Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I grew up with my mother making cornbread and fried potatoes in a cast iron skillet.   Oh they were so good!!  So I decided to purchase a cast iron skillet to add to my collection.   Fried potatoes are the best in a cast iron skillet, but I didn’t stop there.  I went looking for other cast iron skillet recipes.  I found a recipe for a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  I would like to share with you a recipe that has become a family favorite.

Topping:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 (1-pound, 4 ounce) can sliced pineapple
Maraschino Cherries
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a 10-inch cast-iron frying pan or a 9×2-inch cake pan over low heat, melt butter or margarine. Stir in brown sugar until blended. Remove from heat. Drain pineapple, reserving 2 tablespoons syrup. Arrange pineapple slices onto top of sugar mixture. Place a maraschino cherry in center of each slice. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add egg, milk, and vegetable shortening; beat 2 minutes. Add reserved pineapple syrup, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract; beat 2 minutes. Pour over pineapple slices in frying pan, spreading evenly.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes on a wire rack. Run knife around edge of pan to loosen; cover with a cake plate and invert. Serve warm.

Makes 8 servings.

You can find more recipes and tips for cooking with cast iron at http://whatscookingamerica.net.

My birthday is coming up this week-end.  This sounds like an awesome birthday cake, don’t you think?

2 cups granulated sugar

2 sticks butter, softened

4 eggs

2 (5.5 ounce) cans chocolate syrup

7 (1.45 ounce) Hershey® bars, melted

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream sugar and butter; add eggs 1 at a time, beating well. Add syrup and melted candy bars. Add salt to flour; stir baking soda into buttermilk and add to other ingredients alternately with flour, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla extract and pour into greased tube pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing. Sift confectioners’ sugar over cooled cake.

As you can tell from the ingredient list, this is not a cake you would want to serve all the time. Make
this cake for a special occasion. You will absolutely love it.

1 cup softened margarine
½ cup softened butter
1 - 8 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
Dash of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 large eggs
3 cups cake flour

(DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN) Combine margarine, butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat well. Add
salt and vanilla. Beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cake flour a
little at a time, beating well. Pour batter into a greased floured 10 inch tube or bundt cake pan. Place
pan in COLD oven. Set oven to 275 degrees and bake for 1 ½ hours or until wooden pick inserted in
the middle comes out clean. Let cool in pan. Turn out on platter and dust with powdered sugar.

3 Eggs
1 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Pumpkin
1 teaspoon Lemon juice
3/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Filling:
8 ounces Cream cheese — softened
4 tablespoons Butter — or margarine
1 cup Powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating well. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mixing until blended.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Spread batter into greased and waxed-paper lined 10-by-15-inch jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350 ? for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Place cake on clean tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10- inch side, roll cake up in towel. Set aside.

While cake is cooling in towel, prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese and butter; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.  Unroll cake.  Evenly spread filling over cake. Roll up cake (without the towel). Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Slice before serving.  Keep leftover slices refrigerated.  This pumpkin roll freezes well.