
At a Glance
- Prep
- 20 mins. to 30 mins.
- Bake
- 43 mins. to 47 mins.
- Total
- 1 hrs 3 mins. to 1 hrs 17 mins.
- Yield
- 1 large cake, about 12 to 16 servings
How was this iconic recipe born? No one knows for sure. Skillet cakes — featuring fruit and sugar in the bottom of a cast iron skilled, topped with cake batter and cooked atop the stove — were common in both Europe and America for centuries. So it stands to reason that pineapple would eventually make its way into a skillet cake — which it did, probably sometime during the 1920s. At any rate, this version, with its bounty of both pineapple and cherries atop a brown sugar syrup-drenched golden cake, is a winner.
Cake
- 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, yolks separated from whites
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter*
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- *Reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon if you use salted butter.
Topping
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 20-ounce can pineapple rings, drained
- about 2 dozen maraschino cherries
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" cast iron skillet (it should measure 9" across the bottom; the top diameter may be greater than 9"). Or lightly grease a 9" x 2"-deep square cake pan.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set the mixture aside.
- Whisk the egg yolks to combine; set them aside. Beat the whites, separately, until light and frothy.
- Beat the butter until soft and smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar.
- Add the egg yolks, beating to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat again, until smooth.
- Add the milk alternately with the flour mixture, mixing gently but thoroughly after each addition.
- Fold in the beaten whites, then the vanilla.
- To make the topping: Melt the butter in the skillet, and sprinkle the sugar evenly on top. Space pineapple rings atop the sugar.
- Spoon the batter on top.
- Bake the cake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven. Loosen its edges. CAREFULLY turn the cake upside-down onto a serving plate. Lift the pan off the cake, scraping any pineapple or brown sugar from the pan onto the cake, if it sticks.
- Place the cherries artfully atop the warm cake, pressing them in gently.
- Serve the cake warm, or at room temperature. Store it at room temperature, well-wrapped, for several days; freeze for longer storage.
- Yield: 1 cake, 12 to 16 servings.