Recipe: Easy Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I had a ripe pineapple at home, and I had planned to make fruit salad with it. But the rings came out so perfectly with this coring tool Steve bought me, and he said, "You could make pineapple upside down cake!" I had never made one before, but I found this recipe from Betty Crocker, and I whipped it together just before dinner the other night. Easy is right!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 can (20 oz) pineapple slices in juice, drained, juice reserved
• 1 jar (6 oz) maraschino cherries without stems, drained (about 18 cherries)
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• Vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan).
2. As the oven is preheating, place the butter in a 13x9-inch pan and set it on the middle oven rack to melt. Set a timer for 5 to 7 minutes to remind yourself to check when the butter is fully melted.
3. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Arrange pineapple slices on brown sugar. Place a cherry in the center of each pineapple slice, then arrange remaining cherries around slices; press gently into brown sugar.
4. Add enough water to reserved pineapple juice to measure 1 cup. Make cake batter as directed on box, substituting pineapple juice mixture for the water.
5. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.
6. Bake 40 to 46 minutes (44 to 53 minutes for dark or nonstick pan) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately run knife around side of pan to loosen cake.
7. Place heatproof serving plate upside down on top the pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake for 5 minutes so brown sugar topping can drizzle over cake; remove pan.
8. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store covered in refrigerator.

Like I said, I used fresh pineapple, but I did use a can of pineapple juice for step 4. I used the correct size pan, but the cake was rather small; I only had enough room for 6 full pineapple rings. So I didn't need a whole jar of cherries, either. And while I didn't have boxed yellow cake mix, I did have Funfetti, which worked out just as well. 

As for the directions, I had to make a few changes. The butter took MUCH longer to melt than 5-7 minutes. For me, it took at least 10 minutes, so I might recommend just microwaving the butter and then putting it in the pan once the oven has come up to temperature. Then I followed the rest of the instructions until it came to removing the cake to make it, well, upside down. Both the glass dish the cake was baked in as well as the platter I was using for the transfer were very heavy. So I just quickly turned the cake over onto the new plate as neatly as I could, and luckily there was no disaster. But in doing it this well, I did not let the drippings of the brown sugar drizzle onto the cake. But that really wasn't a necessary step. The cake came out SO well! This recipe is so easy to make, plus the dessert is a real show-stopper to look at. I will definitely make this again (next time for more than just me and Steve!). 

One-Pan Chicken and Broccoli with Cheese Recipe

 

I knew we had chicken and broccoli in the house, but I didn't just want to make grilled chicken with air-fried broccoli on the side. That's boring! So I googled, "easy recipe with chicken and broccoli" and found this one from Christine Pittman's Cook the Story blog. It was simple and yummy!

Ingredients

• 8 skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1.5 pound head of broccoli
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly oil a large skillet or rimmed baking dish. Arrange the chicken thighs in the skillet in a single layer.
3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme.
4. Break the florets off of the broccoli. If you’d like, peel and chop the stalks to include them, too. Arrange broccoli around chicken pieces.
5. In a medium bowl toss together the bread crumbs, cheese, olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon coarse pepper.
6. Arrange bread crumb mixture over the broccoli in the pan. It’s ok if some gets on the chicken, but concentrate on the broccoli.
7. Bake until chicken is cooked through to 165°F on an instant-read thermometer, so about 40-50 minutes.

I'm not sure if I didn't use the right size pan, or my ratio between chicken and broccoli was off, but I had SO much of the bread crumb/cheese mixture that there's no way I could have only put it on the broccoli. I covered the whole dish with it (who doesn't like more cheese?). I baked the dish for 40 minutes, but I left it in the oven for another 5 minutes to allow some browning of the cheese (plus, that gave me time to microwave a baked potato for the side dish). This was definitely a quick dinner to throw together, and while it's cooking, that time can be spent enjoying a happy hour drink beforehand at home. I'll be sure to make this recipe again!