How not to make a pineapple upside down cake

My personal philosophy is that you should try to look for the positive in every situation. 

- If you never try something, how are you going to know if it works? 

- While mistakes are just ways too learn how not to do something. 

So I thought Id share with you a few ways Iv learnt how to not make an upside down cake.

 

Thursday at the Pantry I  made a Pineapple Upside down cake for lunch.  Since it was for the canteen, it was a full dairy version.   Another dessert I couldn't eat, and I so wanted a piece. 

We used a ceramic oven dish to bake the cake in.  Which leads me to the first mistake.  Last year I made a dairy free version at home, and used a loose bottom cake tin.  Not one of my better idea's, since the syrup seeped out of the tin all over my oven. 

- Always use a solid baking tin or pan.  If you do use a loose bottom tin, wrapped tin foil round it to stop the syrup seeping out.  Also place the tin on a baking tray, just in case anything does leak out.

Upside down cakes aren't that hard to make.  Basically you place the fruit and sugar on the base of your tin, then pour a vanilla cake batter over the top.  This time we used a few tablespoons of golden syrup, but you can also use soft brown sugar.  The juice from the pineapple and the sugar form a syrup when baked. 

Second mistake, along with the golden syrup, we also poured a little of the pineapple juice.  The additions of the extra liquid made the middle of the cake a bit too soggy.  The rest of the cake was perfect, we did return it to the oven to see if we could make it un-soggy.  Didn't work, we only served the slices from the outside of the cake and left the middle.  No way we could sell it.

- Never add extra liquid or moisture to the base of an upside down cake. 

 It will made the cake soggy.

Drain your tin of pineapple before use, but keep the juice.  You can always find another use for it. If you use a wacky cake recipe to make the cake batter, use the juice as part of the liquid needed.  Or do what I did, and pour the juice into a glass and drink it. 

Third mistake occurred while making the batter.  We didn't make enough to cover the fruit, so I ended up making another batch. 

- If making a large upside down cake for a special occasion,

double the quantities of your normal cake recipe. 

 Second helping are better than not having enough

Another problem with upside down cakes is, your always worried it won't turn out.  The fruit juice we added did solve this problem, but I wouldn't recommend trying it.  That is unless you like eating raw cake.

-Measure the base of your baking tin on grease proof paper, and cut out.  Placing on the bottom of your tin will ensure it turns out. 

If your not up to experimenting in the kitchen, there are lots of dairy free recipes on-line. 

Vegan Upside Down Cake

Best way of turning a baking mistake into a positive, is to pass on "how not to make..." Hopefully my screw ups help some one else making the same mistake xxx