Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Oh my this was good! I should first explain that the photo here is of 1/4 of the whole cake and not an individual slice; it just looked best showing a whole pineapple ring...not that I couldn't shamefully eat a slice that big but half of that would be more reasonable :)

I based this on the recipe from my Purity Foods Cookbook from 1967 because, after all, if you're going to make the ultimate retro dessert, it's best to use a retro cookbook! Pure yumminess, will most definitely be making this one again but next time I would probably add more pineapple to fill the gaps and not worry so much about having 4 perfect looking rings as it could have done with a bit more pineapple.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

60g shortening, like trex - room temperature
185g granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
230g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
180ml rice milk or other dairy free milk, Kara coconut works very well too
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
50g vegan margarine
100g light muscovado sugar (light brown)
4 pineapple rings, I used tinned, drained well (or more!)
50g chopped pecans - optional, but so, so good with this!

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix the vinegar with the milk and set aside. Cream the shortening with the sugar and vanilla (you may need to add a splash of the milk to get it going). Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the sugar mixture until all incorporated. Mix very well after each addition.

Melt the margarine in an 8" square glass baking dish then sprinkle over the brown sugar and the pecans. Place the pineapple rings over top, or slice the pineapple and place all over. Spoon the batter over top carefully spreading it out. Don't worry too much if it doesn't get to all the edges, it will bake over and up. Place in the preheated oven for 30 - 40 minutes. Mine took 35 minutes - test with a toothpick. You must do this, especially in the centre, it may look done but could still be doughy in the middle. Only stop baking when that toothpick is clean of batter. Remove from oven and run a knife around the outside of the cake then immediately invert onto a serving plate.

Now, how much of the topping that decides to come out seems to be down to the baking gods....only 2 of my rings decided to come out, the other 2 desperately clinging on to the dish!! Never mind...it just adds to the excitement ;) Serve warm! I reheated leftovers for 20 seconds in the microwave. Although I loved this as is, can also see it going really well with a scoop of vanilla Swedish Glace ice 'cream'.

*EDIT - just made an apple pecan version of this and it was amazing!!! Replace the pineapple with peeled sliced granny smith apples (I used 2) and 50g chopped pecans over the melted marg and sugar. It was so good I never even got to take a photo of it :(

♥