Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes (plus an announcement of sorts)

I’ve been neglecting this little blog of mine like it is nobody’s business lately, and I hate that. I love this space, and I love writing here, so being as absent as I have been has killed me. Unfortunately, life has just gotten in the way. Luckily, it’s been for good reason! For those of you that don’t know already, I let out my big secret last week: I’m pregnant! Eek! C and I are super thrilled and cannot wait for March 13th (or whatever day around that time that this little guy/girl decides to show up) to get here. What does this have to do with me slacking on my blog? Well…I’ve been so freakin’ tired that all I’ve done for the past month or so is go to work, go home, go to bed, lather, rinse, repeat! Oh, and finish up my school work for the semester.

Finally, though, now that the second trimester is about to show its happy, smiling (we’re hoping, anyway!) face, I seem to have a bit of energy back. I have been cooking and baking, I just haven’t had the time to blog about it, so I am so excited to start sharing my recent adventures with you! And with that, I’ve decided to start by sharing my recipe for pineapple upside down cupcakes with you.

These cupcakes are so delicious that it amazes me just how easy they are to make. Any cupcake that is a one-stepper (i.e. no frosting/topping required) is a winner to me. Plus, they are best when made in a jumbo pan, so it is like serving each person a little cake of their own! Add some vanilla (or caramel, or any other flavor) ice cream and some whipped cream on the side and this is a perfect dessert for a dinner party.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

adapted from  










Ingredients:

For the cake (you can use any yellow cake recipe you like for this; my favorite is from the same book, Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans):

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 tsps vanilla
1 cup sour cream

For the topping:

Two cans of sliced pineapple rings (or 12 fresh slices)
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp corn syrup (optional, but does help the sugar and butter combine well)

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan on medium heat, combine the butter, light brown sugar, and corn syrup. Stir occasionally until the butter is melted and all three ingredients are combined. I normally allow this to heat on the stovetop while I make the cake batter.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar until thickened using an electric mixer. Add the oil and vanilla and again, mix until combined. Add the sour cream and mix again until just combined. Finally, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix. The batter will be very thick. Do not over mix.

Spray two jumbo (six-cup) cupcake pans with cooking spray. Divide the brown sugar/butter mixture amongst each of the 12 cups. Lay a pineapple slice in each cup on top of the brown sugar mixture. Top the pineapple slices with cake batter, filling each cup about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 24-26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake (but not all the way to the pineapple slice!) comes out clean. Let the cupcakes rest in the pan for 15-20 minutes before inverting onto a serving tray or cooling rack.

These are best made as jumbo cupcakes (the recipe makes 12), but can also be made into regular sized ones (24 with this recipe), the pineapple slices just need to be cut up before being put into the bottom of the cups.

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