Mini Pineapple Upsidedown Cakes

The Spatularettes.  Ever wonder what inspired our name?  We've dropped a few clues along the way and you may have picked up on those references.  But here's the truth... we have a mild major obsession with ABC's The Bachelor and spin off shows The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad.  Don't judge us, everyone is entitled to a guilty pleasure!  It turns out the biggest difference between Tall and Small and the contestants on the show, is that our love affair happens to be with food!

To properly celebrate our name (and our favorite guilty pleasure), we hosted a little Bachelor Finale/After The Final Rose watching party at Tall One's apartment last night with a few girlfriends.  We'll admit that this season of The Bachelor has been a little slow and anti-climatic, but Bachelor Ben's profession as a winemaker seemed to provide the perfect theme for a party.  C'mon, who wouldn't like a little wine tasting on a Monday night!?



Spatularettes--Will you accept this rose?



In classic Bachelor fashion, we started the evening off with a champagne toast, followed by a horseradish cheddar fondue for the first course.  The second course was make-your-own-salads with a zinfandel-chardonnay wine pairing.  Finally we served a dessert duo of South Of The Border Brownies (recipe coming soon) topped with vanilla ice cream and Mini Pineapple Upsidedown Cakes.  The dessert course was paired with a California Red Wine from Sonoma, which happens to be the region where Ben's winery can be found... how appropriate!

INGREDIENTS:
-16 oz can pineapple rings, drained and 2 Tbs juice reserved
-12 maraschino cherries, halved

-2 sticks butter

-1 cup brown sugar
-2 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder

-1 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-1 cup pineapple buttermilk**

**Ever seen those tricks to make your own buttermilk with lemon juice and milk?  That's actually an essential part of this recipe.  Measure 2 Tbs of the reserved pineapple juice into a liquid measuring cup.  Fill to the 1 cup line with milk and set aside.

(recipe is a hybrid of a couple of different cake recipes from Smitten Kitchen)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 24 muffin tins and set aside.

Cut each pineapple slice into quarters.  Cut each quarter in half to form thin slices and set aside.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined.  On low speed, mix in pineapple buttermilk.  In 3 batches, add flour mixture to batter, mixing well each time.  Beat on medium speed for another minute or so.

On the stove top over medium heat, melt 1 stick of butter.  Once melted add 1 cup of brown sugar and stir well.  Continue cooking over medium heat stirring frequently until a nice caramel forms.  It should take about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Distribute the caramel sauce evenly into the bottom of each muffin tin.  Top carmel with 2 pineapple slices with a cherry half in the middle.  Evenly distribute cake batter into the 24 muffin tins, leaving them about half full.  Gently drop the tins onto the counter top a couple of times to remove any air bubbles.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes stand for about 5 minutes in tins before flipping them out onto a wire cooling rack.  If you grease the tins well, they should slide right out.

Cute and sweet--just like every Spatularette should be!

XOXO,

Tall and Small