Skip to main content
Dessert

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in a Skillet

A skillet baked pineapple upside-down cake with brown sugar, pecans, and maraschino cherries.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and pecans are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,416 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in a Skillet

Oven350°F
Time40–45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the topping

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Melt butter in a 9-inch cast iron skillet.

  3. Add the brown sugar and pecans; stir well to combine. Turn off the heat—don’t cook it.

  4. Arrange 8 pineapple slices in a single layer over the brown sugar mixture.

  5. Set the skillet aside.

Make the batter

  1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

  2. Whip egg yolks at medium speed until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat.

  3. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture. Stir in reserved pineapple juice.

  4. Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold whites into cake batter.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour or spoon batter evenly over pineapple slices.

  2. Bake at 350°F for 40–45 minutes.

  3. Cool the cake in the skillet for 30 minutes; then invert onto a serving plate.

  4. Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple ring.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1049Calories
24 gProtein
39 gFat
156 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pecans1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)196
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + pecanstop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,416 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pecans + pineappletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together294 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped yolks and whites give the cake its light, airy structure as they set in the oven.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten that give the cake its body and hold its crumb together.
Brown sugar
Melts with the butter into a caramel topping that sweetens and flavors the pineapple layer.
Pineapple slices
Become the caramelized fruit topping, adding moisture and a tangy sweetness.
Butter
Carries the brown sugar topping and adds richness and flavor.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Turn off the heat before adding the batter. The brown sugar and butter mixture should be warm and melted but not cooked further. Overheating can scorch the sugar into a bitter, hard caramel and stop the topping from spreading evenly.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, pecans, egg, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, pecans, egg, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Pineapple SherbetPineapple Sherbet116 recipesPineapple PuddingPineapple Pudding72 recipesPineapple CreamPineapple Cream58 recipesPineapple JellyPineapple Jelly39 recipes