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This Gluten Free Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a retro classic that always reminds me of my childhood! A deliciously sweet and sticky cake, topped with pineapple rings and glacé cherries, it’s perfect served warm with custard or ice-cream.
Notes On This Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe
- Easy Gluten Free Recipe: This is my gluten free take on this nostalgic dessert, which my Mum used to make us as kids! It uses cheap and easy, storecupboard ingredients and is super easy to make, with an impressive finished result!
- Gluten Free Dessert: Serve slices of this pineapple upside down cake warm with custard or ice-cream, or enjoy it cold too. It’s a really versatile dessert.
- Top Tip: Make sure you use a fixed bottom cake tin – the first time I tested this recipe I used a loose one and it leaked all over my oven. Not fun to clean up!
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
There’s a printable recipe card below for this gluten free pineapple upside down cake recpe with the full quantities. But here are the main ingredients and ideas for any swaps.
- Tinned Pineapple Rings: Make sure you use the canned pineapple rings in juice and not syrup – you’ll need some of the juice for the sponge cake as well.
- Butter: If you need a dairy free recipe you can easily swap this for a vegan margarine.
- Light Brown Sugar: You can use dark brown sugar in the topping if you want an extra treacly taste. Caster sugar works but you’ll lose that caramel flavour.
- Glacé Cherries: Either whole cherries or halves, it’s your choice. You can also use maraschino cherries, if you prefer.
- Plain Gluten Free Flour: I use the FREEE by Dove’s Farm flour but any plain or all purpose gluten free flour blend should work.
- Baking Powder: Not all baking powder is gluten free so use my gluten free baking powder guide to double check if you’re unsure.
- Xanthan Gum: You can omit this if your flour blend already contains it.
- Eggs: I haven’t tested this with an egg replacer, but imagine something like Oggs would work, following the serving guidelines on the pack.
How to Make a Pineapple Upside Down Cake
There’s a printable recipe card below with the method. But here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy this gluten free pineapple upside down cake is to make.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: This cake is best served warm from the oven, but you can keep any leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days. Enjoy them cold or reheat in the microwave or oven to serve warm.
TO FREEZE: This cake can be frozen but you may find the pineapple can go a little soft. I recommend reheating in a warm oven to serve hot.
More Retro Gluten Free Desserts
Gluten Free Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the topping:
- 6-7 tinned pineapple rings in juice, drained – save the juice for the cake
- 50 g butter, softened
- 50 g light brown sugar
- Glacé cherries
For the cake:
- 100 g butter, softened
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 100 g plain gluten free flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 0.25 xanthan gum
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp reserved pineapple juice, from the tin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C Fan / Gas Mark 4.
- Add the butter and sugar for the topping to a bowl and use a fork to ‘mush’ them together. Once mixed and soft, spread the sugary paste around the bottom of the baking tin and around 2cm up the sides too.
- Arrange the pineapple rings in the tin (as pictured), then add the glacé cherries to the gaps. Set to one side.
- To make the cake mixture, add the butter and sugar and cream together with an electric whisk.
- Add the eggs, vanilla extract and pineapple juice then mix again briefly to combine.
- Add the gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum to the mixture and beat with the electric whisk until just combined.
- Pour the cake batter over the pineapple rings, being careful not to dislodge them. Smooth over then place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes, before turning the cake out onto a plate. Serve warm with custard, or enjoy cold the next day!
Notes
- It’s very important to use a cake tin with a fixed bottom, otherwise you may find the sugar syrup leaks out of the bottom as it bakes – and that’s a mess to clear up!!
Nutrition
More Gluten Free Dessert Recipes
If you like this pineapple upside down cake recipes then make sure you check out these easy other gluten free dessert recipes too…
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Yum! What makes this even better is to add a can of crushed pineapple around the rings. Takes it to a whole new level.
Oooo sounds delicious!!