Recipe: Pineapple Upside Down Cake in an Iron Skillet

My grandfather's favorite cake is Pineapple Upside Down, and I make it for him for his birthday every year.  This year he was telling big sister that his mom used to make it for his birthday when he was a kid, but she made it from scratch and baked it in an iron skillet.  Yikes!  I had never baked a cake from scratch before, and NEVER baked anything sweet in my iron skillet!  A challenge has been made, I am up for it- so here goes.  I found this recipe online, and like all other recipes I tweeked it a bit.  Be sure to check out the original recipe here.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (20 ounce) cans sliced pineapple, drained (reserve juices for glaze)
1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large eggs
maraschino cherries, if desired 

 

Glaze:

Reserved Pineapple Juice

1 cup sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt butter in iron skillet.
Sprinkle brown sugar over butter.
Arrange pineapple slices on top brown sugar/butter.
Place cherries in center of slices.

Beat remaining ingredients till well blended.

Pour over pineapple in skillet and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and turn onto heat-proof plate.

 

To make the glaze add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup pineapple juice to drippings in skillet.  Boil 10-15 minutes stirring constantly.  Once syrup has thickened slightly, spoon over the top of the cake.