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These Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes are simple, sweet, and sure to put a smile on everyone’s face! Just like the classic dessert, but in mini form! Perfect for parties and celebrations!
Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Scratch
Easter is quickly approaching, and one of my favorite recipes to bake for this holiday is pineapple upside-down cake! In the past I’ve treated my family to fun recipes like skillet pineapple upside down cake and pineapple upside-down donuts. But this year I’m completely breaking the mold and baking them these adorable mini pineapple cake. So cute and so delicious!
First things first: to make this recipe you’re going to need a jumbo muffin tin. The pineapple slices won’t fit in a regular muffin tin, and while you could cut them up into tiny pieces, I highly suggest springing for the pan and following the recipe as written. Plus, once you buy a jumbo muffin tin you can make other great recipes like these nutella stuffed chocolate chunk zucchini muffins. Win-win! I purchased my jumbo muffin tin at Sur la Table, but you can also buy one from amazon.
Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Recipe from Scratch
Now that we’ve covered pan business, let’s talk ingredients. To make these mini pineapple upside-down cakes you’ll need flour, cornstarch, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, rum OR vanilla extract (totally your call!), pineapple juice, pineapple slices, and maraschino cherries. If you buy the sliced pineapples in real pineapple juice, you should have enough juice from the can 😉
In one bowl you’ll make your cake mix. The cake batter involves whisking the eggs first, then adding in the sugars, rum, pineapple juice, and dry ingredients. The cake batter does not call for any butter or oil, but bakes up extremely moist thanks to the pineapple juice and gooey brown sugar topping. The brown sugar topping does contain butter, as well as brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and more rum.
To assemble you’ll scoop 2 tablespoons of topping into the bottom of each muffin tin, then add a slice of pineapple and a maraschino cherry, then finally top with cake batter. Be sure to only fill the molds 3/4 of the way up! Otherwise you will have an oven mess to clean up, and ain’t nobody have time for that 😉
Perfect for parties, barbecues, and baby showers, these pineapple upside-down minis are definitely going to be in high rotation this Spring!
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment below and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on Instagram! Seeing your kitchen creations makes my day. ♥
Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 2 teaspoons rum (or pure vanilla extract)
- 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
For the topping:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 and 1/2 cups dark brown sugar (packed)
- 1 teaspoon rum (or vanilla extract)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 12 pineapple rings
- 12 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Generously spray a 12-mold JUMBO muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
- Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl; whisk smooth. Add in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and rum (or vanilla), and beat smooth. Stir in pineapple juice and set aside. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and cornstarch. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Be sure not to over mix here! Set mixture aside while you make the topping.
For the topping:
- In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add in the brown sugar, rum, and salt, and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons of the topping mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin; place a pineapple ring on top, then place a cherry in the middle of each pineapple ring. Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared tins, fill each muffin tin 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the tops are puffed and golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes. Gently run a knife around the edge of each cake to help loosen any stuck bits, then gently place a wire cooling rack on top and quickly flip over. You may want to place the cooling rack on a large sheet pan before doing this, to help make it less messy. Serve cakes warm or at room temperature.
I love Joanne’s blog, and I love that you’re all doing a virtual baby shower for her! I HAVE to make these, they’re so adorable!
Thank you, Marina! I can’t wait to hear how they turn out for you 🙂
awww I love that you made these cakes like your mama used to-but mini! The perfect way to celebrate joanne and her baby girl 🙂
Thank you, Kayle!
These mini upsies look so delish! Will definitely make them tomorrow after i buy the jumbo muffin pans! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! So happy to hear it, Faye! I can’t wait to hear how they turn out <3
I usually eat breakfast at home. however although i like to eat soup or other dishes. I often eat cake in the morning because i have less time to prepare. thanks for sharing. great recipe. yum ~!
You’re very welcome, Yuri! These little cakes make a great breakfast 🙂
These are the prettiest little cakes! And how do I not have a jumbo muffin pan? As soon as I move into a house I’m buying one (or more)!!!
Thank you, Lauren! And yesssss – you have to get a jumbo muffin pan! Or maybe someone will get you one as a house warming gift 😉
Made this for a hen’s party last night and there wasn’t a crumb left. The recipe was simple and very easy to follow. Definitely will be making these again and again. Thank you!
How fun! So happy they were a hit, Jane 🙂
Baby cakes are the best kind of cakes! Seriously, I do think everything tastes better in mini form. These are so cute! Thanks chica!
You’re so welcome! Congrats and hopefully we can catch up soon 🙂 xoxo
Should I use fresh pineapple or canned ?
Hi Ahlam! I used canned, but fresh – cored and cut into circles – should work great, too 🙂
Pineapple will be best
So gorgeous! I’ll make these for my next party!
Mini food always tastes better too!
I couldn’t agree more 😉 Thanks, Kristen!
Is it possible to use a cake mix
Yes
@Duncan Hines Signature Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix.
