The Best Pineapple Upside-Down Cake — So soft, moist, and really is the best!! A cheery, happy cake that’s sure to put a smile on anyone’s face! This 100% from-scratch cake is an EASY reader favorite you’re going to love!!
Table of Contents
Homemade Pineapple Upside Down Cake
I love this cake because it’s fast and easy to make, and it always turn out supremely moist, springy, and fluffy thanks to the buttermilk, sour cream, and oil. That trifecta of moisturizing and tenderizing ingredients makes it impossible to have a dry cake.
I think it would be a perfect cake for Easter, Mother’s Day, baby and bridal showers, brunch, or anytime you want a cheery, sunny, happy cake!
Not to mention, the buttery, brown sugary pineapple juice that seeps down into the cake from the slices on top make the cake so soft, moist, and buttery that it just melts in your mouth.
The cake is soft, sweet, with an almost imperceptible tang from the buttermilk that adds another layer of flavor. The pineapple slices add chewiness and texture to the otherwise falling-apart-soft crumb.
While baking, the pineapple caramelizes in a butter and brown sugar bath, giving the pineapple upside down cake its signature glistening top and adding so much rich, browned butter flavor to the pineapple.
There’s no better way to get your Vitamin C than via pineapple baked in it’s own brown sugar-browned butter sauce!
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Ingredients
To make this easy pineapple upside down cake, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Canned pineapple slices
- Maraschino cherries
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Egg
- Buttermilk
- Sour cream
- Canola oil
- Vanilla extract
Tip
You must use each of these ingredients as they’re listed. Substitutions like whole wheat flour or an alternative sweetener may result in a less than stellar upside down cake.
How to Make Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Making pineapple upside down cake from scratch is so easy! First you’ll arrange the pineapple-cherry topping, then you’ll prepare the cake batter.
Here’s how the homemade pineapple upside down cake is made:
- Arrange the pineapple-cherry topping: I used one 20-ounce can pineapple slices. I kept one slice whole for the center of the cake, and then fanned 12 halves around it. My pet peeve about most pineapple upside-down cakes is that there’s not enough pineapple if you keep the rings whole and intact. The focus of a pineapple upside-down cake should be on the pineapple, so I tried to maximize the pineapple coverage on top by using a fanning technique.
- I used the remaining 3 slices (6 halves) to line the sides of the pan. Nobody likes bald sides.
- Make the cake batter: After getting the pineapple and cherries in the pan, whisk together the cake batter and turn it out into the pan. I filled my 9-inch round cake pan about 3/4-inch full with batter.
- Let the cake cool before flipping: I made the cake before bed and let it cool overnight in the pan with a sheet of foil over it. There’s no big rush to get it out of the pan. And honestly, inverting cakes gives me sweaty palms every time and I was stalling. Because of how buttery the topping is, the pan is so well-greased that the cake just plopped right out. Not even one slice of pineapple or cherry out of order.
Baking Tip
Although the cake doesn’t rise a ton, it’s still a cake and rises some, so don’t exceed about 3/4-full, the same idea as when filling a muffin tin. Discard the last bit of batter if need be. I mention this because all cake pans, the exact amount of pineapple, cherries, etc will vary slightly.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake FAQs
No, regular round cake pans aren’t deep enough. You also can’t use a 9-inch square baking pan for this. You have to use a 9-inch round springform pan, otherwise this homemade pineapple upside down cake recipe won’t turn out right.
I recommend making this easy pineapple upside down cake in this 9-inch springform pan. This is the exact pan I use at home and it works every time!
I haven’t tried that before because I just don’t have the patience for it! So unfortunately I can’t tell you if this recipe can be made as cupcakes.
I don’t think layering pineapple upside down cake is a good idea. This cake is incredibly moist and heavy, and I think if you tried to make two layers and stack them on top of each other the entire cake would fall apart.
Yes, you just have to be precise with your arrangement of the pineapple upside down cake topping in the bundt pan before you add the cake batter. The bake time may need to be altered slightly, so watch the oven and not the clock.
Full-fat sour cream makes for the best homemade pineapple upside down cake, but lite sour cream may be used in its place. You can also use plain Greek yogurt, but note that regular yogurt won’t work (it’s too runny).
I’ve only ever used canned pineapple rings so I can’t say for sure whether fresh pineapple would work in place of canned. Most likely yes, but please let me know if you try this and it works out!
No, you need real buttermilk to help this cake rise properly. You can use the leftover pineapple juice in the can in cocktails, smoothies, and more though!
If possible, get your hands on real buttermilk. If that’s not possible, you can try making a buttermilk substitute (for every 1 cup of milk, mix in 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar). If you have to make a buttermilk substitute, you should use 2% or whole milk for the best results.
Time! The cake needs time to cool in the pan (at LEAST 30 minutes, but preferably overnight) before it’s safe to invert it onto a plate. As the cake cools, the pineapple on the bottom (soon to be the top!) firms up, the sugars set to create a caramel-y sauce, and the cake itself sets.
If your cake turned out mushy, you likely didn’t drain the pineapple and cherries well enough.
Absolutely! In fact, making it a day in advance means the cake will pop out of the cake pan so much easier when you’re ready to invert it.
Melted butter! The butter gets added to the bottom of the pan before all of the toppings are arranged. The sugar and butter caramelize in the oven, but there’s enough butter that the cake should pop right out of the pan once cool.
You can store the cake at room temperature for up to five days. Cover the pan with foil. The cake will stay super moist thanks to the juicy topping.
Since this is such a moist cake that’s loaded with fruit, I do not recommend freezing it.
Tips for the Best Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Make sure you are using a good quality springform pan that you know is reliable. From time to time, people write to me saying their springform pan leaked, butter went all over, and they get upset with me. This is not my fault, peeps. It’s your pan that leaked. The solution?
Test your pan with water in it. Does it leak? If so, it will probably leak with the melted butter in it. Don’t make this pineapple upside down cake from scratch until you have a pan you trust, simple as that.
What’s the best springform pan? This is the 9-inch springform pan I currently use and I have never had it leak with this cake.
I have, however, had it leak when I quickly (and I was half asleep) put it together and sealed the latch carelessly. I do recommend it and it’s been a workhorse with other cakes over the years. I bought it in 2015 and it still looks and works as good as new.
Note that you should wind up with just enough cake batter to fill the 9-inch springform pan 3/4 full. If you somehow wind up with a little extra batter, it’s better to discard it than overfill the cake pan.
Recipe Video
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
The Best Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- one 20-ounce can pineapple slices
- about 12 maraschino cherries
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup buttermilk, or Powdered Buttermilk, use 2 tablespoons with the dry ingredients + 1/2 cup water added with the wet
- ⅓ cup sour cream, lite is okay (plain Greek yogurt may be substituted)
- 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Pour the butter into a 9-inch springform cake pan. Use your finger to run a bit of butter around the side of the pan so it’s well-greased.
- Evenly sprinkle the brown sugar over the butter.
- Add 1 whole pineapple slice to the center of the pan.
- Halve the remaining slices vertically. Stagger them in a fan-like fashion going around the cake. I used 12 slices.
- Place the remaining slices around the sides of the cake pan with the curved side pointing down toward the bottom of the pan (see photos for reference). There will likely be bare side patches with no pineapple coverage, that’s okay.
- Place 1 cherry in the center of the whole pineapple slice in the middle of the pan.
- Place 1 cherry in the center cutout of all the fanned pineapple slices; set pan aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, optional salt; set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the next 5 wet ingredients (through vanilla).
- Add the wet mixture to the dry, mixing lightly with a spoon or folding with a spatula until just combined. Small lumps will be present, don’t overmix or try to stir them smooth.
- Gently turn batter out into prepared pan, being careful to not disturb the pineapple slices on the sides or bottom. Fill pan only to about 3/4-full. If you have a little extra batter, discard it rather than overfilling your pan.
- Place pan on a cookie sheet (to catch anything that does overflow) and bake for about 40 minutes, or until center is set and not jiggly, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Only go down about 1-inch with the toothpick, not all the way to the bottom where you’ll hit gooey pineapple juice.
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow cake to cool for at least 30 minutes before inverting, slicing, and serving. I allowed cake to cool overnight, covered with a sheet of foil, before inverting.
