Also, if you squint real hard at the background of some of these pictures, you can meet my new oven. The last one and I parted on less-than-friendly terms - and on Thanksgiving Eve, no less, in the middle of pre-heating for the apple pie I was supposed to bring to the family dinner. Luckily I was able to secure a back-up oven, so Thanksgiving wasn't ruined, but it was close! Anyway, the nice delivery men from Sears had my new one set up within 48 hours of the break-down, and now I have a convection option and a fifth burner, so everything ended happily enough. But I digress.
It
was only a matter of time before this classic came to the kitchen. This week, I took the traditional Betty Crocker recipe for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake and gave it the 4 oz. treatment.
First, I coated the bottom of the jars with melted butter and brown sugar, then added the fruit. My jars were a little smaller than the pineapple slices, so I cut
the rings into sections and placed them in the bottom of the jars as best I
could. Next time, I'll use crushed pineapple here for better coverage and an
easier fit.
During this recipe, I had the rare opportunity to open a
new can of baking powder. Considering this only happens once every few years, I
wanted to be sure to document the occasion.
A different baker might decide to combine the dry
ingredients first, then cream the shortening and sugars, add egg and vanilla,
and then gradually mix in the dry
ingredients; however, Betty seems to have no scruples about dumping all the
ingredients into the bowl at once.
Once the batter was ready, I spooned it over the prepped jars. The original recipe was for a 9x9 cake, and I was able to easily fill one dozen 4-oz jars. In fact, I probably should have gone with more jars total and less batter in each, as you'll see presently.
They were a little scruffy after coming out of the oven, but no one
sees the bottom edges anyway, so it’s ok. Next, I put a cookie sheet upside
down on top of the cakes, said a prayer, and flipped all dozen of them at once.
Aaaand...it worked!
Unfortunately, my jars did not want to let go of their
cakes very easily. This was the real problem that arose from them baking over
the edges of the jars. I was able to coax them out one at a time with a butter knife, but the
transition definitely compromised the structural integrity of the finished
product.
Admittedly, these guys aren't going to win any beauty pageants, but
they’re sweet enough to make you forgive their disheveled appearance.
In retrospect, I perhaps ought to have used Martha Stewart's version instead. Betty is more traditional, but Martha's version does feature a couple of adaptations that look appealing, like subbing vegetable oil for Betty's use of shortening and adding lime zest to the topping.
Pineapple
Upside-Down Cakes
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Ingredients
½ cup
butter or margarine (add more if necessary to prep all dozen 4-oz jars)
2/3
cup packed brown sugar
9 slices
pineapple in juice (from 14-oz can), drained and cut into sections
12 maraschino
cherries without stems, if desired
1 1/3
cups all-purpose flour
1 cup
granulated sugar
1/3
cup shortening
1 ½ teaspoons
baking powder
½ teaspoon
salt
¾ cup milk
1 egg
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt butter in microwave and transfer to 4-oz jars, generously coating the bottom of each.
Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over
melted butter.
Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar,
In medium bowl,
beat remaining ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds,
scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl
occasionally.
Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.
Bake 50 to 55
minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Immediately
place heatproof serving plate or sheet pan upside down over pan; turn plate and
pan over.
Leave pan
over cake a few minutes so brown sugar mixture can drizzle over cake; remove
pan.
Serve
warm. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would not be a terrible companion to
this dessert.
Store
cake loosely covered.
