Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake — The Tropical Birthday

Mama’s birthday is August fifteenth. She turned forty-eight Thursday. She did not want a fuss — said specifically “no fuss” on Tuesday morning at the kitchen table when I asked her about the weekend, said it again Tuesday night when she was getting ready for bed, said it a third time Wednesday morning when she caught me looking at cake-pan options in the kitchen catalog — but I baked a cake anyway because I am two weeks from leaving home for the next four years and the no-fuss directive doesn’t apply when the cake is also a goodbye, and because Mama’s “no fuss” is the family code for “don’t make a big production but please do still acknowledge me,” which I have known how to translate since I was about ten.

I made a pineapple upside down bundt cake with toasted pecans because pineapple cake is Mama’s favorite cake of all time, going back to when she was a little girl and Grandma Carol made it for her sixth birthday from a recipe Carol had cut out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine in 1967. The bundt format is more elegant than a sheet cake, and the upside-down construction in a bundt pan creates a dramatic ringed presentation when you invert it — pineapple slices spaced around the rim, maraschino cherries in the center of each slice, the caramel running down the central tube of the bundt as well as the outer edges. The cake reads like a tropical sculpture instead of a flat pan.

The technique: a ten-inch bundt pan buttered generously (use real butter, not cooking spray, because the butter mixes with the caramel into a glossy fused topping that spray can’t replicate). The bottom of the pan gets a layer of brown sugar (a half-cup, packed) and three tablespoons of melted butter pressed into a thin even layer. Pineapple slices from a twenty-ounce can drained well (drained is the rule — wet pineapple makes a soggy cake) arranged around the bottom, and one maraschino cherry pressed into the center of each pineapple slice. Pecan halves toasted in a dry skillet for five minutes scattered around the gaps between the pineapple rings.

The cake batter is a from-scratch yellow cake: two and a half cups of cake flour, two teaspoons of baking powder, a half-teaspoon of salt, a stick (a half-cup) of butter, a cup and a half of granulated sugar, three large eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla, a cup of buttermilk (homemade, of course, from the active culture I’ve been keeping going since November), and a half-cup of the reserved pineapple juice from the can (which gives the cake itself a faint pineapple note that ties it to the topping). Cream the butter and sugar for three full minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Alternate the dry ingredients with the buttermilk-and-juice mixture. Fold in a half-cup of additional toasted pecan pieces.

Pour the batter gently over the pineapple-and-cherry layer in the prepared bundt pan, smoothing the top. Bake at three-fifty for fifty to fifty-five minutes until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake has pulled away slightly from the sides of the pan. Cool in the pan for ten minutes — not less, the cake needs to set; not more, the caramel will harden and stick — then invert onto a serving plate while still warm. The caramel-pineapple-cherry topping flows down the cake and pools at the base.

Aunt Linda drove down Saturday from Tulsa with Roy in tow because Linda is essentially family-resident with us on weekends now. Aunt Patty drove up from McAlester with Bobby and the twin cousins. Eleven of us at the kitchen table for Mama’s small-but-real forty-eighth birthday dinner. I made a roast chicken, herbed rice, the green beans Mama loves with bacon, and the pineapple upside down bundt cake for dessert. We ate the cake on the back porch with the citronella candles lit and the sun going down.

Mama got a birthday card from Cody he’d been writing for a month. He’d started it in the third week of July, finished it in the second week of August, and put it in a sealed envelope on Mama’s birthday plate before dinner. The card was a long handwritten letter inside a generic Hallmark birthday card, three pages of his careful block printing on lined paper. The first line of the letter was “You raised me twice. Once when I was a kid. Once again from inside.” Mama read the letter at the table while everybody was watching, and she cried into the napkin she was holding for about thirty seconds before getting back to herself. Cody crossed the porch, hugged her from behind in her chair without saying anything, and went back to his seat. The cake was very good. Nobody talked about it.

Real butter under the brown sugar. Drained pineapple. Invert at ten minutes. Here’s the bundt build.

Pineapple Upside-Down Bundt Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• For the topping:
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 can (20 oz) sliced pineapple in juice, drained (reserve 1/2 cup juice)
• 12 maraschino cherries, drained
• For the cake:
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick spray, making sure to coat all the crevices thoroughly.
2. Build the topping. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of the prepared Bundt pan, tilting to coat evenly. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the butter in an even layer. Arrange pineapple slices over the sugar, cutting slices as needed to fill the curve of the pan. Tuck a maraschino cherry into the center of each pineapple slice.
3. Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed for 3–4 minutes until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Add eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract.
6. Combine wet and dry. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the pineapple juice and sour cream (beginning and ending with flour). Mix until just combined—do not overmix.
7. Fill and bake. Carefully spoon the batter over the pineapple topping in the Bundt pan, spreading gently to an even layer. Bake for 50–55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (not the topping) comes out clean.
8. Cool and invert. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for exactly 10 minutes—no longer, or the topping may stick. Run a thin knife around the center tube and outer edge. Place a serving plate on top of the pan and invert in one confident motion. Let the pan sit for 1 minute before lifting it away. Reposition any fruit that shifts.
9. Serve. Allow to cool at least 15 additional minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftovers keep covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 63g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg