If you are a regular here, you might have noticed that lesser number of baking recipes being posted. Well, there is no particular reason apart from my miserable attempt to reduce the sugar & butter intake. So if you're wondering why I’m posting this now…. will you trust me if I say this cake happened by accident. I was just cleaning my kitchen cupboard the other day and saw a can of tinned pineapple. It was almost about to reach its expiry and to escape the guilty feeling of wasting stuff I decided to make something and ended up with this cake.
I always wanted to make an upside down cake and when I saw this recipe, it sounded interesting. Also, this happens to be an eggless one. I receive mails asking for eggless cakes, so this one fitted the bill perfectly. Now don't you believe that everything happens for a reason ;)?
The cake was moist and soft & the flavor was just perfect. While it was still steaming hot, I had a piece… and thought the flavor of pineapple essence is a bit overwhelming. But after the cake cooled down, and I had a piece later, the flavor was just right. We had it with a dollop of Vanilla ice cream & it complemented the cake very well.
Btw, if you happen to bake this cake and you see the color of the cake as yellow, dont be surprised. The base cake is originally a yellow cake. I used the dulce de leche version of condensed milk and hence this brownish color. How I ended up with dulce de leche ,that’s a long story altogether, so we'll leave it for another time :)
Go ahead, just do a kitchen clean up and I’m sure you will also end up with some condensed milk, waiting to be used :) Here is the recipe. Hope you will like it.
Here is the recipe…
Ingredients
- 6 Canned Pineapple Slices
- 5-6 tbsp Sugar for caramelization
- 1 tbsp Water
- 100 gms Butter (softened)
- 1 tin (400 gms) Condensed Milk
- 2 cups Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Soda Bicarbonate
- 3/4 cup Aerated soda
- 1/2 tsp Pineapple Essence
For Garnishing
- A few Cherries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 180º C/ 350 F/ 155º C (for fan assisted oven), 10 mins before baking. Grease a 9” round cake tin with butter. Arrange the pineapple slices at the base of the tin. Add water to sugar & heat it in a pan till it melts and becomes brown. Pour hot caramel onto the pineapple slices and leave aside. Add Milkmaid to the softened butter and beat well. Add pineapple essence to this & mix well. Sieve together flour, baking powder and soda bicarbonate. Keep aside. Add flour & soda to the Milkmaid mixture, alternatively, starting & ending with the flour. Repeat the process till the flour & soda is used completely. Pour batter into the prepared cake tin and bake at 180º C for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven, loosen sides of cake using a knife and immediately turn onto a plate.
Notes
Storage:
I stored the cake in refrigerator for upto 4 days.
Recipe source: Nestle Milkmaid Recipes
Hi Maria
I tried this cake. Was quite tensed wen it was not easily coming out of the pan. But in a while, it came out safe and all slices perfectly there. God’s grace turned nice. Thank you for the lovely recipe and the way you guide us to the perfect measures/ tips! God bless..
Thank you so much Shiji for the lovely feedback :) Am happy to hear that you liked the cake.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Tried this cake today. Came out really well.
1.I have tried so many cake recipes from various sites but this is the first recipe which used same measurement of baking powder and baking soda
2.I used brown sugar so was not able to know when it was caremellised. Part of it was stuck to the tin when I turned it on plate(Had taken photo but no option available for uploading)
3. I had a 7″ cake tin so had to use two tins but still batter was excess.
4. Am thinking of trying the same recipe in future with variations
Hi Maria, I tried this cake today. It came out really well
Thank you Pournami, great to know that it came out well for you :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria, I am yet to try this recipie as it looks totally awesome and reading the comments make me more eager to try it.I am not a big fan of canned stuff .So is there a way I can use fresh pineapple slices instead by cooking them in sugar syrup first or something like that.Please help. Thanks!!
Hi AG,
Thank you :)
Just substitute canned pineapple slices with fresh ones and follow the recipe as given.
Hope you will enjoy this cake. Happy baking :)
Cheers
Maria
Thanks Maria,
I tried a smaller (exact) half version of the recipie….Loved everything bout it….the texture , taste and everything….. just that my cake had risen too much in the centre. Will surely try it again may be in another tin(i guess that cud be a problem).
Thanks a lot AG for sharing your feedback here :)
Great to know that you liked this recipe. Yeah sometimes when you use a small tin, a dome shape may come.
Cheers
Maria
Hey!! i tried this and it turned out awesome!!! only added extra sugar ( i like things extra sweet) it was soft, fluffy, and the caramelized pineapples – yum yum yum!!
