flipping is the hardest part...

i had been wanting to make this cake for hmm...ever since i had first had it about 2 years ago when my aunt liane had first visited us in washington. she had made it for us, and i remember thinking "i have a NEW love for pineapple upside down cake!!" couldn't stop eating it and before we knew it it was gone! for some reason i was absent minded and never got the recipe from her. so when she had come this time around i was determined. however, because of my hectic work schedule i had missed it this past time as well:-p i was begining to think that it would never be, that i would never have yummy pineapple upside down cake again. luckily my aunt was gracious enough to send me the base recipe. in addition to this base recipe i also found a recipe my sister had given my mom, so i kinda combined the two and this is what i got:

the basic ingredients for this appetizing cake:

2 T butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1 can drained pineapple (reserve a little less than 1/2 c. for later)

maraschino cherries de-stemmed and halved 

Batter: 

1 1/4 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 t. salt

3/4 c. milk (this is also the part i played with. i kinda mixed the milk and the reserved pineapple "water" just to give it more flavor, but its really up to you)

1/3 c. oil

1 t. vanilla extract

 using a 9 to 10 inch cast iron pan (or cake pan either way, i prefer the cast iron, but if you don't have it works perfectly well without it) melt the butter over a medium heat. if you aren't using a cast iron pan i would use the pre-heated oven to melt and brown your butter a bit. 

i love browning butter, it just smells fatty...but in a GOOOOOD WAY! once it has gotten to a golden brown color add the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and mix until slightly dissolved. 

while the butter is browning halve your cherries and prepare your pineapple to place in the pan once the butter and sugar mixture has dissolved. 

 cook slightly, about 2 min tops. then remove from heat and leave on the side. 

next, combine all the batter ingredients in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer. 

SLOWLY pour batter over prepared pineapples and cherries, if they float to the top for any reason try to push them back down. i had this problem that is why i emphasize SLOWLY. 

bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 min. or until the top of the cake is golden brown. 

remove from the oven and let stand for about 5 min. using an oven mit, and/or help in my, case flip cake over on a plate. if some pineapples or cherries stick to pan just reposition on cake.

and there it is, the finished product. so glittery and gratifyingly good!! my workers ate it all up^_^ another success!!

 all in all totally worth the wait, and even though the flipping was the hardest part, i have to say its so nice to bite into a piece of this cake because the crunchy edge of the moist cake mixed with the tangy pineapple and cherry just made it so worth the looooong wait! i have another can of pineapple in the pantry so i may have to make another just for me!!