Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

I love birthdays...why? Because they give me an excuse to make my favorite thing in the world. I think it's rather clear by now what that is...but for those of you just tuning in, that would be cupcakes! It's one of my best friends in the entire worlds birthday this weekend. She was origionally planning on having a cookout but apparently it is going to rain. What a bummer, because I love cookouts! Anyway, she requested something fruity and even suggested something pineapple upside down-like. Luckily for me, I happened to have a recipe for pineapple upside down cupcakes!

The origional recipe comes from that cupcake calendar I have from the book "500 Cupcakes". It suggests to serve it warm (which is delicious I'm sure) but I had these in mind with a cookout theme and therefore, that just isn't doable. I thought these cupcakes would be fantastic with whipped cream, but again, that is a little difficult considering I have to transport these and can't serve them right away as they should be (warm and with whipped cream). The recipe actually had NAKED cupcakes which I don't really believe in, so I settled for vanilla buttercream and a cherry on top (I just couldn't resist).

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcake

A vanilla cupcake with a pineapple topping. Also topped with vanilla frosting, sugar sprinkles and a cherry.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
20 oz. can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter, melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
Vanilla buttercream (recipe follows)
Maraschino cherries (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease to 12-cup muffin pans with butter and dust with a little flour, tapping out the excess. In the bottom of each cup, drizzle 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon pineapple, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar.

Place all the cupcake ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla) in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale, about 2-3 minutes. Spoon the batter on top of the pineapple mixture in each cup. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove pans from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Turn out the cupcakes onto dessert plates, serve warm with heavy cream if desired.

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat butter until creamy and smooth. Slowly add confectioners sugar in about 3 or 4 batches. When creamy, add vanilla and beat on medium-high about 1-2 minutes.

Top cupcakes with frosting and a cherry. Enjoy! :)

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake