My friend, Vesna, made this cake for dessert one night many years ago, and I really liked it a lot. I’ve made it once after she told me how she made it, but this time I prepared it just a little bit differently than how Vesna makes it. I love experimenting, and I’m glad I did because my variation on this cake turned out mighty tasty!
If you’re like me, you keep a few boxed cake mixes on-hand for those occasions when you need to make a cake at the last minute or when you’re just too tired to make one from scratch. While this cake starts with a boxed cake mix, all the fruit and fruit juice added to it makes it tastes like a scratch cake. Give it a try yourself sometime when you need to make something quick and easy. First, I’ll show you the picture of the cake after I finished it around 1:30 a.m. Then I’ll tell you how you to make it.
Pineapple-Mandarin Upside Down Cake (Makes 2 round cakes)
Ingredients:
- boxed cake mix (I used a pineapple cake mix, but a yellow cake mix can also be used)
- eggs (the number of eggs you’ll need will vary depending on which boxed cake mix you use)
- vegetable oil (the amount will vary depending on the cake mix you use)
- 2 cans pineapple, sliced
- 1 small can mandarin oranges
- butter (about 3 tbsp.)
- brown sugar (about 1 cup)
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare your two round cake baking pans by generously applying butter to them on the bottom and sides.
- Then generously put brown sugar on top of the buttered pans, both on the bottom and the sides. I use a lot of brown sugar because it not only adds a lot of flavor, but I’ve found that the more brown sugar I use, the easier the cake comes out when it’s time to invert it.
- Arrange the pineapple slices on top of the butter/brown sugar.
- Place two mandarin orange slices in the center of the pineapple ring.
- Now that your cake pans are ready to go, it’s time to make the cake batter. Put your boxed cake mix in a large bowl, and then add the number of eggs and the amount of oil that the recipe on the box calls for.
- Instead of adding water to the cake mix as the recipe on the box says, use the canned pineapple and mandarin juice instead.
- You should have some mandarin oranges and pineapple slices left in the can. Slice the pineapples in quarters and add them, along with the mandarin oranges, to the cake mix.
- Take your electric mixer and mix all the ingredients for a couple of minutes on medium speed.
- After the cake is mixed, pour the batter into your cake pans.
- Bake until the cakes are golden brown. You’ll know they’re done when you insert a toothpick into the cake and it comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool about 5 minutes and then invert them onto serving dishes which can withstand heat. (Don’t use plastic.)
You can serve the cake warm or chilled. I had a very large slice of warm cake. Hopefully you can see from the photograph of my slice just how moist and fruity the cake is. I enjoyed every single bite!
Note:
You can turn this turn this pineapple-mandarin upside down cake into a tropical upside down cake by adding unsweetened, shredded coconut to the cake mix. I’m going to do that next time I make it. I didn’t want to add the coconut this time because I didn’t know if the birthday girl was allergic to coconut or not. I think when I make the tropical upside down cake, I’ll skip the oranges and use cherries. I’ll add pineapple, coconut, and also add a can of mangoes that I have sitting in my pantry. Oooooh, I can’t wait!
