This retro recipe reminds me of the holidays when one of my aunts would always show up with an upside-down cake in hand. It became a reliable comfort, and family get-togethers weren’t the same without it. I remember watching as a kid as my aunt flipped it over, and the magical moment when it appeared on the plate in one piece.
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
- 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple rings in juice, drained, juice reserved
- 10 maraschino cherries without stems, drained, juice reserved
- 1 (15.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
- Vegetable oil and eggs as called for on the cake mix box
How to Make It
- Lightly spray the insert of a 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and melted butter. Spread evenly over the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly over the sugar mixture. Arrange the pineapple slices on top. Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple ring.
- Add enough of the reserved cherry juice to the reserved pineapple juice to measure 1 cup total. Make the cake batter as directed on the box, substituting the pineapple-cherry juice mixture for the water. Pour the batter evenly over the ingredients in the slow cooker.
- Cook on High for 3 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Uncover the cake and transfer the slow cooker insert to a cooling rack. Let cool for 15 minutes. Avoid waiting any longer, as the sugar will set and make the cake difficult to remove from the slow cooker. Run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the slow cooker.
- Place a heatproof serving plate upside down over the top of the slow cooker insert; carefully turn the plate and slow cooker insert over together. The cake will fall onto the plate. If any pineapple slices or cherries stick to the insert, gently remove them and return them to the cake.
- Serve warm.