This recipe for vegan pineapple upside-down cake (Rainbow Nourishments) replicates a childhood favourite. Pineapple is obviously not local to England, but most people have cans of pineapple rings in the cupboard, and this is a great way to use them up. Or use fresh pineapple and plant milk combined.
Keep fruit pips & seeds away from animal friends. Before baking, read up on food safety for people & pets.
To avoid the cake being too sweet, the recipe creator recommends canned pineapples in juice (not syrup) along with neutral oil and vegan butter (all Flora brands are free from palm oil). Made with plant milk, it ends with a crunchy caramel topping made with vegan butter and brown sugar.
Ensure the maraschino cherries are vegan (not coloured with carmine/cochineal from insects). Or sub instead with pitted cherries.
This is a classic wet and dry ingredient recipe, you just combine and bake the cake batter. Once prepared, serve with vegan vanilla ice-cream, and store leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days, in an airtight container.
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!
How to Chop a Fresh Pineapple
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.
