PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE


INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup karo light syrup
9 slices pineapple in juice (from 14-oz can), drained
9 maraschino cherries without stems, if desired
1 1/3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in microwave and add karo syrup and brown sugar. After greasing 9in or bundt pan lay pineapple slices and cherries pouring the sugar sauce mixture over the fruit.
2
In medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.
3
Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately place heatproof serving plate upside down over pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake a few minutes so brown sugar mixture can drizzle over cake; remove pan. Serve warm. Store cake loosely covered.

*I made this as my dad's birthday cake. I had originally planned on using a white cake mix I already had but discovered I had used half of it to make a peach crumble and had to hurry and find a recipe that included the cake. I usually am not a fan of scratch cakes because they just don't taste very good and are dry. This was more of a dense cake but it paired well with the heavyness of the sugar syrup and pineapple.