It has been YEARS since I last had pineapple upside-down cake. Out of the blue a craving hit and I decided to challenge myself to come-up with a healthier version.
Along the way I discovered that this recipe makes a wonderful pancake batter as well (you have to love the dual purpose nature of this batter!).
I have been invited to enter the Ethical Ocean recipe contest and this will be my entry…more information to come.
INGREDIENTS – Makes 12-16 muffins
Wet Ingredients 12 pineapple slices, drained (reserve 2 Tbs. juice from the can) 12 Morello cherries 1 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple 1 cup applesauce . Dry Ingredients 2 Tbs SweetLeaf SugarLeaf1-2 Tbsp pineapple juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup King Arthur’s Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup GFree pancake mix
1/2 cup blanched almond flour 1 tsp xanthan gum honey or maple syrup .
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 350° (I used convection bake).
- Trim the pineapple slices to the size of the bottom of your muffin tin (I used a biscuit cutter).
- In a large mixing bowl add 1 cup applesauce, crushed pineapple, pineapple juice, and vanilla. Mix.
- Add baking soda, salt, xanthan gum, pancake mix, and flours to a separate bowl and whisk to evenly distribute.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well to incorporate.
- Lightly grease the muffin tins (I used coconut oil).
- Line the bottom of each tin with one slice of pineapple and a cherry in the middle.
- Cover each pineapple and cherry slice with batter until the muffin tins are 3/4 full.
- Bake for approx. 15 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean.
- Allow the pan to cool for 5 minutes.
- Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and top with maple syrup or honey while still warm.
Don’t forget that this batter also makes AMAZING pancakes!!! Feel free to add a smidgen more pineapple juice to thin the batter if you plan on using it for pancakes.
For a printable version of this recipe CLICK HERE.