Pineapple Upside Down Cake

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am going to do a sample of my comparison shopping for this recipe.
The Duncan Hines Pineapple Cake Mix was on sale, $1.99 and I have always made pineapple upside down cake from scratch. But in the interest of time and I saw a box of store brand on sale for 89 cents, I decided to buy and try it. The store brand cake mix is a butter cake mix. In the following recipe it ask you to save the pineapple juice for the liquid part of the cake mix, which I did.
Recipe from Duncan Hines:
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme Deluxe Cake Mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 can (1 pound 14 ounces) pineapple slices or 1 can (1 pound 4 1/2 ounces) pineapple chunks
Maraschino cherry halves, if desired
Whipped cream, if desired
Melt butter in a 13x9 1/2 x2-inch pan. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly in pan.
Drain pineapple; save the syrup. Arrange pineapple in the sugar mixture. If desired, also arrange maraschino cherry halves, rounded side down, in the sugar mixture.
Add enough water to pineapple syrup to make 1 1/3 cups liquid; add this and 2 eggs to the cake mix an mix as directed on the label. Pour batter over fruit.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 50 minutes, until cake pulls away from side of pan. Let stand 5 minutes for topping to begin to set. Then turn upside down onto a large platter or a cooky (yes, this is how the spelled cookie on the recipe card.) sheet. Serve pieces of cake topped with whipped cream.


What I did:
In a 13x9" pan, melt about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the butter, from the stick of butter used in the cake mix.
REMEMBER, to watch, as the butter can catch on fire!
I have the oven preheating to the 350 degrees F, for the cake, so I put in the pan and melt the butter there.
It only takes about 1 minute or less to melt the butter.
After taking out of the oven I sprinkle about 3/4 cup dark brown sugar.
Next add 1 pound 12 ounces can pineapple slices, drained (saving the liquid).
If you add the cherries, put them in now. I also like pecans, so I added a few.
Set aside, while you make up the cake batter.



In a large bowl, mix up:
1 package of yellow cake mix, butter kind
3 eggs
1 stick of butter, remember I used about 2 1/2 tablespoons for the melting in the pan.
I use cold butter and cube it. I have found this to work better, than softened butter, as you don't get such a greasy cake.
2/3 cup of pineapple juice, from strained pineapple slices (this was just the right amount of liquid the cake mix instructions add for, if you don't have enough to make 2/3 cup or what ever you cake brand ask for, add water, to make the correct amount)


After mixing this for about 2-3 minutes, to make sure the butter is mixed in completely, pour into the 13x9" prepared pan.
Bake according to the instructions on the cake mix. (You might need to add 5 extra minutes.)
It takes about 30-35 minutes.
Make sure the cake is baked, by carefully touching and seeing if the cake springs back and not sinks in. Use a toothpick and insert into the cake and the toothpick should come out clean if the cake is done.
After it cools for about 5 minutes and using pot holders, turn over onto a cookie sheet that fits the 13x9" pan.

My report:
I saved on the butter part, as the box asked for a stick of butter and the recipe asked for a stick of butter to be melted in the cake pan. Instead, I chose to use 2 1/2 tablespoons in the pan and the rest of the one stick in the cake mix. It worked, the cake was still delicious. I saved an extra dollar from buying the store brand. I don't think I used a cup of brown sugar for the bottom of the cake pan and still the cake was sweet enough from maybe using 3/4 cup of brown sugar. I do buy the pineapple in it's own juice and save on some sugar. Also didn't have to buy cherries, as I don't care for them. And lastly I didn't use whip cream on the cake. In fact I haven't heard of putting whip cream or anything extra with pineapple upside down cake. (Your choice of course.) So there is some savings to this cake recipe. This was very close to my home-made and was just as delicious!
Enjoy and let me know what you tried!

Added this to the Sweet As Sugar Cookies #13.