I also adapted this recipe to make a chocolate cake.. and that also was yummy! i just skipped the pineapple ingredients, and added 6 tbsp of cocoa powder and 4-5 tbsp of powdered sugar !! it tasted FAB! thanks a lot!!!!
Hi,
Thanks a lot for your comment!
I’m happy that this recipe worked out well for you. Btw, if you are looking for an eggless chocolate cake recipe, I’ve posted a recipe earlier. You can see it here:
https://mariasmenu.com/desserts/eggless-chocolate-cake
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
This looks like the perfect recipe I am looking for as I want to make this cake for my wife’s birthday which falls during the month of Shravan when we cannot consume eggs.
However I have a few questions regarding this cake recipe:
1. I have a convection microwave with temperature settings starting from 150 degrees with an increment of 10. In this case what oven settings should I make?
2. Can I use butter paper at the base instead of buttering it? Want to cut down on the fats ;)
3. I am interested in using the pineapple juice that comes in the can instead of pineapple essence. Can I substitute it for milkmaid?
4. Also can I avoid the caramel on the pineapple? I am not good at making caramel at home ;)
Hi Ketan,
It’s really nice of you to bake a cake for your wife’s b’day :)
Based on your queries can I suggest something, if you dont mind?
I’ve posted vanilla and chocolate eggless cake recipes too, please have a look at it. That recipes are simple compared to this one.
https://mariasmenu.com/desserts/eggless-chocolate-cake
https://mariasmenu.com/desserts/eggless-vanilla-cupcake-with-chocolate-frosting
About your queries, you can bake the cake at 175 or 180. For this cake, I dont think it will work out without caramel. The butter paper isnt used here because of the caramel. Also I’m not sure about substituting condensed milk with pineapple juice.
I’m sure I cant be of much help:(
Advance b’day wishes to your wife! All the best for your baking!
Cheers
Maria
Hi Mileena,
Sorry for the delayed reply :(
The caramel tends to set once it cools, it’s ok. You can continue baking. I do hope you did the same and the cake turned out well.
Cheers
Maria
My daughter just had to go to an eggless diet. This was fantastic! I used natural sierra mist for the aerated water since I didn’t have any. On one I didn’t even make the caramel and it was still fantastic!
Thank you! Good to know that this worked well for you :)
Hi Maria,
I tried this cake , it came out very well..I didn’t have aerated soda, pineapple essence but substituted it with two eggs, half cup milk and pineapple juice..thanks for sharing this recipe..
Regards
Merry
Thanks Mary :) Glad that this came out well for you…
Cheers
Maria
Hai Maria,
I made this cake for my husbsnd’s b’day. It came out well. Only flaw was caramel was little dark so slight bitter taste was there.Thank u so much keep posting good receipes :)
[email protected]
Thanks Merry :) Glad that you liked it. May be next time, you can make it with a light caramel :)
Cheers
Maria
Thanks Merry :) Glad that you liked it. May be next time, you can make it with a light caramel :)
Cheers
Maria
Hai Maria,
I made this cake for my husbsnd’s b’day. It came out well. Only flaw was caramel was little dark so slight bitter taste was there.Thank u so much keep posting good receipes :)
[email protected]
hi i made this cake.. it was really soft and moist.. but the only flaw was that the pineapples were stuck in the pan :)
Thanks Aparnaa :) Next time, try greasing the cake tin generously with butter, that should help.
Cheers
Maria
Thanks Aparnaa :) Next time, try greasing the cake tin generously with butter, that should help.
Cheers
Maria
hi i made this cake.. it was really soft and moist.. but the only flaw was that the pineapples were stuck in the pan :)
hii can i replace butter with oil .if so wat should be the quantity.
Hi,
I havent tried it with oil, so I’m not sure..
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Thank u for posting this fabulous recipe. Tried n it turned out awesome. Continue the good work… God bless
Cheers,
Sandra :)
Hi Sandra,
Thank you! I’m happy that you liked this cake recipe :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
The cake was a hit today!!!! Your recipies are really awesome.
Thanks
Ashika
Thank you Ashika! Nice to know that recipes posted here works well for you :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Can you please tell me if there is any substitute for aerated soda,,what is it actually,do we call it that way in the supermarkets?
I am not sure i have seen here in Mauritius..
please clarify
bhuvana
Hi Bhuvana,
Aerated soda is just plain soda water. I dont know whether you call it any other name. It’s just water with gas. May be you can ask the shop people for club soda/fizzy water/sparkling water.
Hope you could find it soon :)
Cheers
Maria
hi Maria
Hv yet to try your cake.just wanted to know if does adding soda and soda water give a bitterish taste
Hi Jagruti,
I didnt get any bitter taste from this cake, so I dont think adding soda give a bitterish taste.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Tried the cake today !!!! And finally one baking attempt of mine didn’t end in a disaster :-) ! Thanks!!!
