Dude. As I mentioned on Wednesday, I had some pretty INCREDIBLE food while in NOLA. My fave restaurant was Cochon, where I had an INCREDIBLE Mini Pineapple Upside Down cake. So, I thought, I-gots-to-give-this-a-try. BOOM. I nailed it.
Ok, it's not EXACTLY like the one from Cochon, but this recipe is surprisingly simple and D.E.L.I.S.H.
Did I ever tell you that I mostly dislike making icings. Mostly. I do think it is because by the time I am ready to get started in the frosting, I am tired of cleaning dishes. I mean, c'mon, they really pile up! SOOOO not only was this simple, and delish, it doesn't even NEED a frosting. You can maybe serve it with ice cream (like Cochon did) or fresh whipped cream (dang I wish I would have made some of that when I made these- note to self for next time).
Y'all know that I don't love making cakes either, so this is a perfect alternative to a big pineapple upside down, and would be perfect to bring to a summer BBQ, I promise they would be a hit! They are moist. Juicy. Sweet. Fruity. Oh.Mah.Gawd. (I just literally went downstairs to get one as I was typing this).
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE DOWNLOADABLE RECIPE CARD.
Yields 12 Cupcakes in a standard cupcake pan
FOR THE CAKE BATTER /
6 tbsp. butter
½ cup milk
¾ cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp. corn starch
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
FOR THE TOPPING /
6 tbsp. butter
¾ cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
6 maraschino cherries
Canned Pineapple (rings or chunks, approx. 16 oz.)
OK- HERES THE SITUATION: It was rainy when I was going to make these. Rainy. Nasty. Brooklyn. All I needed was 1- Pineapple 2- Cherries 3- Milk...
So what do I DO? I go to the corner bodega. In my pjs. In my slippers. In the rain. With my fingers crossed that they had what I needed.
Well- SCORE, they had pineapple Did I notice before I got home that I wanted 3 cans of pineapple rings, and instead I got 1 rings and 2 cubes? NOPE. For the beauty of it, you should use rings if you can, they are just so IMPRESSIVE looking. For taste, it doesn't matter, they both are fantastical.
Problemo numero 2?- They didn't have cherries. Well, smart lil me, I saw a GIANT can of fruit cocktail, and it had pictures of the fruit it contained, which included CHERRIES, so, ya know, I figured it HAD to have AT LEAST 6 cherries. NOPEEEE. I repeat, NOPE. It had MAYBE 5 halves. So, if you are wondering why not all my cupcakes have cherries, that's why. As I scooped though the whole can, wishing, hoping, for JUST A FEW MORE CHERRIES, I was left disappointed.
Fun Fact: I don't actually like cherries, so I don't mind so much, but Pineapple Upside Down usually has them, so you should go ahead and go to an actual STORE and get some ACTUAL cherries.
ok- rant done. Let's get baking.
1 / Preheat oven to 350˚F. Prepare standard cupcake pan by spraying with baking spray. Set aside.
2 / Heat 6 tbsp. butter and milk in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter is completely melted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3 / In the prepared cupcake pan, place ½ tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. brown sugar in each cavity. Place the pan in the heating oven and allow to melt completely (about 5 minutes).
4 / Remove the cupcake pan from the oven, and place ½ a cherry in the center of each cup, pushing lightly so it goes to the bottom. Surround the cherry with pieces of pineapple chunks or cut the pineapple ring into 2 pieces to fit around. Push lightly to get them to the bottom of the butter mixture.
5 / In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
6 / In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
7 / Alternate beating the warm milk mixture and the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. This batter is fairly loose.
8 / Divide the batter evenly amongst the cupcake cavities.
9 / Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the edges of the cupcakes are golden brown and a cupcake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.
10 / Allow to cool in the cupcake pan for 5 minutes. Place a cutting board or cooling rack over the cupcakes and flip over the pan, flipping the cupcakes upside down (right-side up in this case!) and allow them to gently fall out of the cupcake pan onto the flat surface. Serve warm or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
LOOK HOW CUTE THESE ARE! If you can't make 'em now, download he recipe card and save it for later!
oh, oh, oh... I almost forgot to tell you... so, I recently read this book, The Icing on the Cupcake, which tells the story of a southern belle who moves to NYC because of some events in her life ... yadda yadda... she loves to bake and there are recipes throughout the book (which is more why I read it)... anywhoozer, the character in book keeps talking about adding cornstarch to her batters to make them moist, so when I was making these I did some research and gave it a try. Instead of using 1 cup of flour, I used ¾ cup flour and 2 tbsp. cornstarch. I THINK this is why these cakes were so perfect, but I am going to try this again soon and see what happens! Yay!
I brought these into work, as usual, and they vanished in no time. EVERYONE SAYS stoppppp bringing in cupcakes, I need to be gooooooood its summmmmerrrr, but I ain't forcing them into their mouths! My boss (who is a WAYYYY better baker than I) cut one of the cakes in half because she only wanted a TASTE, but I caught her eating the other half (which totes means they were amazing like I thought!).
I'm so excited I got this inspiration from Cochon, I don't think I would have thought to make a Pineapple Upside Down, and it is SUCH A PERFECT SUMMER TREAT! I'm also super stoked that I gave the cornstarch idea a try, the cake was PERFECT, I think I'll use it as a base for a few recipes in the future!
Have you ever used cornstarch in a cake and had good results?