Hello world, It’s been a long time, but it’s time to start developing recipes again.
Many moons ago, I had an idea of developing American recipes for the Dutch context and putting them into a book. Although I did write a book of American Christmas recipes last year, I think this idea has turned into developing the best possible versions of timeless American recipes not just for the Netherlands, but also for anyone else who’s interested 🙂 This time though instead of a book, I will be sharing my recipes directly with you on my blog!
Baking and recipe development is is something I just can’t stay away from, its one of those things that keeps drawing me in, and I love it. Because baking is magic! It just is!
Anyway, so Pineapple Upside-down cake. I had never made one of these before, and my only association was them going terribly wrong. So, I wanted to face my fears and give myself an interesting challenge. Especially in this unreal time we’re all living in at the moment (Covid-19 for future reference) I needed something else to occupy my brain space.
It turns out though that the process of making this cake is an absolute breeze! It’s so simple, and makes quite the impression. So, an easy and festive win for whenever the time comes that we can have parties again. 🙂 Hey! Something to look forward to. What I didn’t realize is that there a couple different takes on this classic retro recipe…
And hey, just because its easy doesn’t mean I can’t try and develop the ultimate version of it. So, here we go!
 Step 1 of recipe development: Research.
Whenever I’m developing a recipe, I first find some existing ones for reference, online, from my cookbooks, from my mom’s cookbooks etc. I look at what the proportions are, the usual methods and ingredients, and read about peoples’ expectations of how it should look and taste. What I found was interesting! Some recipes called for milk, some for sour cream, some called for pineapple juice, some didn’t. Almost all of them called for brown sugar in both the topping and the cake…which poses a problem for our Dutch friends (I’ll explain later). All of them called for maraschino cherries, which you can’t easily get here in the Netherlands. So there were a few little issues.Â
Once I found around 10 recipes, I picked three that differed the most from each other. I baked these, and here’s what I happened.
I had 3 very different cakes.
Evaluation:
1.1 Even rise, but very dry overall. Flavor is fine, but just fine.
1.2 Nice rise, texture is light, not too dense. A bit dry + needs more flavor.
1.3. Great flavor, but a little sweet. Very dense and wet. A little mushy.
Step 2: Start developing
So, after examining these recipes, I decided that I’d like something in between 1.2 + 1.3, but less sweet. The texture and rise needed some work too. Based on these initial conclusions, I wrote 3 more recipes, each with some key adjustments, but some slight differences:
– Added an egg: this helps with structure
– Adjusted the sugar: Sugar adds moisture, as it bonds to liquids.
– Adjusted salt and flavorings to enhance overall flavor
– Corrected leavening : flour ratio
– I ran out of cherries so started using red currants instead. A yummy turn of events.
Once again this resulted in 3 different cakes!
Evaluation:
2.1 Too soft and dense, most likely too much sugar
2.2 Still slightly too dense
2.3 A good result! the texture is right, not too dense, not too light. The flavor needs a little work, but we’re nearly there!
After a few final adjustments to sugar and flavoring my recipe was finished! My work here is done.
Oh wait not quite.
One afternoon while I was busy with this, I called my mom. Too bad my mom apparently HATES pineapple upside-down cake, which she couldn’t stop telling me! It turns my grandmother used to bake it a lot, maybe too much. Anyway, she asked me if I’d checked my old Betty Crocker for a recipe (my wonderful old cookbook I inherited from my grandmother). That is usually my starting point for these projects, but for some reason I’d forgotten to look there.
Well there is a recipe for Pineapple-upside down cake in there…and guess what? It’s completely different from every other recipe I’ve found. Not even close. Oh boy…
I couldn’t resist trying it, especially if it’s the notorious one my mom hates so much 😉
The method was a little strange, and the proportions looked off to me. But I baked it anyway, and guess what? It was DELICIOUS. But also a total flop. No rise, flat as a pancake.
Now, I was a little bummed about the thought of starting all over again…but this time I lucked out. My grandmother’s version was sponge-like cake. After doing more research on various sponge cake methods, I altered the recipe ingredients + proportions, and completely changed the method. It turned out great the first time! Light and fluffy. So I ended up with two recipes.
From what I’ve found, it seems like my grandmother’s version was the standard up until the 1950s-60s…after that, the more dense versions of this recipe started coming around, and this version is the one you commonly find today.
Both are lovely and have that kinda tacky and irresistible retro charm. The pre-1960s recipe gives a light and fluffy cake, while the more current recipe gives is a richer and more dense cake. So, it’s whatever you prefer!
You can find the recipes here:
Old school Pineapple upside-down cake (fluffy sponge)
New school Pineapple upside-down cake (Dense and rich)
Thanks, and happy baking! Let me know how they turn out 😀