Pineapple Upside Down Cornbread
Well, spring has sprung and I’m ready for it! The sunny weather has me thinking about grilling and one thing I love to have with BBQ (especially ribs!) is cornbread. Well, you guys know how I like to tinker with things so I wanted a way to make my regular cornbread into something special and maybe more dessert-y. Well, our local grocery store had pineapples BOGO so that seemed like a sign….why not an upside down pineapple cake, but with cornbread! Turns out my instincts were right and it was delicious!
Let’s get to it!
Preheat your oven and make sure there’s a rack in the center. Put a large piece of foil on the bottom rack. A small amount of the caramel could bubble over the sides of your pan with the pineapple juices, so the foil is there to catch that.
You’re going to start your cake by making the caramel for the bottom (or the top). Start to melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and cook until the brown sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly. I did this in my large cast iron skillet so I could make the cake in it too! If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, make the caramel in a normal sauté pan and then pour into a greased nine by thirteen casserole dish.
Now place the pineapple slices in a nice pattern in the pan on top of the caramel. I cut some of the rings in little pieces to fill in any gaps also. Fresh pineapple works best here because it doesn’t get too mushy and adds more flavor than the canned. However, this cake is so good that if all you have is canned it’s still worth it!
Now onto the cornbread. Start by mixing all of your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Pour in the melted butter.
Now mix together the milk, eggs, oil, and rum. If you don’t like rum, you can leave it out, but I like how the flavor combines with the pineapple.
Pour all of that into the bowl with your dry ingredients and the melted butter and stir it all together. Once it’s combined, pour it in your pan with the pineapple and caramel.
Bake it on the center rack of the oven for fifty to sixty minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake will be a lovely golden color on top.
Let the cake (or should I say bread?) cool for ten minutes. Now comes the upside down part! Run a knife around the cake to make sure it doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan. Put your serving platter or plate upside down on top of the pan. With oven mitts, clasp the pan with your fingers and the platter with your thumbs and swiftly flip it over. Lift off the pan and voila your cake should be on the platter. Some of the pineapple may have stuck to the pan so just scoop it off and put it back on the cake.
Slice the cake and serve with a dollop of rum whipped cream.
This cornbread is incredibly moist and full of flavor. The edges get a little chewy from the caramel and the pineapple adds a lovely tartness. Bring this to the next BBQ and you’ll be the hit of the party!
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 pineapple, peel and cut into 1/4" slices with the cores removed
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 4 large eggs
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon rum
- rum whipped cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and put a rack in the center. Put a large piece of foil on bottom rack.
- Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and cook until brown sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbly. Pour into chosen pan.
- Place pineapple slices in a nice pattern in pan on top of caramel.
- Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in melted butter.
- Mix milk, eggs, oil, and rum and pour into bowl with dry ingredients and melted butter.
- Stir to combine.
- Pour in the pan with pineapple and caramel.
- Bake on the center rack of oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes.
- Run a knife around the cake and flip onto a serving plate.
- Slice the cake and serve with a dollop of rum whipped cream.
This post contains affiliate links.