Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes – a mini version of your favorite cake with butter, brown sugar, pineapple, and a cherry on top! These cupcakes are good warm or at room temperature so they’re great for parties or luaus.
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
In a perfect world, I would make these from scratch. And by all means if you want to, go right ahead.
But sometimes a doctored up cake mix does wonders. I mean adding brown sugar and butter to cake mix? Sounds like a sure win to me.
These Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes have been calling to me for years. Try not to burn the top of your mouth off eating them straight out of the oven. I did.
WHAT ARE PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CUPCAKES?
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes are a mini version of your favorite cake with butter, brown sugar, pineapple, and a cherry on top!
- First, spoon some melted butter, crushed pineapple, brown sugar, and a cherry in the bottom of a muffin tin.
- Next, top with the cupcake batter and bake.
- Finally, invert the cupcakes for beautiful Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes.
I always have plenty of helpers in the kitchen. My son poured a teaspoon (or two) of butter in each cupcake tin. Then he put a tablespoon of brown sugar on top.
Then he put a cherry right in the center of the brown sugar.
I tried using crushed pineapple and pineapple tidbits to see which one worked better.The crushed pineapple won the experiment by a long shot.
It had way more flavor and looked prettier. The tidbits give a nice flower shape but most of them got stuck in the tin and the pineapple flavor wasn’t as strong.
The cupcake batter is just made according to the package directions but with replacing the water in the recipe with pineapple juice. Make sure you don’t over fill your tins.
Invert the cooked cupcakes onto waxed or parchment paper and you’re done!
OTHER CUPCAKE RECIPES:
- Rainbow Cupcakes
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- Strawberry Puffcakes
- Strawberry Colada Cupcakes
- Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes
- Funfetti Cupcakes
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes - a mini version of your favorite cake with butter, brown sugar, pineapple, and a cherry on top!
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 24 maraschino cherries
- 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple (reserve juice)
- 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix (and oil and eggs called for on the package)
- 1 1/3 cups pineapple juice (you just need as much pineapple juice as water called for on the cake mix package - see note)
- confectioners' sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 24 muffin cups with cooking spray.
- Line a work surface with parchment or waxed paper.
- Spoon 1 teaspoon melted butter into the bottom of each sprayed muffin cup.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon brown sugar in each muffin cup.
- Press a maraschino cherry into the center of the brown sugar in each muffin cup.
- Spoon a heaping tablespoon of crushed pineapple over the cherry and compact it with the back of a spoon into an even layer.
- Mix cake mix according to the package directions, replacing the water with pineapple juice. This may vary according to which cake mix you use. In large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Turn mixer speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes.
- Pour pineapple cake batter into the muffin cups, filling them almost to the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool at least 5 minutes before inverting muffin cups onto the waxed paper to release. Serve with pineapple and cherry sides up. Sprinkle cupcakes lightly with confectioners' sugar if desired.
Recipe Notes
Just replace the water called for in your cake mix with pineapple juice. You should be able to reserve the juice from the crushed pineapple and have enough pineapple juice to use here. If you are a little shy on the amount of juice, just use water to fill the rest of the liquid called for in the recipe.
*Some people like the look of pineapple tidbits better for this recipe. I tried both and the crushed pineapple has a lot more flavor and looked prettier.
Source: Allrecipes - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pineapple-upside-down-cupcakes/detail.aspx?mxt=t06dda
How long will these last?
A couple of days at least.
Easy to make and delicious. I had no trouble with sticking. Beautiful presentation! Will definitely make again. Made these for a party and had 5 people ask me for the recipe
Great to hear!
This is easy, delicious and perfect in size. I will make again and share recipe….maybe. I love them. No trouble getting them out of my pan, especially when I used a butter knife around the upper edges of the cupcake. Then they all came out whole and beautiful. I did spray each cup before I put anything in them.
Thank you Mary! So glad you liked them.
This recipe is very tasty and not complicated. I have one pan of 12 that came out perfectly, with no sticking. I did not fill these all the way to the top but about 3/4’s of the way. The other pan did stick and I had trouble getting them out of the pan in one piece. This pan, I did fill to the top. I will know next time and there will be a next time.
Shoot. Sorry they stuck!
Can you freeze these?
Sure. Don’t see why not?
Hi, love your recipes and blog.
Very disappointed as my individual pineaple upside down cakes did not release. I sprayed well and even used a non stick pan. Tastes good but not pretty to look at.
Thanks Roberta. I’m sorry yours stuck. I haven’t had issues with sticking.
These were wonderful! I will have to get some of the bakers pan spray because some of mine stuck but everyone LOVED them and they were beautiful. Wondering if a larger muffin pan would work because they were small with my regular muffins and the taste of the batter is so divine with that pineapple juice in there. Oh boy – I will be making these allot. Thanks
Shoot. They don’t stick for me. Im sorry.
I made these tonight. Taste was good, but they stuck to the pan. Should I use muffin tins/paper linings? Or just grease the muffin pans better? If I do use liners, do i need to grease them also so that the “toppings” don’t stick?