Notes
- Cake will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Cake base adapted from Blueberry Muffin and Buttermilk Pancakes Cake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Easy Pineapple Desserts:
Layered Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – A tender and moist classic two-layer carrot cake with tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting!
Pineapple Coconut Oil Banana Bread — Banana bread spiked with pineapple and coconut oil that’s so good!
Hummingbird Cake — A super SOFT and moist cake with bananas, pineapple, coconut, cream cheese frosting, and pecans!! Makes a huge cake that’ll feed a crowd!
Pineapple Poke Cake With Pineapple Glaze — A pineapple version of a poke cake with a pineapple glaze that you’ll adore!
Tropical Escape Pineapple Crumble Bars — Soft, tender bars that have a great crumble topping that will remind you of the tropics!
Angel Pineapple Lush Parfaits — This is a 4-ingredient, no-bake dessert that’s ridiculously easy, you don’t need a mixer, and you don’t have to turn your oven on.
Pineapple Coconut Bars — Eat your piña colada rather than drinking one with these fast, EASY, no-mixer bars that taste TROPICAL!! Pineapple, coconut, white chocolate, and cherries!!
Recipe originally from March 2014 and reprinted in May 2018
Will be trying this as soon as I get home! Fingers crossed!!! It sounds perfect!
This was SO good! My parents grew up in the 60’s, when this was apparently the big thing, and I love making one for my dad once in a while because it has such strong memories for him. I’ve made several different recipes, but this will definitely be my go-to. The beautiful pictures definitely sold me, too. Thanks!
So glad it was a hit with your entire family and brought back great memories and will now be your go-to recipe!
I made this for a holiday party and everyone loved it. I don’t bake much, but it looked and tasted amazing. So moist and tender! My 12 year old son requested it for his birthday cake. Easy and delicious- LOVE IT! I’m going to try some of your other recipes for my family. Thanks!!
I love that your son requested this for his bday cake!! He’s got great taste :) And glad the cake turned out perfectly, even though you said you’re not a frequent baker! Keep me posted what other recipes you try!
I forgot to add that I added 2-3 spoons of rum before serving. This suggestion came thru a friend who was in hotel industry for 30 years. Next time I will serve without rum.
Thank you thank you and thank you so much for the recipe.I always wanted to bake one in my dreams :-)… Yes I was so scared. Well, I followed the recipe as it is but didn’t have buttermilk so I added 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup natural yogurt . The cake turn out to be yum and was gone in less than 10 min.
Guys pay attention to every detail. I used baking paper to line the pan and just to avoid any accident I placed tray on lower shelf. I was surprised that the tray was caramelised
Glad this turned out to be the cake you always wanted to bake, in your dreams :) and that it came out perfectly. The water/natural yogurt idea was a great stand-in for the buttermilk – great thinking! And yes lining your baking pan/and/or making sure that you place your springform pan on a tray is really a nice insurance policy because most springform pans unfortunately leak. Ugh. Glad the cake was a perfect!
I’m just getting into baking and decided to surprise my aunt with this beautiful cake for her birthday. I’ve never made cake from scratch before, and I did not find a springform pan in my local BBB! I let it cool overnight and bit my nails…
The inversion was seamless. I inspected the sides to make sure nothing was sticking, you could see the cake glide in the pan. So I inverted and tapped…. It came right out. The cake was simply beautiful! Just like the photo.
I can’t believe you’ve NEVER made a scratch cake and this was the first one you’ve ever made…not that it’s a ‘hard’ cake but it’s 100x fussier than most…if you can make this cake, you can now make any cake, ever! Congrats! So glad that it turned out beautifully and tap-tap and it was out! Love it when everything works out exactly as hoped!
Thank you for sharing your pineapple upside down cake recipe. It’s the best I’ve ever had and was easy to make. I only had cake flour on hand and the texture of the cake was very light and moist. My husband said it reminded him of the cakes his mom baked when he was a child. Our new year’s eve dinner was a hit. Thanks again!
Glad that the cake was a big hit and I’m sure the cake flour was a wonderful touch in it! Glad that it reminded your husband of cakes from his childhood – what a nice memory!
