Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes - December Cake Odyssey

I had planned for these wonderful little gems to be my November installment of my 2011 Cake Odyssey.  Then about 2 days before Thanksgiving, I get an email from my Mom that goes something like this:

I am paraphrasing...

    

"April, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah stopped by today and brought your Dad and me a huge cheesecake.  Don't bother to bring the dessert you had planned to make for Thanksgiving.  The cheesecake and pumpkin pie will be enough.   Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

While it was nice to have one less dish to prepare and take to my parents' house on Thanksgiving Day, allowing me to relax a little in the morning and actually watch some of the Macy's Parade on television, I was disappointed for two reasons.

1. I had planned for it to be my November Cake Odyssey installment and it was late in the month and I had yet to prepare a NEW cake recipe for November so I was suddenly on-the-spot!
2. I was looking forward to having Pineapple Upside Down Cake as I had not had it in eons!  (Webster's Dictionary definition of eons:   a unit of geologic time equal to one billion years)  Okay, maybe not eons, but a long time, nonetheless!

Let me just say that these little cakes would make a PERFECT addition to your holiday dessert buffet.  The serving size is ideal and very easy for someone to add to their plate and move on down the line picking and choosing their additional square of fudge or decorated sugar cookie. 

And.

AND!

These are so very easy to make.  You MUST make these.  The little maraschino cherry is so very festive looking after all.

Mini Upside Down Pineapple Cakes

Here's What You Need:

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple

1/3 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup brown sugar

12-13 maraschino cherries, cut in half

1 package yellow cake mix

No Joke!  This really is all you need to make these!

Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice.  Stir the melted butter and brown sugar together.  Evenly divide the brown sugar mixture among two cupcake pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. 

Next, evenly divide the crushed pineapple among the individual cupcake sections.  Next, top the pineapple with half of a maraschino cherry, cut side up.

Prepare the cake mix* according to package directions.  Replace the amount of water called for in the cake mix with the required pineapple juice and any water needed to even out the liquid.  Evenly pour batter into muffin cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes and loosen the edges with a sharp knife.  Turn out onto a cookie sheets to continue cooling.

An aggravating side-note:   My daughter loves all kinds of food and trying out new foods.  She is a little Foodista in the making.  Maybe even the next Food Network Star!  Anyway, the day I made these, I also made sausage jambalaya for dinner.  She packed leftovers the next day for her school lunch.  A girl in her class had the nerve to tell her that her jambalaya and pineapple upside down cake were GROSS FOOD!  I want to simply shake these children who think bologna sandwiches and Little Debbie's are GOOD FOOD!

Okay, I'm done.  It's outta my system.  I will take a deep breath and the negative energy will leave my body.

For now.

*May I just insert here that I prefer Duncan Hines cake mixes above and beyond all cake mixes on the market. Have I tried them ALL? No. But, among the major brands, Duncan Hines is The. Best. They didn't pay me to say that. Just speaking my piece/peace (?). Over and out.

Also...this recipe comes courtesy of the good folks at Dole pineapple.  I clipped the recipe from the coupon section sometime this fall.  So glad I did!