Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

My husband and I have a tradition where we always make each others birthday cakes. We aren't allowed to make our own. NOT that he would ever make his own but he loves to make mine. Its cute really. Shh don't tell him I called him cute. ha ha. So my absolute favorite is pineapple upside down cake. Its just yummy and totally retro. I'm so 50's. Ha ha. So last year after he had a slight baking disaster ( he filled the pan waaaayyy to much and took the pan out  of the oven mid baking and scraped off some of the half baked batter and then put the cake back in to finish baking - OY!) I thought it would be fun to sort of bake together. Plus I thought jumbo cupcakes would be a cool change. I do have this AWESOME cast iron pan that makes 6 mini pineapple shaped cakes ( that's what he used last year) but I wanted cupcakes this year. I found a slightly different recipe than he had used last year that yielded 24 regular cupcakes of 12 jumbos. I didn't want to micro manage him because in all reality he is  GOOD baker. But he only bakes once a year for my birthday and I wanted to help anyway. So I helped him get all the ingredients ready and read directions. 

So to get in the "baking mood" what does he do first? Makes a cocktail..

And of course its a Mai Tai he makes. He had to get in the right frame of mind since he was baking a tropical cake aferall. Uh huh. Sure. Use the last of my beloved Trader Vics. Okay so I'm pregnant and can't drink but still I LOVE that stuff.

It was fun playing photographer while he was baking. He was having a LITTLE too much fun sifting the flour

Measured out a little too much pineapple juice. Hmmm what to do with the extra??

Add it to the Mai Tai of course!!

Pineapple upside down cake always has a brown sugar caramelly like bottom and I wanted to do a little twist on using regular brown sugar. I have this AMAZING dark muscovado sugar. If you ever try this stuff you will never go back to regular dark brown sugar ever again. The taste is amazing. rich and caramelly. Really good. They make a light one too but I have yet to try it. This was a GOOD call for the recipe. 

I think he ended up packing a little too much of the muscovado because there was a TON in the cup but eh whatever.

The butter and muscovado sugar melting. 

I want to see the machine that cuts these pineapple rings so evenly and uniform in shape and size. Its almost too perfect..

Filling the cupcake tins with the muscovado butter mix. He was getting fancy trying to see how high he could get the spoon above the pan. I think he was on Mai Tai number two already. The tins were sprayed with cooking spray instead of using liners since they were going to be flipped

The pineapple rings fit perfectly inside the jumbo cups without having to be cut to fit.

Time to make the cupcake batter

We used organic evaporated cane juice for the sugar instead of granulated white. The flavor would match the muscovado better. Another good choice for this recipe

Perfectly mixed batter. The hubby is doing a great job so far.

The recipe made a TON of batter and he filled them UP!!

Mai Tai break. ha ha

I'm a little worried at this point because these were filled almost all the way up and was wishing I could have a mai tai at this point. ha ha

Um yeah. The sugar escaped from the bottom and was spilling out onto the oven floor and it got a wee bit smoky in the house. We ran to open windows and fans so the fire alarm didn't set off and wake our toddler.  

A couple of them looked like volcanos erupted. My husband termed it "vesuvius-ing" and thought he was pretty funny coming up with with that and wanted to make sure I added it into my blog. What a goof.

Oh look at that. Another Mai Tai. Garnished with a pineapple ring this time. He said the Mai Tais helped in his baking excellence. 

Flipped over they smelled AMAZING and looked perfect!!

Oh and he MAY or MAY not have added some rum into the muscovado mixture. At least that's what he said ( later I found out he did and it totally made it THAT much better)

I helped at this point and piped on the whipped cream frosting and topped with a maraschino cherry. He said his piping skills weren't quite there yet. ( I don't think I've ever seen him pipe frosting so I will take his word for it)

Having fun with camera angles

Soooo YUMMY. The muscovado mixture soaked into the cake was so amazing. These were by far the BEST pineapple upside down cupcakes I have ever had. A++++++ to my hubby for making my birthday so awesome!

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcake Recipe

adapted from Sweet & Saucy blog

and Cupcakes! By Elinore Klivans

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes. 

Makes 24 regular size, 12 Jumbos

Topping:
 3/4 cup butter

1 cup dark muscovado sugar (or dark brown sugar)

2 tbsp dark rum ( optional)
2 20 oz cans canned pineapple rings in pineapple juice (drain and reserve juice for batter)


Cake Batter:
¾ cup organic sugar ( evaporated cane juice)

¾ cup butter, at room temperature
15 ounces (3 cups) all purpose flour
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cup pineapple juice
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cupcake tins with cooking spray.  In a small saucepan, melt and stir together butter and brown sugar. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes or until it thickens slightly. Add in rum. Stir thoroughly to combine. Pour about two tablespoons of this topping into the bottom of each cupcake well. Place one pineapple ring on top. If making regular sized use less sugar per well and cut the pineapple rings to fit.

Measure and then mix together dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. I suggest weighing the flour instead of scooping and measuring so you don't end up with more flour than needed.

In a medium sized mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add the flour alternately with the pineapple juice. Don't overmix Pour about 2/3 cup of batter over each pineapple slice and bake for 25 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan then invert over a baking rack. (You may want to place parchment paper or a towel under the rack because they may drip.) Serve on a plate, pineapple side up.

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla

Powdered sugar

 In a well chilled bowl (  I stick a stainless steel bowl and my mixing beaters in the freezer while the cupcakes are baking) whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Add in the vanilla and the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time until you get to desired sweetness. Some like it sweeter than others. I find that powdered sugar works better than granulated so you don't get grainy whipped cream. Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with piping tip of choice and make pretty swirls. Of if you want just glob a big dollop on top. Garnish with a maraschino cherry if desired.  Another note to make stabilized whipped cream I found a product called "Whip It" by  Dr. Oetker. Not sure who this guy is but I love this product and it makes for awesome stabilized whipped cream.