Thanks Dhans! I’m happy that the cake came out well :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Ur recipes are wonderful. Keep it up
Thank you so much Sharmila :)
Hi Blooms,
You are welcome :) I’m especially thrilled to know that your little one liked it :) Thanks for the comment!
Cheers
Maria
Hi Blooms,
You are welcome :) I’m especially thrilled to know that your little one liked it :) Thanks for the comment!
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria, thank you for this wonderful reciepe. I have tried it and it came out good. My son who is 3yrs old loved it.
Hi Maria,
Just wanted to say that I tried this cake the other day and it came out superb. It did not look quite as pretty as yours did, but yummy nevertheless.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Reena (Friend of Mariamma/Divya/Anju)
Hi Reena,
I got the news about your cake even before your comment :) Sindhu (Vivek’s wife) told me about it & she said it was yummy! Thanks a lot Reena for trying this & I’m so happy that you liked it. Thanks a bunch for leaving a comment here.
Cheers
Maria
Hii Maria,
Its a wonderful looking cake u’ve got there.
wanted to knw if there is an alternative for baking.I usually make cakes in non-stick vessels on low flame and i also place an iron tray beneath the vessel. Can i use this method for this cake as well?
Hi Hiba,
Thank you :)
Apart from baking cakes, I’ve tried a steamed cake once & it came out well. You can see it here:
https://mariasmenu.com/desserts/steamed-honey-sponge-cake
I’m not sure whether the pineapple might get burnt a bit if cake is cooked on stove top. May be you can try the steaming method.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Thanks for the reply.
I have a bad luck with caramelization. Just does’nt come out well. Guess will have to try -try till i succeed. :-) After pureeing the pineapple, my batter had become a little runny. Will take care next time i bake it.
Thanks a lot for the prompt reply.
Regards,
Ligy
Hi Ligy
Dont worry about the caramelization process. Even I had many failed attempts but I’m sure you will master it soon :)
Happy baking :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
I made this cake couple of days ago and it tasted great.
Just a few queries –
1. The pine apples were not embedded into the cake. Almost 80% of the pine apple was outside the cake.
2. I baked the cake as per the recipe instructions. However, I felt the cake was a bit loose. Is it because i baked the cake in a microwave over with convention feature?
3. I didnt have pine apple essence, You had mentioned in one of your reply’s to a query to puree 2-3 rings of pine apple, so i pureed 3 slices from the can in a mixer.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Regards,
Ligy
Hi Ligy,
Thanks for trying the cake..
About your queries..
1. I guess it’s because the pineapple wasnt coated well with caramelized sugar, it helps in sticking together the pineapple.
2. I havent baked in MW so I’m not sure about its baking. Try baking it a bit longer, if you feel it wasnt cooked completely. The oven time varies for each oven.
3. I hope you got the pineapple flavor by doing it.
If you did the above things correctly & still the cake didnt turn out well, I’m not sure why it happened :(
Cheers
Maria
This is the first recipe I tried and it came out well but my pineapple slices turned brown too, maybe mine was also due to more carmelization. Also i added diet coke, could that be one of the reason too. can you please specify what kind of aerated soda need to be used?
Hi Sheeja
Thanks for trying this recipe. About the brownish colour of the pineapple, as you have said, it can be due to darker caramel. I’m not sure whether using coke will darken the color of the pineapple, however it gives a brownish color to the batter.
I used ordinary soda (unflavored) for this cake. May be you can try next time with that :)
Happy baking :)
Cheers
Maria
Hey Maria, Wishing you and your family a Happy and prosperous New Year too. Yes, the caramel was little dark. Probably that could be the reason. I thought it was the baking pan. Anyways going to try it this week again. By the way just last week my hubby cooked a dish for me. Gues what? Scrambled egg curry! Ha Ha I lost on one surprise that I wanted to give him.
Hi Deepti,
Thanks a lot dear for your wishes. All the best for the next cake!
It’s so nice of your hubby to cook for you, lucky you :) & my thanks to him for trying that recipe. I’m sure you can surprise him with another yummy dish :)
Cheers
Maria
Hey Maria, Tried the recipe. Came out tasty and yummy but my pinepapple pieces turned brown and not yellow like yours. Any idea why? I used a bigger baking tin. Could that be the reason? Anyhow just love to make everything from your website.
Hi Deepti,
Thanks dear for trying the recipe from here. I’m not sure why the pineapple turned brown. Was your caramel so dark in color, I mean did you melt the sugar till it became so dark brown? If so, then the pineapple can also be a bit brownish.
