Some years ago, I was dating a guy who was, well, not exactly twisted, but a troubled soul. While we were together, I became acquainted with some of his friends, and one of those people was his best friend's mother, Becky. When Troubled Soul broke it off with me after more than five years (I was a Patient Soul then) I had about a two year period when I was a troubled soul myself. Becky and I remained friends via telephone, and she really helped me get through that time. Eventually, our lives went in different directions and we lost touch, but I never stopped thinking about her and being grateful for the time she spent talking things out with me.
Becky was famous for baking pineapple upside down cakes for funerals in the small town in Texas where she lived. During one of the few times I visited her, she had made one of these cakes for dessert in anticipation of having a big bunch over for dinner, and the cake was cooling on the dining room table. We were sitting at the table chatting, when one of her three grown sons came through the door, looked at the table and remarked, "Who died?" Everybody laughed. Another son arrived with his wife and kids in tow, looked at the table, and asked "Who died?" Yes, we went through this again when the third son came in for dinner. That night I had my first-ever and only piece of pineapple upside down cake. It wasn't something that I ever thought of making, and while it was good, it just never made it to my pantheon of desserts.
About two weeks ago I remembered my friend Becky, and wondered how she was, so I did a little Google search and found that she had passed away about four days before. I honestly think that she came to mind because she had reached out to me to say whatever it is that spirits say to people left behind. My first thought was that I should make a pineapple upside down cake in her honor, as a private farewell -- and then I got sick. Yesterday was the first day I've felt remotely normal for weeks, so last night I baked the cake. These cakes are simple -- you just melt some butter with brown sugar, then put it in a greased pan. You lay out pineapple slices in a pattern on the brown sugar goo, and halve some maraschino cherries and stick them in there, upside down (I used candied cherries because I had those on hand). Pour on the white or yellow cake batter of your choice, and bake the whole thing a little longer than the recipe calls for, and when it comes out, you flip it over onto a plate -- you have to do this while it's hot, or it will stick. I made the one in the picture with a small can of pineapple slices and a box of Jiffy yellow cake mix, in an eight-inch pan. Online recipes suggested using pineapple juice (saved from draining the slices) in place of water if you use a cake mix, and I did that, too.
The Emperor loved it. He insisted that I take that photo before we cut into it. I tried to demur, but he insisted and would not touch it until it was photographed.
The next time we have a department pot luck (in May, I believe) I will make a slightly larger version of this cake because for something so easy, it's pretty impressive-looking. Sis remarked that it was a "retro" dessert, which appeals to me as well. But I'll always think of Becky when I make one.
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