Classic Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Preheat oven to to 350 F. Drain pineapple but reserve the juice. Set both aside.

Pull out a 9 1/2 to 10-inch cast iron skillet. Add butter into the skillet and melt it over low heat. Remove from heat, add brown sugar and mix to combine. Place pineapple rings in the brown sugar mixture, laying them flat on the bottom of the skillet. You’ll use about 7 slices—place them around the edge of the skillet and 1 in the middle. Decorate the pineapple with cherries. Set the skillet aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and then mix in the white sugar. Then add sifted flour, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine. Then add 5 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice and the vanilla. Mix well till mixture is smooth and creamy.

Pour the batter over the pineapple mixture. Place skillet on a baking pan that you’ve lined with parchment paper—to collect any drippings. Believe me you need it! It will prevent your oven from smoking if any of the butter sugar mixture drips out of skillet. You don’t want this to happen, I did it the first time and my entire house filled with smoke, fire alarms went off and had to open all windows turn on fans and vent to air out the house in the middle of a cold Chicago winter! Added bonus: It makes clean-up easy.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Take a toothpick and insert it in the middle of the cake and remove it. It should come out clean. Adjust cooking time by 5 minutes either way depending on your oven. You know your oven! I always need to add a few extra minutes to everything I make.

When it’s done, remove the cake from the oven and let it sit in the skillet for 5 to 10 minutes. Take a knife and run it around the outside edge of cake. Put a plate over the top of the skillet, hold the plate and skillet together then flip or turn over the skillet onto the plate. The cake should drop right out onto the plate. Let cake cool and then enjoy!