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!!
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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.
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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.
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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
I made your pineapple upside-down cake today without changing a thing in your cake recipe and it is by far the best I have made in a while! I used my cast iron frying pan as I have in the past, cooled it for about 40 minutes and it came out all in one piece. Thank you. It will be my new ‘go to’ recipe for this cake. Some others I have tried were too dry.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I HATE dry cake (or dry desserts in general, just not worth the calories to be eating dry ones!) so I always make sure nothing of mine is ever dry! Glad you’ll be making it again and it’s your new go-to!
I baked this cake the other day for my mother-in-law’s birthday. She loved it! Well… everyone loved it! I’ll definitely be saving this recipe. I had some issue with my pan leaking as you mentioned could possibly happen, but other then that it was a breeze to make and a treat to eat!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Happy Bday to your MIL, too!
Yes, springform pans and especially varying on the brand, can leak from time to time. Even my one that I ‘trust’ not to leak 9 times out of 10 will be great and then it’ll leak, but go back to being trustworthy. I think sometimes re-assembling them just exactly-so can make the difference, but who knows. Glad you’ll be making the cake again!
I just made this yesterday and loved it. I used a 12″ cast iron skillet, so I doubled the cake recipe, and added about 10 minutes to the bake time. I also added crushed pineapple in the empty spaces. It was so moist and delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you in a cast iron skillet after doubling it – wonderful!
When I remember, I wrap the bottom of my springform pan with foil just in case there are leaks. I am generally using it for cheesecake. I have always made my pineapple upside down cakes in my cast iron frying pan and I think I will try this in it as well. If it doesn’t work out, it will be my own fault, so no complaints will be forthcoming. Very pretty cake and lots of good reviews!
Followed the recipe AS WRITTEN and it turned out great. Thank you!
I will note, after reading the comments, I used a regular 9″ round pan and not a springform. Had no problems with inverting it, and no leakage. The ONLY change I would make to the recipe is I will probably up the amount of brown sugar to 1 cup. Loved this, and my daughter has already requested it again. Also can’t wait to try out the cake base of this in other ways. :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad that a 9-inch round pan worked for you and that you loved the cake base enough to try it in other ways!
What brand of spring form ban do you use? I just ordered a Kaiser Gourmet from William-Sonoma website online. Hopefully this one is better than the crap last minute attempt buy I bought at Wal-Mart. Wasn’t expecting much, but this baby is LEAKING like crazy so I am curious as to which brands are best.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008BULFWS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008BULFWS&linkCode=as2&tag=lovvegyogruna-20&linkId=CFPCZPPILNDWXCQG
It’s the best one I’ve found. I’ve never tried the Kaiser Gourmet one you mention but Williams-Sonoma is always reputable and if you have issues, return that thing! Good luck!
I tried out this recipe and overall it didn’t turn out well for me. I think I will cut the butter in half for the pineapple base part because it was just dripping everywhere and the cake was really soggy throughout its entire thickness, not just around the pineapple layer part. I even baked it longer than recommended because the inside of the cake was wet still and wouldn’t seem to set ever. I’m not a bad baker, and I can follow instructions pretty. I appreciate you posting your recipes though (and the photos are amazing). I also like how you’ve arranged the pineapples, it’s nicer than the full circles. I googled other recipes for pineapple upside down cake and many use half the amount of butter so I’ll give that a try. The cake was underdone and ended up with a custard-y texture almost so it was still edible and we ate it.
Thanks for trying the recipe and many others have had great success with the cake and it’s always hard for me to say when someone doesn’t have success, what exactly went wrong. In this case, I think it’s probably the pineapple itself. It’s a fruit, from Mother Nature, and no two are alike and I am thinking yours was pretty juicy and maybe that contributed to the wetness aspect and why it took a long time to bake. If you think less butter would be better, go for it. For me, based on the pictures, it was the perfect amount of butter and I didn’t experience any issues and have remade this cake many, many times since posting it. Have also re-make it as a Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/07/caramelized-banana-upside-down-cake.html I’m glad you were still able to eat the cake.
have your cake in the oven right now–pineapple upside down cake has always been a favorite of ours. I just always used a different recipe. My springform pan is also leaking as I speak but my only question would be–since it is leaking, should I invert it right after it comes out of the oven so the sauce doesn’t all leak out while it cools? would sure hate for the top to be dry
It’s really your call when to invert it based on your judgment and your pan. I wait a bit, but whatever you think is best. Hope you’re enjoying the cake!
