American Cake - Cake #15: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Time Period: 1917-1945

Hey, it's my first cake from this time period! I've made pineapple upside-down cake before, but never with this recipe, so it was still an adventure. It's from a time that baking powder was the new, novel ingredient that everyone was getting into. As with any cake that's been popular since the 1920s, it's gone through any amount of variation, from the fruit used (apple or pear at various points), to other flavors introduced into the cake batter (lemon or almond). Several recipes include cherries, mostly just for visual purposes, but I detest those, and left them out.

Naturally, I was a little curious about how this cake fared during the Great Depression, since I imagine that getting canned pineapple in from Hawaii was beyond the buying power of a lot of people. Unfortunately, the book doesn't go into this, but indeed, based on a study I found ("Advertising and the Hawaiian Pineapple Canning Industry, 1929-39"), between 1931 and 1932 the production of canned pineapple fell by 60 percent. Fortunately, it was able to bounce back later and Americans were able to once again enjoy this tasty concoction.

This cake is grand fun to make, but wow, does it take just about every dish in the house to bake it. Set aside lots of prep and clean-up time, because you're going to need it. Happily, all that work is definitely worth it, because it came out looking great, and the flavor was delightful as well. I just used basic canned pineapple from the store, so I can only imagine what a punch this cake would pack if I used fresh slices of fruit.

Part of how I've been ranking these cakes is via the metric of "Will I ever make this again?" and in this case, I definitely will be. It's zingy, it's pretty, it's comforting, and it makes me think of lying on a Hawaiian beach. What's not to like?