensiest bit testy if he doesn’t get his share. I’m just sayin’.)

So I limited myself to one…until morning. And then I had another for breakfast. I knew I’d better start giving them away or I’d eat the entire batch! So saving back Bob’s rations, I “doled” (get it? “doled”) out cupcakes to some willing taste testers; “Hotmom” (aka: Brooke), and Clint & Virna. All three gave them a definite thumbs up!

Pineapple Upside-down CupcakesFrom the August 2009 “Family Fun Magazine”Nancie McDermott, the author of “Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations”

For the batter:
6 tablespoons (¾ stick butter)
½ cup milk
1 cup flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:
6 tablespoons (¾ stick)
¾ cup light or dark brown sugar, tightly packed
6 maraschino cherries
1 (20-ounce) can pineapple rings

Step 1: Heat the oven to 350˚. Place the butter and milk for the batter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Warm the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts, then transfer the mixture to a small bowl to cool.

Step 2: Meanwhile, prepare the pineapple topping. Into each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan, add ½ tablespoon of unmelted butter, then evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the bottom. Place the pan in the oven until the butter melts, about 3 minutes.

Step 3: Halve each maraschino cherry, then cut the pineapple rings into quarters. Place a cherry half, sliced side up, in the center of each cup and lay a pineapple quarter on each side. Press the fruit gently down into the butter-sugar mixture, then set the prepared pan aside.

Step 4: Finish making the batter. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir the ingredients with a fork until they’re evenly blended. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until the flour is fully incorporated. Add the milk-butter mixture and stir well to combine the ingredients into a smooth batter.

Step 5: Pour the batter into the muffin pan, dividing it evenly among all the cups. Bake the cupcakes until they’re lightly browned, dry around the edges and pulling away from the pan a little about 25 minutes.

Step 6: Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Use a butter knife to carefully loosen each cupcake from the edges and bottom of the pan, then place a cookie sheet over the top. Invert the pan, turning the cupcakes out onto the cookie sheet, then transfer them back to the rack to cool completely. Serve the cupcakes at room temperature.

Makes 12 cupcakes.