A taste of Easter

As a child, every Easter, my mom would make this amazing ham with cloves and pineapple slices all over it and then, for dessert, we would have the most awesome pineapple upside down cake. Once we stopped having big family gathers at Easter (around the time I was 10), the pineapple upside down cake seemed to disappear as well. While playing around on Pinterest the other day, I happened across a mini-pineapple upside down cake that used a muffin pan. The recipe looked super easy and wicked tasty. And, upon discovering that JD liked this dessert, I decided I needed to try this bad boy out. 

Cake Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 1/3 C white sugar

8 Tbsp pineapple juice

1 1/3 C all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Topping (which actually goes in first which is very confusing!):

1/2 cup butter (1/2 stick or 4 Tbsp)

1 1/3 C brown sugar

1-can pineapple rings

12-maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.  

First you mix the eggs, white sugar, and pineapple juice together in a mixing bowl. Beat it with an electric beater for 2 minutes. I could have used my KitchenAid stand mixer, but the quantity was so small that I thought it not worth it.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a seperate bowl. The original instructions say to sift this, but I don't own a sifter. And, to be honest, I didn't notice a difference in the final product because I didn't sift it.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes.  

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar.  Stir on low heat for one minute until the sugar is mostly dissolved. When you have a thick grainy semi-liquid that smells like heaven, it is done.

Spoon a layer of the warm brown sugar mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin, then place a pineapple ring on top. Because regular muffin pans are too small for a whole ring, I had to cut each ring into smaller pieces and make a circle out of them. Apparently there are large muffin pans out there, and I'm thinking I need to get my hands on them.  Add a cherry in the middle of each pineapple. Pour cake mixture over to fill muffin tin until the mixture is just below the top of the muffin cups.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. You know they are ready when the toothpick comes out clean. When they are ready, remove them from the oven and let them cool in the pan for a few minutes.  Run a butter knife or plastic knife around the edge of each cake to help loosen them.  Place a wire cooling rack on top, and quickly flip over on top of sheet tray to catch extra drippings. This part is essential because they will drip. Feel free to catch any drippings with your finger for a little taste. :)

With brown sugar mix, pineapple chunks, and cherries.

The cake mix has been added. 

The finished product, dripping with brown sugar syrup. 

Yum. 

Serve these bad boys up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and they make a great sweet dessert. JD's one complaint was that the pineapple slices seemed to "go bad" after just two days. So, to avoid this, make sure you eat them all before that!

I modified this recipe from one I found here, and I'm so thankful that I did!