Some people's taste

There's just no accounting for some people's taste.  Take my husband, for instance.  I just don't understand his weird attraction to cooked pineapple.  Don't get me wrong.  I love pineapple.  I grew up eating fresh pineapple almost every day.  I thought the word 'Punch' was a synonym for pineapple juice.  But, we never NEVER cooked pineapple!  Eeeew!

My husband, on the other hand, loves cooked pineapple.  He likes it on a pizza.  Ick!  He likes it baked in desserts.  Double-ick!  And, worst ick of all icks, he loves Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  (Excuse me while I gag.)  Despite this MAJOR flaw in his character, I do love him dearly.  And since this is his very very VERY favorite cake, for his birthday, I lowered myself and my cooking reputation and made him a Pineapple Upside Down Cake for the occasion.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake has more than one offending ingredient.  If cooking pineapple in a cake isn't bad enough, it also has (more gagging on my part) maraschino cherries.  They're just not natural!  I know this for a fact because my dear husband used to work for a company that made, installed, and repaired automatic doors.  One of the businesses that he visited (to work on their automatic doors) was the local maraschino cherry 'factory'.  He got the royal tour and accompanying commentary on how maraschino cherries are made.

First, they bleach the cherries (any kind of cherry, doesn't matter).  Then they soak them in a sugar syrup that has to be exactly a certain percentage of sugar.  (You're going to love this part!)  If they get the sugar syrup too sweet or not sweet enough, the stems will fall out of the cherries.  (What would we do without that stem?!)  Then they add cherry flavoring and the red dye so that all those cherries will be exactly the same color.  Anyway, he said the whole place reeked of sugar syrup and cherry flavoring AND the floor was sticky everywhere he went the whole plant.  I wasn't a maraschino cherry fan before he went there to work on their doors.  And I haven't changed my mind since.

Now we have this recipe with two things that I don't think should be in ANY recipe.  But, I love him dearly.  So, I made it anyway.  Poor thing, he had to eat practically the whole thing by himself 'cause no one else likes it.  But, he did get help from my friend Linda.  She liked it.  She even said it was 'real good'.

Here's the recipe I used.  I confess...I cheated and used a boxed cake mix.  And, I guess I can admit that even though I still don't like cooked pineapple and I still don't/won't eat a maraschino cherry, it didn't turn out too bad.  Well, it looked pretty - whether it tasted good or not.

I still love him dearly.  So, if he mentions it again, I'll probably make him another one for his next birthday.  You know, because I love him dearly!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

INGREDIENTS

1/4	cup butter or margarine
1	cup packed brown sugar
1	can (20 oz) pineapple slices in juice, drained, juice reserved
1	jar (6 oz) maraschino cherries without stems, drained
1	box yellow cake mix
	Vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

1.    Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). In 13x9-inch pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange pineapple slices on brown sugar. Place cherry in center of each pineapple slice, and arrange remaining cherries around slices; press gently into brown sugar.

2.    Add enough water to reserved pineapple juice to measure 1 1/4 cups. Make cake batter as directed on box, substituting pineapple juice mixture for the water. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.

3.    Bake 40 to 45 minutes (42 to 48 minutes for dark or nonstick pan) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Place heatproof serving plate upside down onto pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake 5 minutes so brown sugar topping can drizzle over cake; remove pan. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store covered in refrigerator.