I have had pineapple upside-down cake on the brain for DAYS now, which is a bit of a problem considering I don't think I've been home for but 30 minutes all weekend. During one of my trips across town and back, I stopped at the store for the stuff to make them, but WHERE THE HELL ARE THE MARASCHINO CHERRIES, SHOP 'N SAVE? They weren't by the ice cream toppings. They weren't with the canned fruit. The baking aisle? Nope. Not there either. I looked down every single aisle and finally gave up.
I'll get them tomorrow. Target won't disappoint me in the same way.
And then. THEN I shall beg Alexis to make the cupcakes below and save me from my desperation. She owes me after I spent ALL of the weekend driving her places.
Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes (makes about 24 cupcakes)
Topping
24 maraschino cherries
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, drained (but keep the juice)
Cupcake
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1. Line a couple of cupcake trays with cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place a cherry in the center of each of your cupcake liners.
3. Spoon a teaspoon of melted butter into each cupcake liner. Then chase it with a tablespoon of brown sugar. There's no need to be exact with your measurements -- just scoop some good stuff in there. (If you have melted butter left over, set it aside. We can use it a little later instead of using a full 1/2 cup of vegetable oil.)
4. Add some pineapple all around. It should be about 2 tablespoons worth, but again the measurements don't matter. Scoop a little into each cup until it covers the butter and brown sugar. Like this:
You will have pineapple left over. Set it aside.
6. Put your 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bowl and whisk them up.
7. If you had butter left over, top it off with vegetable oil until you have 1/2 cup.
8. Grab another bowl. Mix your vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract, pineapple juice, and sugar. I'm sure a stand mixer would work fine, but I actually use a fork.
9. Combine the dry ingredients from step 6 with the wet ingredients from step 8. Mix well then fold in the rest of the crushed pineapple. Do that thing that makes the cake batter land in the cupcake liners. They should be just about full to the top as these don't rise much.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Mine were done at 21 minutes. You know they're done when the tops turn a fantastic golden brown.
11. Allow to cool for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
12. A word to the wise, these are AMAZING while still warm. So maybe you should do a quality control check before sharing with others?