This vegan pineapple-down cake (Rainbow Nourishments) is a simple recipe for one of England’s favourite puddings, even thought pineapples are nowhere near local. But most people have a tin of pineapple rings stashed away in the cupboard, and this is the ideal recipe to use them up.
Keep this recipe away from young children due to cherries (choking hazards) and pets (unsafe ingredients). Read more on keeping people & pets safe in the kitchen.
If you’ve found a pineapple at the local market, here’s how to easily prepare it for recipes. Use a sharp chef’s knife to slice off at least 1/2 inch on top and bottom. Then stand it upright and use the knife to slowly skim off the skin, using a paring knife to remove any ‘eyes’. Slice into rings, using a knife or cookie cutter to remove the core inside each ring.
The recipe creator says it’s important to choose canned pineapple in juice (not syrup) or else the cake will be too sweet (or use fresh pineapple with oat milk). The only other ingredients you’ll need are sugar (granulated for the cake, light brown for the topping), oil and melted vegan butter (Flora is a good brand, as all versions are free from palm oil).
Rather than jars of maraschino cherries (which often contain carmine – a red dye made by boiling red cochineal beetles), go for fresh pitted cherries (or Pack’d organic frozen cherries which are sold in compostable packaging).
After lining your baking tin with nontoxic parchment paper (or use a food-grade silicone cake tin), arrange the pineapple slices on the bottom, then pour over your cake batter (made with room temperature ingredients), and bake. It’s then a simple case of slicing up, and serving with vegan custard or ice-cream.
Pineapple upside-down cake is actually an American invention – a ‘skillet cake’ that was created after the invention of canned pineapple rings. Back in the 1930s, newspaper articles wrote that ‘no woman can truly call herself a baker until she has made an upside-down cake!’ In fact, other fruits were used too like peach and apricot. So once you master this recipe, you could start experimenting to make it a ‘local seasonal’ upside-down cake!