It’s great to know that you like trying recipes posted here :)
Wish you and your family a happy & blessed new year!
Cheers
Maria
hi maria…i dont have an oven at home so i thought of trying out the option of baking a cake in a pressure cooker…i’ve seen a couple of blogs that tell you “how to bake in a pressure cooker”…but i thought i’d better ask you…have you ever tried it or do you know anyone who has successfully baked a cake in a pressure cooker…do share some tips if you know anything about it
Hi Sarah,
I havent tried baking in a pressure cooker yet. But some of my readers have tried and said it works.
Please check out the below link, it explains about baking in a pressure cooker.
http://indiarecipe.blogspot.com/2006/10/pressure-cooker-cake.html
Hope this helps..
Cheers
Maria
thanks a lot maria..will keep this in mind …
hi maria ,
I have been visiting your site often and is really inspired by your blog !!!!! I tried this one ….the only flaw was that it was not cooked well at the center of the cake . any tips from ur side ………thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Gayatri,
Great to know that you visit this space regularly. Thank you :)
About the cake not cooked in the center…..it can happen that the top of the cake cooks faster.Try covering the cake with an al.foil and bake. This prevents the top of the cake from over browning and ensures that the cake is uniformly baked.
Also did you use a 9 inch tin itself? It can also happen if you use a smaller size tin, the top gets baked fast and the middle portion remains uncooked.
In either case, try covering the cake pan & bake. Hope that helps…
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
I made this today for Ainesh’s 40th day coz my mom in law doesn’t eat eggs. It was fantastic. Evr1 lovd it. Thnx a lot! :)
Hi Sumi,
How are you? Hope you and the little one are doing great.
Thank you so much for selecting this recipe. I’m really glad that you liked it :)
My hugs n kisses to Ainesh :)
Cheers
Maria
hey maria…just made this cake….it was awesome!!! really a big hit…only changes i made was i did’nt caramelise the sugar , i spread brown sugar butter and then put the pineapple rings .it turned out very well…
thanks for the recipe .
Hi Anju,
Thanks a lot for trying this recipe. Really happy that it came out well. Adding brown sugar instead of caramel is a nice idea, less work :)
Cheers
Maria
Dear Maria,
I tried the pineapple-upside- down cake and it was FANTASTIC- thank you for sharing UR recipes.. Bernadette.
Hi Bernadette,
You are welcome dear. I’m so happy that you liked the cake. Thank you so much for leaving the comment.
Cheers
Maria
Maria,
I really wanted to try this cake.But i didn’t get pineapple essence.Could you please tell me some kind of alternative for this.Thank you. Keep going..
Hi Aleena,
I can suggest you some substitutes. However I havent tried any of these, but I think it should work :)
1. You can puree 2-3 rings of pineapple and fold it into the cake batter in the end.
2. Mix 1/2 – 1 tbsp of concentrated pineapple juice with the soda and proceed with the same method.
Hope this works….Please do share your feedback, if you happen to try this.
All the best!!
Cheers
Maria
hi maria,
i am your blog visitor for the past 3 years from chennai. so far i have tried 75% of your recipes. all are great. finally i made this pineapple upside down cake and it has really come out well. everybody appreciated the cake and in fact i got two order for this cake. really a marvellous cake. first time i made chicken biryani based on your recipe and it was really tasty.
all the best maria
Hi Beena,
Very happy to meet you here. Very happy to that you have been visiting this place for a long time…I’m very excited & thrilled to hear that you have tried 75% of the recipes here.Thanks a ton dear :)
Congrats on the orders for the cake, hope you get more orders :) Please keep visiting this place and support us in the future also…
All the best to you too…
Cheers
Maria
Delicious n lovely cake..
wow….cake looks awesome…
What a gorgeous looking cake!! Fantastic click, Maria..
I don’t bake often for the same reason :( This cake looks absolutely and yumm and pretty. Those cherries with pineapple make it gorgeous
Lovely cake Maria!
delious!thankyou for the upside downcake.
Im so glad you both enjoyed the yoghurt cakes Maria :)
im such a sucker for upside down cakes…but never tried it with pineapple since im not that huge a fan ..
Love, it, my favorite upside down cake :)
Hey Maria..I have the exact same recipe with me and i know this is the awesomest eggless cake recipe…I make it quite often ..Looks yummilicious…
I am also trying to deduce my baking too. These days i bake just for sunday cofee and then i take to my in laws so every body wan share. This cake just looks so so yumm. Lov elove anykind of upside down cakes.