These are so sweet and just make me happy!
Thank you so much, Heather!
I am die hard cake lover, and always love to try new cake recipe. Thank you for sharing, i will eat this cake in tomorrow morning breakfast!
Can’t wait to hear how it turns out, Aarti!
These look fantastic! I’m planning to make them for a frien. How far in advance can these be made and how should I keep them fresh until needed? Thanks!
Apologies, I just saw the note with all the instructions on how to store. Thanks!
Hope you enjoyed them, Lindsey 🙂
Delicious. I really like the idea. I’ll definitely have to try it.
Hello, tried making these last weekend as a test batch in preparation for an event. Had some problems: my brown sugar didn’t dissolve in 1 min. Can I take more time allowing that so it’s actually liquid and not still sugar? Also, the batter was runny and seeped down under the pineapple/cherry, so that when I flipped them over they were covered in bit of cake. Any advice is appreciated!
Rena, I had the
Exact same problems
1/3 cup melted butter stir together with 2/3 cup packed brown sugar add about 3 tbs of mixture to bottom of muffin pan and lightly press in WELL drained pineapple slice.
Hope this helps.
Omg these look amazing…I would love to be able to make a topping that tasted like maraschino cherries..instead of cream cheese frosting…! Yum yum! In making these pineapple cakes!
These are yummy
cakes are looking tasty
OMG OMG…this looks so amazing…lovely pictures. I am definitely going to try this on next party. Loved it.
What is the exact name and type of pan you used?
I’m interested to know this too… Hope the owner will answer…
I posted links to my pan – and pans like the one I own – in the post.
The links in your original posting don’t work anymore (not shocking considering it’s been a few years). Could you share the dimensions of the pan you used? There seem to be a lot of “jumbo” pans available now with no standard for what that means. Thanks!
I ordered the Wilton “jumbo muffin pans” from Amazon — very disappointed that they are not large enough to accommodate a pineapple ring. I also found that the sur le table link didn’t work. So I guess I’ll have an Amazon return.
Yummy Yummy!! It looks so much delicious. I love cake maximum time I eat cake at breakfast but I didn’t eat pineapple cake before, really awesome recipe. I will try to my home. I am going to bookmark for the future visit.
Thanks for the great post.
I ended up using a natural pineapple rather than pineapple in a can. Collecting the juice was a bit harder. However, I juiced some of leftover slices (not many) and got roughly about half a cup and then put that in and half a cup of water. Worked out pretty great. I also added pineapple shreds to the batter which helped make it so much better. That way I didn’t just throw it away. It turned out AMAZING!!!! Not too sweet and not flavorless. Best thing I’ve made so far.
My Mom loves to make cake
Next time when i visit my home I’ll surely request her to make this cake
I will make sure next time when I make a cake will follow these tips and techniques!!!
Pretty little cakes. I’d give it a go. Great recipe 🙂
This looks very good! Thanks for sharing the information.
What a terrible recipe.
Hi Grant. Can you tell me what went wrong? I’d love to help troubleshoot 🙂
These are so sweet and just make me happy!
I’m interested to know this too… Hope the owner will answer…
Hello! I made a triple batch of your recipe, 24 cupcake size and 12×17 pan. Everyone loved them, I will say that delicious and beautiful were what I heard.
That’s awesome, Shelly!
superb! made mini loaves…..
Wow, liked the cake pics, Will try this at home this weekend 🙂
I made your recipe as is and the pineapple upside down muffins came out perfectly. So beautiful! Thank you for sharing it.
Lovely, watering my mouth already…Thanks for sharing this.
This is very nice cake. After reading your post, we decided to cook same cake for my friend’s baby shower.
Made these for St Patrick’s Day dinner with the family. I only had 1 jumbo muffin tin of 6. I popped the first batch in following the directions exactly. The topping ended up looking nothing like the posted pictures. Instead it was more like a sloppy brown sugar mess. The second batch, I only put in 1 Tbsp and it was better. I still did not have the beautiful golden tops pictured. Next time, I think I’ll use less brown sugar. These had a great taste and I will try them again to see if I can get your beautiful golden topping. My guest begged extras so I didn’t get my fill. Thanks for a great recipe! 4.5 Stars!
Should I use fresh pineapple or canned ?
We use canned.
Hoping to make these this weekend. I tried to print it but the link didn’t work…
What is the exact name and type of pan you used? Plz Answer.
I had a craving for pineapple upside down cake but only 3/6 of us will eat it and I didn’t want a whole cake to go to waste, so I hunted down minis and came across your recipe. I don’t have jumbo muffin pans so I used mini spring form pans. The bake time and cake recipe itself was what I was looking for so I used a different recipe for the topping. Using these pans, I had to lay aluminum foil over them at the 20 minute mark (because they were already a nice brown color) and bake an additional 10 minutes. OMG are they delicious!! I’m so glad I came across your recipe. No more pineapple cake mixes for me! Thank you!!! 🙂 🙂
I am a Pineapple lover. These cakes look delicious! Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Amazing recipe and amazing photographs. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
Oh boy, these were great. I agree with some comments that they look much messier in real life, but I kind of love that! I also had to cook a couple mins longer but that was fine
This pineapple cake taste was out of this world just made it though the appearance is not so good but the taste is delicious.
don’t have jumbo muffin pans so I used mini spring form pans
Do I need to grease or spray the muffin tin? I’m worried they won’t come out easily?
