Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I got very hungry for one of Mom's Pineapple Upside Down Cakes. So I rounded up my daughter and said, "Let's make one of Grandma's Pineapple Upside Down Cakes." Marta was all for it. She said, "Which recipe do we want to use?" I replied, "Let's start with the easy one." Mom had 3 recipes for Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I got out my cast iron skillet, put it on the stove top, and started gathering ingredients. Mom's original recipe was for a from scratch cake. The second was a variation of the first recipe. And the last recipe uses a Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 stick of butter (you'll need another stick for the cake mix)
• 1, 20 oz can of Dole pineapple slices in pineapple juice
• Jar Maraschino cherries
• Duncan Hines Butter Golden Cake Mix
• Iron skillet (or a Pyrex dish)
• Cake platter
• Container of Cool Whip

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the cake up using the ingredients and instructions called for on the back of the cake mix box--EXCEPT--substitute pineapple juice instead of using water. You'll find the can of pineapple slices packed in juice will contain enough juice to more than satisfy the liquid requirement for the cake mix.

Set the cast iron skillet on a burner turned to medium. Melt the stick of butter and stir in the cup of brown sugar. Place pineapple slices around the skillet and one in the center so that the entire skillet contains a single layer of pineapple. Place a Marachino cherry in the center of each pineapple slice.

(If you use a Pyrex dish instead of an iron skillet, melt the butter in the dish in your oven, stir in the brown sugar, and follow the same instructions for adding the pineapple and cherries.) 

Pour the cake mix batter on top of the pineapple rings in the skillet (or dish).

Put the iron skillet (or dish) in the oven and bake the cake until it is done.

If you're using an iron skillet, the cake will be baked in about 30-35 minutes.

The baking time will vary if you bake the cake in a Pyrex dish. Dish sizes and baking times are shown on the back of the cake mix box.

The cake is done when you insert a tooth pick, pull the toothpick out, and the toothpick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes on the top of your range. Put a cake platter on the skillet/dish and holding both the cake skillet/dish and platter together firmly, carefully flip the containers so that the cake will fall perfectly onto the platter.

Serve the cake warm with Cool Whip cream.