Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

A Pineapple Upside-Down Cake that has been steamed in the oven to make the sponge extra light, moist and pudding-like. This recipe is easy to recreate with no special equipment needed.

This delightful pudding evokes childhood nostalgia like no other. Serve warm with custard or ice cream for a retro teatime treat.

What's guaranteed to cheer you up on a gloomy day? A recipe so easy that requires very few ingredients is the answer! It would be brilliant to make this as a midweek pudding and everyone will love it from the youngest to the oldest family members.

Show the kids what proper puds were like back in our day ;-)

The butter in this recipe has been replaced by coconut oil which turns out to be the most magical pairing. The coconut flavour is not overwhelming at all and is very subtle.

Not keen on coconut? No problem, you can swap it for butter and the recipe will still work.

For coconut lovers, the coconut and pineapple flavour combo is a match made in heaven and once you taste this cake - you'll see exactly what I mean!

The resulting texture of the sponge is incredibly light and moist, just how I remember pineapple upside-down cake from when I was a kid.

Steam or bake?

You could absolutely use a cake tin for this recipe but I prefer to steam mine using a pudding basin (my ceramic mixing bowl) placed in a deep roasting tin that I then fill with boiling water to create steam.

When you steam a cake it ends up very moist and sweet. Served warm it's really sticky and pudding-like.

I'll talk you through how to steam your Pineapple Upside-Down Cake and don't worry - you won't need any special equipment other than an oven-proof mixing/pudding bowl.

You'll love this because:

✔︎ Light and very moist
✔︎ Delicious combo of coconut and pineapple
✔︎ Proper traditional pudding

What you need

• Coconut Oil: Available in all supermarkets. If you're not keen on coconut flavour, you can absolutely substitute this ingredient for the same amount of butter if you want to.
• Tinned Pineapple: Depending on the size of your basin, you'll need 8-9 pineapple rings which is just over a 432g tin of pineapple. Buy the pineapple rings in juice as the recipe used some of the juice to flavour the sponge.
• Glace Cherries: Available in the baking aisle of all supermarkets.
• Self-Raising Flour: For an even, well-risen sponge.
• Caster Sugar: Substitute for golden caster sugar if you wish.
• Eggs: Large and if possible, free-range.
• Golden Syrup: To caramelise the pineapple rings.

How to make Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This is an easy recipe to master. Follow the step by step instructions and images and use the video to help you get perfect results.

Step One: Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 160ºC Fan / 350ºF / Gas 4 / and line the base of an oven-proof pudding basin with a circle of baking paper. (See Tips for alternative ways to bake)

Using a pastry brush, spread the golden syrup onto the baking paper and about halfway up the sides of the bowl. Arrange 6 pineapple rings in a circle on the base of the bowl. Cut a further 2-3 rings in half and place them on top.

Step Two: Put a glace cherry into the holes of the pineapple rings.

Step Three: To make your sponge, melt the coconut oil in the microwave. Pour the flour, caster sugar, melted coconut oil, eggs and pineapple juice into a mixing bowl and beat together using an electric or hand whisk.

Step Four: Pour the sponge mixture on top of the pineapple rings and gently smooth the top using the back of a spoon.

Step Five: Cover the bowl with a sheet of baking paper and secure it down with a sheet of tin foil. Put the bowl into a deep roasting tin and carefully pour boiling water into the roasting tin about halfway up.

Step Six: Bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes. You can insert a skewer to check if the cake is cooked but it won't come out completely clean because this is a very moist cake. It will look wet but shouldn't be covered in cake mixture.

Step Seven: Leave the pudding bowl to cool until you can comfortably touch the bowl with your hands. Put a plate on top and flip the bowl over. The Pineapple Upside-Down Cake will slide out of the bowl on to the plate. Serve warm with custard or ice cream.

Top Tips

• If you don't want to steam the pudding you can use a cake tin but make sure it is not a loose bottom or springform tin otherwise you'll end up with pineapple juice running all over your oven!
• If using the cake tin method reduce the cooking time to 40 minutes.
• When the cake is cooked the sponge will feel springy to the touch.
• An inserted skewer will not come out clean. It will be wet but shouldn't be covered in gooey cake mixture.
• If you're having trouble turning the cake out from the pudding bowl or cake tin, run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake first.
• Storage: Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days.

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