National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

April 20th is National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. My mother usually made one for an Easter dessert, and I have always thought of it as especially good in the springtime. It is one of my favorites any time of the year, however, and it's easy to make. If you want, you can even use a yellow cake mix to speed up and make the process easier. An old Betty Crocker cookbook even recommends this. If you'd prefer to make it from scratch, just use your favorite yellow cake recipe.

Melt 3/4 cup of butter or margarine and pour into a sheet cake pan or two round cake pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly over the mixture. Arrange canned pineapple slices over this. If desired, place a maraschino cherry or pecan half in the center hole of each pineapple slice. Lightly sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar over this. Prepare yellow cake mix according to the directions and pour over pineapple mix. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until done.

The first fruit cakes made like this weren't made with pineapples but with other fruits like apples, cherries, and peaches. However, around 1911, one of James Dole's engineers developed a way to cut pineapples into perfect rings for canning, and the pineapple upside-down cake soon followed. People have been enjoying it ever since. 

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