Fresh pineapple upside-down cake - country living

12 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
½ cup Boiling water
¼ cup Dried cherries (see Note)
1 Small fresh pineapple
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups Unsifted all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon Salt
¾ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Baking soda
3 Large eggs
½ cup Firmly packed light-brown sugar
½ cup Heavy cream
¼ cup Dark rum
¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1⅓ cup Sugar
1½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
½ cup Buttermilk

Directions

TOPPING

CAKE

1. Prepare Topping: In small bowl, combine boiling water and dried cher- ries; set aside. Cut off leafy top of pineapple and slice off bottom stem end. On cutting board with well, using sharp knife, peel pineapple and remove eyes. Core pineapple and slice into ½-inch thick rings, reserving ¼ C fresh pineapple juice that collects in cutting-board well. Set juice aside.

2. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with waxed paper. In heavy 12-inch skillet, combine butter and brown sugar; cook over medium-high heat until bubbly. Add pineapple rings; cook until golden brown, turning once.

3. Remove pineapple rings from skillet with a slotted spoon and arrange to cover bottom of prepared pan, cutting some rings into wedges to fill in spaces. Drain water from cherries; sprinkle cherries over pineapple rings, pressing to fill in holes or spaces.

Stir cream and rum into skillet; cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until thickened-about 8 minutes. Remove from heat; pour over pineapple and cherries.

4. Prepare Cake: In medium-size bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside. Heat oven to 375'F.

Separate eggs, placing whites in medium-size bowl. With electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. In large bowl, with same beaters, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

And egg yolks to butter mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

5. In small bowl, combine reserved pineapple juice and buttermilk.

Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beating until well combined to make batter. Fold egg whites into batter.

6. Spoon batter evenly over pineapple and cherries. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Invert cake onto serving plate and remove waxed paper. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

Note: Dried cherries are available by mail order from American Spoon Foods, 411 E. Lake St., Petoskey, Mich. 49770, or by calling (800) 222-5886.

SPAGO Country Living/Dec/90 Scanned & fixed by DP and GG

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