Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This cake is so easy to make, and so nostalgic for many of our parents. The best part is flipping the cake upside down out of the skillet and seeing the pretty arrangement of pineapples on top. This recipe is from Moosewood, which is why it calls for mashed bananas, to reduce the amount of fat. I made this for Andy's dad's 60th birthday on request, and Mary Ann's birthday as well.

What's in it:

20 oz can unsweetened sliced pineapples, undrained

1/4 C butter

1/2 C sugar

2 eggs

3/4 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C buttermilk 

1/2 C mashed banana

3 Tbl vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 C flour

How it's made:

Drain the pineapple, reserving 1/3 C of juice.  In a 10" cast iron skillet, or oven proof skillet, heat and melt butter on med heat. Add sugar and cook stirring constantly until sugar starts to turn brown (3 min).  Remove from heat and keep stirring.  Add drained juice (1/3 C) and return pan to low heat and stir until sugar is melted again.  Arrange pineapple slices close together in a decorative layer on the bottom of the skillet, reserving any leftovers.

For cake batter combine wet ingredients in one bowl and sift together dry ingredients in another.  Add dry to wet and stir until mixed.  Pour batter over pineapple slices and top with any reserved slices.  Bake for 30-40 min until knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool in skillet for at least 10 minutes, then invert it onto a serving plate, so slices are facing up.