Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We were great Top Chef Just Desserts fans. We were watching it through the YouTube channel of a Korean guy who was living at that time in New Zealand. Recently I found they've banned him :((  Why?! Come on people, how are supposed Bulgarian guys to watch an American show?

Whatever. This recipe comes from the baker Eric Wolitzky, who showed great recipes but his plating was always in a quandary. Now I see why. We liked the cake, a lot, but we were out of ideas for plating it. It would have been better if we had some vanilla ice cream but we were too lazy to make some. Besides it's still too cold for ice cream.

Oups, one of the cherries run away...or someone ate it...

Note: In our adaptation of the recipe(below) we've diminished the sugar and butter content 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe:
Adapted from Eric Wolitzky (Top Chef Just Desserts, Season 1, Episode 2, Elimination Challenge) 

For the Caramel:

• 100 gr dark brown sugar;
• 50 gr white granulated sugar;
• 80 gr butter;
• 1 Tsp rum;

For the Cake:

• 80 gr butter;
• 150 gr granulated sugar;
• 210 gr cake flour;
• 2 tsp baking powder;
• 3 gr salt;
• 1 tsp ground cardamom;
• 2 tsp vanilla extract;
• 2 eggs;
• 200 gr sour cream;
• 2 tsp rum;
• 1 pineapple cleaned and cut into rounds or whatever shape you like;
• 10 pitted sour cherries soaked in rum(optional).

Heat brown and white sugar with butter in a small saucepan until melted and bubbling. Add rum and whisk. Spread this mixture evenly onto the bottom of a 10” (25 cm) cake pan. (We used rectangular one).

Arrange the pineapple rounds and sour cherries on top of the caramel. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 175ºC.

Make the cake batter. Sift dry ingredients together. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs, vanilla and rum. Mix in half of dry ingredients. Mix in all of sour cream and then remainder of dry ingredients. Pour on top of pineapple and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Bake for around 30-33 minutes. Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto serving platter.