I thought I had put plenty of canola spray on the pans, but the “toppings” still stuck to the pans.
Also, could it be because I squeezed too much juice out of the crushed pineapples? Or didn’t get enough juice out? How wet should they be?
Thanks in advance for any helpful advice. I am making these again in two days and I want to do a better job, so they are more presentable.
Yes, grease, grease, grease! Baker’s joy works well.
Pineapple upside down cake is my FIL’s bday cake every year. He said these are the best of any I’v made (bunted style, layer, square) and these are the easiest! A keeper!
Wow. What a compliment. So happy to hear that.
Made versions of these many times using whole pineapple rings. Problem, some would always stick to the pan. This time, I followed this recipe exactly using the crushed pineapple and using pineapple juice instead of the water. Printed and added this to my binder of mom approved recipes. Highly recommend.
Thank you! I’m glad you approve.
Can these be made right side up so you don’t have to invert them? I have cute cupcake liners I want to use.
I’m afraid the brown sugar sauce would just run all over. I can’t say for sure.
I made these for a Luau themed baby shower yesterday. They were amazing! Everyone loved them. I was very concerned that they would stick and be a mess coming out of the pan but I used Baking Joy, as suggested and they popped right out of the pan. They were beautiful and delicious. Thanks for always having the best recipes!
Aww thank you! Glad you loved them!
Very upset, these burned a bit. Wonder if I should have followed the box cooking directions instead, box mis said to.cook 12-15 minutes.
I will be making these using a mini muffin pan, What is the baking time you used?
My 8 year old Granddaughter loves helping with this recipe. And her 6 year old brother helps
with the brown sugar. Therefore we end up with some what of a mess. But it’s all worth it to
do this with my Grandkids. Thank for the ideas.
Excellent recipe!! I did 2 things differently — I used jumbo muffin pans and pineapple rings. They came out like mini cakes! Everyone loved the look, the size and the taste. Thanks for a great recipe!
Good to know. Thank you!
I am going to make the yellow cake mix from scratch. My real question is using crisco instead of spray. Any reason you can think of that change could ruin the recipe? I have both. I guess I’m worried it will get stuck. LoL they are for my Dad and want them to be perfect! Do you liberally apply the spray?
Yes, liberally apply but Crisco is always good too.
Just made these and my husband has a new favorite dessert!! Any tips on storing until the next day?!
Did u ever get a response or try it yourself? I wanted to make them today for tomorrow
Hello, fellow blogger here. I am thinking about making these for a large church dinner. I’ll be using 24 ct muffin pans, so I wanted to ask how easily do these come out of the tins when you invert? Do they slip right out easily, cherry and all? Thanks
You need to really grease the tin and not cook too long or the brown sugar will carmelize and stick.
This was a great recipe. My daughter Nikkie and I
fallow step by step no problem. It was delicious we made over 60 cupcakes and a cake with the left over. (Riquisimo!!!) Delicious will post pictures
THanks Margie. Glad you liked it!
These are insanely good! I didn’t compact the pineapple mixture which may have helped them come out of the pan easier. It was a nonstick pan as well, so that probably helped. I went easier on the brown sugar, just a sprinkling in the bottom of each cup as well. They took about 16-17 minutes at 350 (just check for when the tops start to turn golden brown). Hoping the family will like them for xmas; if not, I’m fine with taking them back home!
Thanks for the tips!!
I had a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple and a standard jar of maraschino cherries. There was barely enough pineapple to make 12 cupcakes, and there were 16 cherries in the jar. Keep this in mind, since the cake mix makes 24 cupcakes.
I made 12 upside-down-cupcakes.
They were good, but ALL THE TOPPING STUCK TO THE SILICON PAN, even though I buttered it well. I just scraped it all back onto the cupcakes. It looks good — haven’t had a chance to try it yet!
Sorry you’re stuck! That’s strange. It slips right out for me.
I found your recipe and made these for the first time 2 years ago! I am back again to make them for what will be my 3rd time now. They have been a crowd pleaser and received a lot of compliments both times around. I used tidbits the first 2 times but I have crushed pineapple this time around and am excited to it out that way. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
I’m just wondering if anyone has tried this recipe using a pineapple cake mix?
Ooh I bet that would be amazing.
These are so delicious! I made them without the cherry but I wanted to eat a hundred of them when they came out of the oven.
It’s a magical combo.
I’m trying your pineapple upside down cupcakes recipe & adding a bit of pecan pieces to mine, ummm😋
I think that would be awesome!
Can you use cupcake liners??
Absolutely!
These are very moist and yummy. I found that they needed more than 5 minutes to cool. If you take them out of the pan too early, you lose a lot of the brown sugar/pineapple mixture.
Very good point!
Amazing! I ate 4 last night boyyyy they are delish when warm!!
I just had a hard time getting them to come out of the pan 🤔 .. more cooking spray next time?
Yes, they definitely need to be sprayed very well. Baking joy is what I use!
I made these today for an activity at work. DELICIOUS everyone loved them!!!
So glad you liked them!