My American boyfriend asked for his birthday a pineapple upside down cake. Instead of panicking since I had no idea how it tastes or looks I decided to look for recipes. Yours seemed and sounded amazing, plus it was the first time that I saw so many comments talking about successful results without altering the recipe.
I followed religiously your instructions and the cake looked and tasted as you promised! Amazing! Thank you so much, it was such a big relief that not only I didn’t ruin the dinner I had prepared, but he was raving to his family about it. And I discovered a new favorite cake.
P.S. I did not have a spring form and made it in a simple circular pan. Nothing changed and it popped within an hour super easily and without any piece having moved. Success!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that your boyfriend and his whole family were raving about the cake! Wonderful! And great that a regular round cake pan worked just fine, too!
I made this for Father’s Day this year, and we ate the entire cake in one sitting!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and was gone in a sitting!
Also do you need to pat dry your pineapple and the cherries?
No.
Can you make this in a iron skillet them seem to give more flavor?
I’ve never tried it that way because I love the recipe, as written, so I can’t say how the results will be in cast iron.
I tried it with a cast iron skillet and it I loved the way it turned out!
That is great to hear!
Is there a fig recipe anyone has that uses this cake recipe from the pineapple upside down cake…I would love to try it
Hello. Great recipe and the comments are really beneficial. However, it seems I am missing something in step 3. We can not pour 1/2 up of melted butter in a spring form pan unless it was meant to say only to grease the pan with sides but then I can’t see where to use all the remaining butter. Can someone please explain more? do we really REALLY pour all the butter int he pan before adding the batter?
Thank you,
Yes you really pour it.
This is indeed the best pineapple upside down cake ever. To be honest I’ve only had this type of cake like once or twice before in my life haha- but this was delicious. I made the cake, my sister and my boyfriend and I ate it all right away, and pineapple is my boyfriend’s favorite fruit. He loved it so much I baked another cake a couple days later for him. Thanks so much! One of my favorite recipes
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that you impressed your boyf and sister! And then….baked another one! That’s awesome!
Hi, I just wanted to tell you this recipe is delicious. I made it for my mom for mothers day. She loved it. I used coconut oil and had to make the buttermilk with milk and vinegar . This cake is is moist. The last recipe I tried was more dense. My pan did leak but it still was great. The person who posted that it did not fill her may have a pan like mine. My pan filled only half way, but my side pineapples where only halfway up in the panand I noticed in your photos that you side pineapples went to the top of the pan, so it is probably a deeper pan. The batter did come to the same place on the pineapples. Thank you for posting the recipe.
I have been looking at some of your other recipes and I want to make the peanut butter bread with the Nutella for my sons, I texted my son to bring some Nutella when he gets off of work..
Valerie
Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing what you did and glad you enjoyed the cake! Yes, all springform pans vary in depth, leakability levels, etc. Glad your pan overall seemed to work just fine for the cake and so nice of you to bake for your mom, and next the bread for your boys! If you try it, LKM how it goes!
I just made this cake and had to tell you my story! My husband LOVES pineapple upside down cake. He has ranted about his mom’s pineapple upside down cake basically since the day I met him. I told him I would make one for his birthday but I wanted to use a different recipe than his mom’s. He didn’t say anything (because he knows better) but he definitely had the attitude of “I’m sure it won’t be better than my moms but go ahead and give it the ol’ college try”. I followed your recipe exactly, except I used my 9″ cake pan and it worked perfectly for my specific pan.
First, he was amazed by the appearance, it was beautiful! He ate his whole piece and said “This is the best pineapple upside down cake I’ve ever had, out of any cake I’ve ever had!” I never thought I would see the day when he would say my cooking is better than his mom’s! Thank you so much for the awesome cake recipe :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you AND the part where your husband said: “This is the best pineapple upside down cake I’ve ever had, out of any cake I’ve ever had!” Now that speaks volumes AND on top of that, it trumps his mom’s recipe, which is almost impossible to do b/c those kind of childhood and nostalgic recipes live on in our memories and almost nothing can top them but glad my recipe did the trick!