Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Cupcakes

My wonderful Dad turned 60 on Black Friday.
To celebrate his birthday we had a party, of course. I made Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes and a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. His favorite!
I am not entirely sure where this recipe came from, other than I got it from mother's recipe box when I got married and moved out. (I am not claiming ownership of this recipe in any way, although I did modify it to make cupcakes.)

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 

1 can (8 1/4 oz) sliced pineapple (I used a 15 oz can and ended up using 7 rings and 1 cup of juice)

Maraschino cherries - halved (one half for each ring)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup unsifted flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Melt 1/4 cup of butter and mix with the brown sugar. Spread it into an 8 inch square pan (I used a 9 inch round, you could also use a cast iron skillet). Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice, and arrange the slices over the butter/brown sugar mixture. Place cherries in the center of each ring.

Cream the remaining softened 1/4 cup of butter and white sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until just combined.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and the reserved pineapple juice (about a cup) to the butter mixture.Beat just until smooth.

Pour evenly over the fruit in the pan.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until the cake tests done with a toothpick.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes on a wire rack, then invert onto a serving plate. Be careful removing the pan so that your fruit doesn't stick to it (it can easily be placed back on the cake if it does).

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

Makes about 24-30 cupcakes

I melted 1/2 cup of butter and mixed with with 1 cup of packed browned sugar. Then, I line muffin tins with grease-proof cupcake liners and evenly spread each on with about 1 1/2 Tbsp of well-drained crushed pineapple. Then I topped each one with about 1/2 Tbsp of the butter/brown sugar mixture. 

YUMMY!

For the batter, I doubled the recipe above for Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I used the juice from a 15 oz can of crushed pineapple and I omitted the cherries. Add the cake batter to the pineapple in the muffin cups. I filled them to within a 1/4 inch from the top of the pan. Than bake at 350 for about 15-17 minutes. They come out perfect. I did have to make more butter and brown sugar and use more pineapple for the batter that I had, but the juice from one can is all you need for the batter.

I topped them with caramel frosting.

Caramel Frosting

http://hoosierhomemade.com/zucchini-cupcakes/ 

Enough frosting for about 12 cupcakes

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 - 2 cups of powdered sugar

In a small saucepan on the stove, combine brown sugar, butter and milk. 

Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes until slightly thickened.

Let cool slightly before adding the vanilla.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, add as much or little as you like depending on what consistency you want. (Be aware that this icing with turn to stone once it cools and you have added too much powdered sugar.)

This is where I ventured from the original instructions. 

I poured the mixture into the mixing bowl of my stand mixer. I beat on medium until the mixture cooled. Once cooled I had to add a little more milk to thin it out so that I could get it through my piping bag. Add milk or more powdered sugar and beat until it is the consistency you need. It was still soft when I piped it onto the cupcakes but I immediately put them into the fridge to set up and they were wonderful, just not as pretty as a really fluffy icing. However, the FLAVOR makes up for the lack of fluff. These cupcakes are incredible with this icing!