I loved this recepie.
Great recipe. I just made this yesterday, it was delicious. Thanks for sharing..!!
Thank you so much! This is the best pineapple upside down cake recipe on the internet! Absolutely delicious! I love the cinnamon -. you don’t see that in a lot of pineapple upside down cake recipes and that was a wonderful touch. The cake is also super moist and is totally delicious. I actually froze some muffins and defrosted them at a later time and they were just as good as the first day!
I love cakes and pineapple is my favourite. I’ll try this tomorrow. Yummy.
Okay so I have to buy another muffin pan. On a google search I’ve found 3 pans classified as “jumbo”, BUT they are all different capacities. Such as 7.3 oz, 8.2 oz and 10.5 oz. Which one matches this recipe?
I know recipe says jumbo, but what size jumbo? There are several with varying oz sizes
Made these. Excellent!
Damn , I so want to eat this during lockdown.
Great recipe. I just made this yesterday, it was delicious. Thanks for sharing..!!
As I type this comment… my mouth is just watering 🙂 Looks amazingly yummy. I can have this everyday on my breakfast. Will try making it tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
Great Recipe makes my mouth watering. Thanks for Sharing ❤
Thanks Ashley, I should try this tomorrow… In this lock down period your blog helped me to make new recipes. Love From India..
Best Regards,
Suraj
Can I use mini Bundt cake pans?
I tried out cake with the above recipe. The cake was very soft and tasty. Thank you.
II want to eat this.., please give me a piece..
So thrilled with how cute these turned out. Can’t taste until tomorrow. These are treats for after church. It’s my turn to bring something and with it being Valentine’s Day I love the touch of the red cherry on top. Was a bit nervous that they’d run all over the pan when I flipped them but they held up perfectly. Thank you for beautiful recipe.
Mouth watering, I just wanted to eat it right now.
Thanks
Absolutely delicious My family loved them. The sugar did overflow and make a mess in the oven, but they were so good that I didn’t mind cleaning up.
Can I double this and bake in a 9×13 pan?
delicious amzing recipe i would definelty try thats
My son loves pineapple and I know he would absolutely love this cake. This recipe also look simple. Will surely make this cake on his coming birthday.
I made these for my boyfriends birthday and they were a huge hit! Thank you so much for the awesome recipe. I think this is one of the best things I have ever made!
I made these tonight but the topping was still sugary after baking. They taste good but don’t look as good as yours. I think would should have stirred the topping longer until liquified. She. The ,Knute was up the sugar had t melted. I will def try them again.
I need to make 18, any chance you can put the option in to increase the servings where it will automatically recalculate the indgredients? Thanks. I can do it myself, but sometimes that option is very helpful. Thanks
Hi Donna! I don’t do that because every recipe doesn’t always double or triple well. And I feel having that option would be misleading to the reader.
A great delicious dish for morning breakfast
I have no idea what happened with this recipe. It was horrible. It was a waste of time and ingredients. I should have know something was wrong when the topping wouldn’t dissolve. The cake was way too sweet as well.
This is sooooo delish!
Can I use light brown sugar for the topping?
I think I left the topping on the heat too long, so it turned into candy. I was able to scrape it out of the tins using a silicone spatula and sprinkle the candy onto the cakes. Otherwise it came out great.
Also, realized too late that sliced pineapples come 10 to a can, so be warned.
I’m just a husband who does not cook very often, so having this come out slightly flawed but still delicious is a win for me.
I am excited to see this particular baking item! I have made just a few pineapple upside down cakes, but I remember enjoying pineapple upside down muffins at Panera but I don’t think they sell them anymore.
If I wanted to make pineapple upside down muffins with the paper liners, would I make them the same way, but put a liner in the jumbo muffin tin first?
How would I make the mini pineapple upside down cakes with a Duncan Hines yellow cake batter mix? I’m really an inexperienced guy who dabbles in cooking and pointers are appreciated. Thank you, John of MN
I am excited to see this particular baking item! I have made just a few pineapple upside down cakes, but I remember enjoying pineapple upside down muffins at Panera but I don’t think they sell them anymore.
If I wanted to make pineapple upside down muffins with the paper liners, would I make them the same way, but put a liner in the jumbo muffin tin first?
How would I make the mini pineapple upside down cakes with a Duncan Hines yellow cake batter mix? I’m really an inexperienced guy who dabbles in cooking and pointers are appreciated. Thank you, John of MN