Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

Alexis has been reading The Cupcake Diaries, which means she thinks about cupcakes about 1241232 times per day.

(So do I. I just don't have a valid excuse like she does.)

That means that when she started considering the last dance classes of the year, she quickly came to the conclusion that she needed to take cupcakes to share with everyone. Specifically, she requested Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes.

Okay. I can do that.

These turned out fun because they appear to be boring old cupcakes without any frosting until you open them up to find the magic.

Which, of course, meant they were a hit with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who got to eat them all.

Seriously. They ate them all. I thought I sent way more than necessary and that some would return home. They didn't.

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?

Comments

[ann]

These sound amazing! They look so perfect, too!
Do you always make your cakes from scratch? Would a box cake mix (I'm guessing yellow) work for the batter?