Old-Fashioned Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

For the caramel top

• ½ stick (60 g) butter
• ½ cup packed (100 g) soft brown sugar
• 1 can (430 g) pineapple rings, drained & dried
• 8 glacé or maraschino cherries

For the sponge

• 1 ½ sticks (175 g) soft butter
• 175 g granulated sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups (175 g) self-rising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla & 2 tbsp pineapple juice

Method

1. Caramel layer. Oven to 350°F (180°C, fan 160°C). Melt the butter, stir in the brown sugar, spread over the base of a deep 23 cm tin (not loose-based).
2. Arrange the fruit. Pat the rings very dry, lay them over the caramel, cherry in the center of each.
3. Sponge. Cream the butter and sugar until pale. Eggs one at a time, then fold in the flour, vanilla and pineapple juice.
4. Bake. Spoon the batter gently over the fruit, level, and bake 40–45 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
5. The flip. Rest exactly 5 minutes. Knife round the edge, plate over the tin, one confident turn. Lift the tin away slowly — and take the applause.