I made this for my Thanksgiving dessert and I received many compliments – wonderful recipe! Thank you for posting it – it’s a keeper! I didn’t use traditional buttermilk (I didn’t have any) so I used a splash of vinegar and remainder half and half to make a 1/2 cup, let it sit for five or so minutes and it thickened up perfectly to use in my recipe.
I agree with another poster that when I first poured the batter, I double checked the recipe because you referenced 3/4 full in the springform and it didn’t look like it was even halfway, but it was the perfect size. I wrote a note to my future self on the printout that it may look like less, but it will still turn out perfectly. Thanks again!
Glad it came out perfectly for you and the vinegar/half-and-half trick is a good one. I’ve done that once or twice myself :)
And yes the batter and pan sizes and how full is full…it can vary based on everyone’s exact pan dimensions but I’d rather have a slightly shorter cake than one that overflows all over the oven which is why I am careful how I write things to try to prevent mistakes before they even happen with readers :) Glad this is a keeper for you!
making this right now, tried some of the batter…..YUMMY!
can you give me some more clarity on the buttermilk proportion. If i use 1/2 cup of liquid buttermilk do i still add 1/2 cup of water to it. Pls. confirm.
Brands of powdered buttermilk vary but you’ll want to add enough powder to make 1/2 cup buttermilk. If you’re using regular, liquid, traditional buttermilk, then you don’t add any water. Water only comes into play if someone is using powdered buttermilk and it needs to be made into a liquid.
Can i use Splenda for thie Recipe??
I haven’t tried it, so can’t say for sure…but my guess would be that it’s not going to caramelize like real sugar would. You can try and see how it goes.
Hi, I’ve made pineapple upside down cake many times using a boxed cake mix, and it always comes out fine. This time I tried your recipe, and while the taste was good, the batter, using just the one cup of flour that you recommend, barely covered the topping. Is it a typo, or should only one cup of flour be used? Thanks in advance!
It’s not a typo. There isn’t ‘tons’ of batter but there’s plenty to cover the pineapple.
I would doublecheck to make sure your springform pan isn’t larger than I indicated. That could be one possible issue.
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad you enjoyed the taste of the cake.
Excellent recipe. I did not have any milk so I used the pineapple juice. I have a 9 inch cake pan that is 2 in deep and had no difficulty inverting the cake onto its plate once it was cool. I never use a springform pan for cakes with sauce because of the risk of leaks.
I never use a springform pan for cakes with sauce because of the risk of leaks = and if you trust your pan to be nonstick, that’s a great way to go! I have tried soooo many springform pans and some are better than others but none are perfect. Sigh.
Glad the cake came out great for you, even without milk! Great way to use literally everything in the can of pineapple, including the juice!
I was very excited to make this for my husband’s birthday. It was a horrible experience…. My brand new springform pan leaked everywhere and the cake did not even cook. So disappointing
Sorry that it was your PAN that failed, not my recipe! (just don’t want anyone reading this to think it’s the recipe). I have had springform pans leak and it’s Soooooo frustrating! Been there!
I made this cake this afternoon after trying your banana upside cake recipe a couple of weeks ago.
It turned out amazing!
Thank you so much once again :)
Thanks for trying both of my upside-down cakes and glad you loved them both!
Hello there! After so many comments from readers who actually made the cake, I’ve decided to make this my first recipe I try from your website! I’m so excited!
Do you have a recommendation for the temperature of the egg? It makes a pretty big difference in certain circumstances.
Thanks!!
You know I’ve made this cake base with room temp eggs, eggs out of the fridge for 5 mins, and eggs straight from the fridge. I’d say go with 5 to 20 mins out of the fridge, but I will admit this cake base is extremely forgiving…like I’ve made it 25+ times and I really don’t think it will matter a ton. But you’re right, in some recipes, it does!
Thanks for answering my question. I made this cake last night and I’m turning it over today after work! Super excited to see how it turns out. I’m wanting to try this cake base with other fruits in the bottom!
I’ve done it with bananas https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/07/caramelized-banana-upside-down-cake.html and you could do peaches, nectarines, plums, probably strawberries…really so many things! LMK how the inversion goes and what you think of the cake!