Have you ever seen a grown dutch oven cook cry? I consider it nothing short of a miracle any time I remove an upside down cake from my dutch oven and invert it perfectly onto a platter. As I was photographing this finished Pineapple Upside Down Cake the plate tipped and most of the cake landed in a pile of crumbs in the grass. I was able to salvage a few slices and our wild turkeys happily squabbled over the rest.
In any event, the cake was very delicious and was made from a box of Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme Deliciously Moist Cake Mix. The recipe can be found here and on the side of the package. You need to bake it in your 12 inch dutch oven or even your cast iron skillet. The cake baked with 12 coals in a ring around the bottom, 16 in a ring around the outside of the lid with 8 briquettes spaced evenly in the center. In 45 minutes the cake was ready when a tester came out clean. A prepared mix makes this old fashioned classic incredibly easy and extremely moist. Substitute walnut or pecan halves for the maraschino cherries or serve it naked like I did using only the sweetened pineapple slices.
Duncan Hines Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Topping
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 20 oz can pineapple slices, drained, juice reserved from can
Maraschino cherries (optional)
Cake
1 package Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme 10.25 oz cake mix
1 3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
4 large eggs
1 cup water OR juice saved from can of pineapple slices
1/2 cup oil
Lightly oil or spray 12 inch dutch oven; line with parchment paper.
Pour melted butter into prepared dutch oven.
Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar.
Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar, place cherries in center of pineapple rings.
Measure one cup of juice from drained pineapple (if there is not enough juice, add enough water to equal one cup of liquid).
Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, pineapple juice and oil in large mixing bowl.
Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes.
Pour batter evenly over fruit in dutch oven.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
Let cool for 45 minutes before lifting from oven and inverting onto plate.
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Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar and melted butter    |
it looks great! all I have is a 10 inch oven - if I wanted to make a cake like this or similiar recipes that say 12 inch oven would I just say for instance leave a cup of the batter out? I assume the cake would just be too large for a 10 inch oven - no more than 2/3's full of batter?
ReplyDeleteKaren, if you make this in your 10 inch oven I would recommend holding back about a third of the batter. The cake rises quite high and I don't think there would be enough clearance in your regular oven, might be able to bake it in a 10 inch deep but even then it would be cutting it close. Otherwise I think it would come out just fine, keep an eye on it, you may have to shorten the cooking time. Good luck, LIddy
DeleteI made this cake over the weekend in my 10 inch deep DO and did not change a thing. Cake turned out perfect and I had plenty of clearance in the DO. You can see pictures here. share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Abt2bRu0cs21p
DeleteLooks great Becky, thanks for letting us know you can successfully make this in your 10 inch deep oven and for sharing the photos, Liddy
DeleteLooks excellent! Sorry about your spill but at least you saved a bit.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I have tried several recipes that called for a 12 inch DO but I did them in my 10 inch. I have never changed anything in the recipe and have not ran into any problems yet. The big difference is a little more baking time.
Thanks Becky, this is a very good recipe, my nephew's girlfriend loved it so much she wants me to bake her one for her birthday. Liddy
DeleteSo did the cake land right side up or upside down on the grass?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever put a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple ring before pouring on the batter?
K.C.
The cake thankfully slid on it's side so was able to save a few slices, yes, cherries are the finishing touch but didn't have any on hand and was too lazy to run out to the grocery store. Thanks for stopping by, Liddy
DeleteAnother great idea, thanks so much for your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sharon! Liddy
ReplyDeletePlanning on going camping with some extended family members this weekend. I wanted to use our DO for a couple of the meals. I Found your site yesterday, pulled out the 12 inch Camp Chef DO we've had for 5 years and never used, seasoned it on the grill, went and bought a charcoal chimney and a couple bags of Kingston briquettes, put this recipe together (used pineapple tidbits instead of rings) and it turned out great! Every ten minutes I rotated the oven and the lid a quarter turn. The cake was golden brown after 40 minutes and absolutely amazing. I'll be using the recipes from your site for the foreseeable future as I practice this new way of cooking. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you were inspired to fire up your dutch oven and that the recipe worked out so well for you. Thank you for sharing and I hope you enjoy many more tasty dinners in your dutch oven! Liddy
ReplyDeleteIs the pudding mix dry or prepared? Help lol Thanksgiving meltdown!
ReplyDeleteIt's a 3.4 oz. package of dry pudding mix, sorry it took so long to get back to you, Liddy
ReplyDeleteI use a 13 x 9 pan and it comes out fine
ReplyDelete