The Cookbook Club: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Joanne Tracey over at Brookford Kitchen Diaries has started up a monthly cookbook club and the rules such as they are are loose enough that it's easy to follow along and participate. This month we were asked to find a cookbook published in our own country.

. I grew up reading Better Home and Garden magazines and trying so many of their recipes so when I saw that I would need a United States cookbook, I immediately thought of the first cookbook I ever bought for my own kitchen; this Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. I can assure you that it is no longer new. We have tried so many of the recipes in this book but for today's post I wanted something new.  

My birthday was last month and I asked Alec to make me a pineapple upside down cake. We did modify the recipe a bit as the original called for pecans (I don't like nuts in most desserts) and pineapple tidbits but I wanted those perfect pineapple circles!  

I'm not sure I have ever made a recipe from any cookbook that didn't have a photo of the finished dish; have you? I'm a very visual person and I love knowing what I should expect the dish to look like in the end. I also don't read cookbooks from cover to cover so if a picture doesn't capture my attention I probably am not looking closer at any recipe to read it. Are you like that?

One thing I love about this book is the 3 ring binder format that allows it to lay flat and stay open while you work.  

Alec, being a true culinary student, is a firm believer in measuring out your ingredients first and assembling everything one step at a time.  

First he mixed the dry ingredients in the bowl and together we decided to add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon to the recipe. 

While mixing the cake batter he put the cake pan in the oven with some butter to melt. 

He added the wet ingredients to the dry in the mixing bowl and turned the mixer on low for a few minutes. 

Meanwhile once the butter was melted he added the brown sugar to make the glaze and lined the bottom of the pan with the pineapple slices. 

 

We served the cake warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was good but both Alec and I agreed that it was rather dense and would be better with a fluffier/traditional cake layer. 

 Linking up with: